American Sign Language (ASL) has a rich and complex grammatical structure that differs greatly from English. Its morphology—how words are formed and modified—relies heavily on movement, facial expressions, and body positioning. Verbs can change form to show how an action occurs over time or who is performing and receiving the action. For example, repeating a movement can show a continuous action, while a sharp, single motion indicates a quick or completed one. ASL also uses classifiers, specific handshapes that represent categories of objects and describe their movement, size, or shape in space. Unlike spoken languages, ASL conveys grammatical information visually. Non-manual markers—such as facial expressions or head tilts—can indicate tense, tone, or emphasis. Morphology in ASL also includes inflection (changing a sign’s form for grammatical meaning) and derivation (creating new signs). For instance, the handshape used in THREE-WEEKS or THREE-MONTHS represents a bound morpheme—part of a sign that carries meaning but cannot stand alone. ASL also incorporates fingerspelling, a system that uses the American manual alphabet to spell English words, usually for proper nouns or terms without a direct ASL equivalent. However, ASL is not simply fingerspelling—it is a distinct language with its own structure and syntax. In terms of syntax, ASL most often follows a Subject–Verb–Object (SVO) order but allows flexibility through processes like topicalization, where the topic of a sentence is brought to the beginning for emphasis. Word order can shift to reflect focus or nuance, and meaning is often clarified through facial expressions or body shifts rather than word placement alone. This visual and spatial approach makes ASL a uniquely expressive and dynamic language system.