Quick Guide to Stokoe Notation, revised September 2021

A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles, known as DASL in the field, was written by William Stokoe, Dorothy Casterline and Carl Croneberg in 1965. This book was ground-breaking in that it described signs using formational elements (handshape, location and movement) thus demonstrating the transformational idea that signs were made up of discrete parts just like words were made up of discrete sounds. DASL has had a profound impact on signed language research. And its notation system is well-used. This is a brief guide to getting started on using Stokoe Notation.

The September 2021 revision was done by Deanna Gagne and Lucas Hamilton.