Are facial expressions important for sign language?
Facial expressions are universal; the same facial expression means the same thing in almost all cultures. This question is really asking about “non-manuals,” the facial indicators that are the grammar of ASL. Non-manuals indicate if a question is being asked and what kind of question it is (yes/no, WH, rhetorical). Non-manuals also indicate distance and other adverbial information. Non-manuals also indicate adjectival information. Non-manuals can indicate character shifts and a host of other information. Signing in the absence of non-manuals is really not using language to communicate.
