I know part of it is grammar, and part of it is complexity, and partly a lack of standardization.
But I feel this does not account for the MASSIVE discrepancy between an English dictionary and an ASL dictionary.
The biggest ASL dictionary I have seen is around 5,000 signs. most are between 1,000 and 2,000.
The first one of my Webster's dictionaries that I happened to pick up off my shelf has over 500,000 words. Some of these are different tenses, and some are synonyms etc... but the majority are individual words, and I know most of these words in the particular one that I picked up (at LEAST 300,000 words, as a conservative estimate.)
I don't see how this difference adds up. I understand that it can be harder to convey things with two hands and ten fingers, visually, but come on... there is a vast difference between 1,500 and half a million... I don't think this is all accounted for in just grammar and structure.
But I feel this does not account for the MASSIVE discrepancy between an English dictionary and an ASL dictionary.
The biggest ASL dictionary I have seen is around 5,000 signs. most are between 1,000 and 2,000.
The first one of my Webster's dictionaries that I happened to pick up off my shelf has over 500,000 words. Some of these are different tenses, and some are synonyms etc... but the majority are individual words, and I know most of these words in the particular one that I picked up (at LEAST 300,000 words, as a conservative estimate.)
I don't see how this difference adds up. I understand that it can be harder to convey things with two hands and ten fingers, visually, but come on... there is a vast difference between 1,500 and half a million... I don't think this is all accounted for in just grammar and structure.