Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Sign Language

Here is an essay I wrote for my Languages and New Technologies class:


Sign Language: Origin and Daily Use
            Sign language is a system of signs used predominantly by deaf people, but has become more popular in recent years among people capable of speaking and hearing. There are about two hundred different types of sign language in the world; American Sign Language (ASL) is one of the most popular, used in over 50 countries around the world. Another among the most popular is Chinese Sign Language (CSL). Sign language is different from spoken languages because “unlike most languages, sign language is more often passed on from child to child rather than from parent to child. This is because 90 percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents who do not know sign language” (Costello x). This following paper will explore the history of American Sign Language, differences between sign languages, important rules and etiquette, as well as how it is used today by various different people.
            No one is quite sure exactly where or when sign language started, but it is said that Aristotle was the first to record claims about the deaf. The first claims were not positive ones; deaf people did not have rights. Aristotle theorized that deaf people were incapable of being educated because learning came from spoken language. For about two thousand years, scholars tried to prove Aristotle wrong and educate deaf people; this is what created the beginning of sign language. Educating deaf children began in the 16th century by Geronimo Cardano, Pedro Ponce de Leon, and Juan Pablo de Bonet; an Italian mathematician and physician, a Spanish monk and a Spanish priest respectively. It wasn’t until 1771 that the first public deaf school was established by Abbé Charles-Michel de l'Épée, a French Catholic priest who is known today as “Father of the Deaf” because of all the work he has done with the deaf. He founded a total of twenty-one schools for the deaf. There are a few famous deaf-blind people in history; these include Laura Bridgman and Helen Keller. Bridgeman was the first deaf-blind person to learn a language, but Keller, who was born 50 years after Bridgeman, was the first deaf-blind person to graduate from college. Sign language has evolved significantly, being created by the very people who use it to this day. As Michelle Jay says in her article Who Invented Sign Language?, “Like any deaf person would, the children who attended the schools for the deaf created a language to communicate…Therefore, no one person invented sign language”. Though no one knows the precise moment sign language was invented, the 16th to 18th centuries were a time when sign language flourished.
            Of all languages, spoken and not, “American Sign Language is the fourth most spoken language in the United States” (Lewis). Recently, the Modern Language Association reported that between 2006 and 2009, there had been an increase of 16% of students enrolling in sign language classes in American colleges. As Elaine Costello explains in her book Signing: How to Speak with Your Hands, “American Sign Language is one of the most complete sign systems in the world. Most countries, however, have their own sign languages which have been refined and standardized” (xi). This means that, like spoken languages, sign languages differ from country to country and may even have different dialects when signing the same language. Though these sign languages differ, it is much easier for deaf people signing different languages to understand each other than people speaking different languages can. “A Deaf person traveling abroad would not immediately be able to converse with a Deaf person in another country without studying the sign language of that country as a foreign language, although communication barriers between different sign languages seem to be crossed more easily than those of spoken languages” (Costello xi). More recently, due to a constant need to communicate, the World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf came up with an idea to merge different sign languages to create an international sign language. Around 1973, the Commission on Unification of Signs of the World Federation came up with the sign language which they call “Gestuno”; it has about 1500 different signs which were newly invented or chosen from other existing sign languages. Gestuno is an Italian word which translates to “one sign language”. Gesto means gesture and uno means one; literally meaning “one gesture”. Since it is a fairly new language, not many people have had the chance to learn it, or want to learn a language that no one else really knows. Gestuno is primarily learned and used today by international translators.
