<P> Like many other sign languages, BSL phonology is defined by elements such as handshape, orientation, location, movement, and non-manual features . </P> <P> BSL uses a topic--comment structure . Canonical word order outside of topic--comment structure is OSV, and noun phrases are head - initial . </P> <P> Although the United Kingdom and the United States share English as the predominant oral language, British Sign Language is quite distinct from American Sign Language (ASL) - having only 31% signs identical, or 44% cognate . BSL is also distinct from Irish Sign Language (ISL) (ISG in the ISO system) which is more closely related to French Sign Language (LSF) and ASL . </P> <P> It is also distinct from Signed English, a manually coded method expressed to represent the English language . </P>

Is american and british sign language the same