Which of the following describes the role of fingerspelling in ASL?

Fingerspelling in American Sign Language (ASL) serves as a method for representing the phonemic structure of English words using a visual-manual form. Each letter of the alphabet is conveyed through specific handshapes, allowing signers to spell out words, particularly proper nouns, technical terms, or any words for which there is no specific sign. This makes fingerspelling a crucial tool for maintaining the integrity of the original sound structure of the words in a visually accessible way, similar to phonemic representation in spoken language.

Although other aspects like semantic interpretation, lexical marking, and word boundary delimitation are important in understanding language structure and use, they do not capture the essence of how fingerspelling functions in ASL. While fingerspelling can help clarify meaning and establish word boundaries in communication, its primary role is more aligned with directly representing the alphabet and the phonemic nature of words rather than categorizing interactions of word usage as seen in the other choices.