FSL, known as Filipino Sign Language, is the national sign language of the Philippines, with influences from ASL, also known as American Sign Language. Despite this, FSL is not entirely Filipino or American, being its own distinct language. While FSL has been influenced by ASL due to historical interactions, it has evolved into a unique language with its own characteristics, and is part of the cultural identity of the Filipino Deaf community.
The Deaf community does not have a universal sign language internationally, but instead, there are actually around 400 different sign languages all based on the different cultures of various countries. Even within FSL, there are differing variations of the same sign, as some Deaf people have their own unique way of interpreting specific words.
By technicality, FSL does not have its own grammar, or follow traditional grammar rules. Because FSL is a visual language, it can’t be translated precisely into Filipino or English, so non-specific nouns or pronouns are cut out, only focusing on signs for the actual subject and verb. In an actual scenario, let’s say a sentence like “A man jumping over a fence.”, would then be interpreted as “Man jump fence.”, as those are the most important parts of the sentence that gives the clear picture, so only those are the actual words that need to be interpreted.
