Critical Thinking about ASL and Aesthetics

What makes ASL aesthetically pleasing? ASL is a visual language with its own syntax and structure. There’s something beautiful about people being able to communicate in any language. However, ASL is a visual language with many visual cues. Classifiers for one are hand shapes used for multiple different purposes, in describing objects. The hand shape generally is used to represent the actual appearance of something.  For example, Classifier four uses the four hand shape and can be used to describe stripes on a shirt, a fence, or four people walking. In this way, ASL can be used to evoke Imagination in a way that can cause an aesthetic reaction or feeling even in people who do not understand the language. Another example I want to illustrate with this is a simple sentence in ASL such as "The butterflies are flying all around me." There are several different ways to sign this sentence but so long as you are using proper ASL syntax, the look and feel is still beautiful. In the end, the look and flow of the signs can be used to create mood and meaning. This is why I believe ASL is a beautiful Language.

Here's a video of me signing what I just talked about in ASL Syntax. ;)