            Hand gestures play a major role in sign language; however they are not the only contributing factor. One very important part is facial expression. Speakers use different tones, inflexions, and a rise and fall in their voice to convey different meanings and express emotion. A signer, on the other hand, will imitate this by using facial expressions. “The same sign will require different expressions at different times, depending upon the feeling you wish to convey” (Fant 16). Another important factor is space. Because sign language is a visual language, sound has no role in it; head and body movements become of sole importance and therefor space is fundamental. Just as speakers use their mouths, signers use an imaginary line called the “sight line” which acts as a stage for gestures. It is “a line extending from the center of the signer’s chest, straight out, parallel to the floor” (Fant 18). Finally, another contributing factor is light. “Try to avoid any bright light shining directly into the face of the person watching you. Bright lights are to deaf people what noise is to hearing people” (Fant 16). Deaf people are very sensitive to vibrations so tapping of the foot or drumming of the fingers should only be done when trying to get someone’s attention otherwise it comes off as impolite and irritating. It is vital to gesture calmly, give space, and avoid unnecessary distractions when having a polite conversation in any sign language.
            When learning a new language, one of the hardest yet most essential aspects is verb conjugation, however this is not the case for sign languages. Signers use what is called a “time indicator”; a word indicating when the action of the verb took place. For example, in verbal English a person will say “I saw you” whereas in sign language it would be directly translated to “Yesterday (or any other time such as last night, last week, before, etc.) I see you”. The verb itself is not conjugated, but the tense is indicated by when the initial action took place. This is also the case for the future tense. Unlike English, ASL puts pronouns at the end of a sentence and in some cases the pronouns I and you are omitted because they are implied. When signing the plural form of a noun, a signer will repeat a gesture, sign a number, or use words like many, few, or some. When talking about people such as family members, signs are gender specific and therefor different when speaking about a male or female cousin, for example. Some words are borrowed straight from English and don’t have a specific gesture. These words are done by fingerspelling; “using the manual alphabet to spell out entire words letter by letter” (Fant 1). A major problem hearing people have when trying to learn sign language is “hearing people frequently study the signs from [ASL] without studying the grammar of the language, and then use the signs in the syntactical order of their own verbal language, English” (Costello xi). ASL has many rules as does each specific language and a common mistake is direct translation. When this happens, it becomes another language called S.E.E. sign (Signing Exact English). “Deaf people are usually pleased at hearing a person’s attempts at sign language communication. They are patient and willing to assist. They are cognizant that hearing people use signs with an English syntax, and because they are familiar with English, they will often slow down and use signs in English order, too” (Costello xiv). Signers are very patient and understanding when it comes to others learning their language.
Though American Sign Language is signing in English, it is important to understand that it is a completely different language of its own. Deaf people were not always fortunate enough to have such an advanced and complete language. History was not kind to them, revoking their rights as people and deeming them uneducable. With various breakthroughs, schools were founded and a new language formed. There are approximately 200 different sign languages around the world an international one called Gestuno. It is central to use ample space for hand gestures, body and head movements as well as facial expressions and proper light. Sign language has its own etiquette and sets of rules which are important to be respected. Hearing people may have some difficulty with signing if they do not use the proper grammar which may turn into S.E.E. sign, but those fluent in any sign language are always willing to help.


Works Cited
Costello, Elaine, and Lois A. Lehman. Signing: How to Speak with Your Hands. Toronto: Bantam, 1983. Print.
Fant, Louie J., and Betty G. Miller. The American Sign Language Phrase Book. 3rd ed. Chicago: Contemporary, 1994. Print.
Jay, Michelle. "History of Sign Language." - Deaf History. Start ASL, 2008. Web. 02 Nov. 2013.
---. "Who Invented Sign Language?" Who Invented Sign Language? Start ASL, 2008. Web. 02 Nov. 2013.
Jones, Travis Rolan. "Gestuno." Lifeprint.com. N.p., 12 Nov. 2001. Web. 02 Nov. 2013. <http://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/gestuno.htm>.
Lewin, Tamar. "Colleges See 16% Increase in Study of Sign Language." New York Times 8 Dec. 2010: n. pag. 8 Dec. 2010. Web. 2 Nov. 2013.
Lewis, Jacob. "American Sign Language Today." American Sign Language: Past, Present and Future. N.p., 29 Apr. 2003. Web. 02 Nov. 2013.

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