ABSTRACT
We have seen that BSL and ASL exhibit considerable similarity, but also some differences, at the levels of both phonology and grammar. While the similarities may be due to the constraints of the visual medium combined with possible historical relations and or language contact, they do not appear to be due in the least to the English of their hearing communities. The differences between the two languages show that when two sign languages develop in two separate communities, their structures will differ just like the structure of spoken languages which have different developmental histories.
