when did asl gain recognition as a language what took so long
American Sign Language Up to the 1950s, the predominant method in deaf education was oralism â€“ acquiring oral language comprehension and production.[19] Linguists did not consider sign language to be true "language", but rather something inferior.[19] Recognition of the legitimacy of ASL was achieved by William Stokoe, a linguist who arrived at Gallaudet University in 1955 when this was still the dominant assumption.[19] Aided by the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Stokoe argued for manualism, the use of sign language in deaf education.[19][20] Stokoe noted that sign language shares the important features that oral languages have as a means of communication, and even devised a transcription system for ASL.[19] In doing so, Stokoe revolutionized both deaf education and linguistics.[19] In the 1960s, ASL was sometimes referred to as "Ameslan", but this term is now considered obsolete.[21]
Languages of South Africa Since taking power in the 1994 election, the ANC has promoted English as the main language of government, even if South Africans often take pride in using indigenous languages for any purpose. Afrikaans also features prominently in commerce together with English, as the languages with the highest number of fluent speakers are Afrikaans and English.