The culture of American Sign Language is very similar to the culture of the United States, because it is a language spoken only in North America, but the deaf certainly have a culture of their own. For example, the deaf are often extremely blunt. They do not mean to offend or make fun of you, but they have no problem saying exactly what they think. My language partner warned me that this is something that I will have to get used to. This does not sound exactly like a linguistic aspect of the language, but it is how the deaf speak, so I think it is important to mention in this post.
Body language is HUGE in ASL. Besides the fact that you speak almost solely with your hands, facial cues are also extremely important. Because ASL is not spoken in complete sentences, you need to use your face to express feelings and questions. Everyone also signs a little bit differently, so you can eventually learn how each person signs. For example, some people are very expressive and use their whole bodies, but some people focus just on their hands and faces.
Most "linguistic aspects" of ASL are similar to English, like how they talk about time. I'm sure I will discover more differences in the future, but most of the culture is American culture.
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