Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject American Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,3, University of Bonn, language: English, abstract: Giving a first impression of how the system of sign language works, this term paper starts off with the formal and grammatical structure of American Sign Language. Subsequently, a comparison with the structure of British Sign Language gives insights into similarities and differences between those two sign languages. In its main part, the term paper focuses on the acquisition of sign language in the deaf child. The development of “speech” is presented chronologically and compared to the linguistic development of hearing children. The vocabulary of hearing and deaf children is compared and different scientific opinions on the issue are being discussed. The last chapter tries to answer the central questions of this term paper: How does the acquisition of sign language differ from language acquisition of hearing children? Are deaf children therefore handicapped? And if yes, to what extent?