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Who Invented Sign Language?
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Do you ever
wonder what life would be like if you could not hear?
Although physical disabilities are unfortunate, they do not
make the person inferior in any way. Today we can see so many
people with disabilities contributing to society and even more
than the average person. One of the things that have
bridged the gap between the deaf and hearing communities, is
sign language.
Sign Language
is a type of communication system that uses gestures,
which are then visually interpreted. Most of the
people in deaf communities use this method of communicating
just as we use our mother tongue.
Not only the
deaf people, but their relatives, friends, or anyone in their
contact (employers, educationalists) converse in sign
language. This communication provides a strong sense of
social and cultural identity. |
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Although different
countries have different systems of sign language (American
Sign Language, British Sign Language, French, Swiss etc.),
this can become an excellent tool for the deaf community. Why we
call it a language is because it is a method of conveying
information - it is a one of the many modalities,
like speech, writing, signs etc. that are all used to convey
language. We should be careful not to confuse language and modality
- there are separate things, the latter is used to express the
former, language. Just as Hindi and English share the
modality (speech), but they are still different languages.
Similarly, the French and British Sign Language or any of the other
sign languages do use the same modality but are different in their
form. For this reason, they are given the title of
'language.' |
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The Use Of
Sign Language In Education
As we are all aware that centuries back it was difficult for
children with disabilities to have a good education like other
children, since they were treated like outsiders. Even today, we can
see the problems they go through. The first school for the
deaf was established in Paris during the 18th century and called the
Institute Royal Des Sours-Mutes (Royal Institute for the Deaf and
Mute) (Note: It is politically incorrect
to call deaf people 'mute' since a majority of deaf people do have
functional vocal cords). French Sign Language (FPL) was taught
there, something that was already being practiced in other parts of
France.
When Thomas Gallaudet, an American educator
traveled to this institute in 1816, to learn FPL,
he got deeply engrossed in it and on his way back, brought along a
deaf teacher by the name of Laurent Cleric.
Both these brave educators started the first American school for the
deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817. Using the FPL as a basis,
they created the American Sign Language.
Although today, it may seem like a wonderful gesture for them to
create such an institution, but at the end of the 19th century these
pioneers faced a great deal of opposition from other educators.
These people felt that deaf children should start learning how to speak, a
system known as orals and that by teaching them
sign language, the children would move further away from the hearing
community. Sign Language was considered an inferior way of
communication and speech was God's gift to humanity. This
movement instigated the banning of sign language by early 20th
century and orals became the accepted method of deaf education.
Children were practically forced to learn lip reading, however
difficult it was, and were punished if found signing amongst
themselves. This was a tough period for children and adults alike
since their freedom was being destroyed.
It was only in 1960s when sign language was revived
in USA. An American linguist, William C. Stoke
carried out a modern linguistic study of sign language. By proving
that sign languages were natural languages with their own
distinct vocabularies and grammatical structures, he was
able to change the negative attitude towards sign languages.
Although American educators still taught lip reading and speaking,
during the 1970s and 1980s they also paid attention to bring back
the teaching of sign language into the classroom. Even today, both
the systems are taught with percentages varying from school to
school. It is estimated that about 100,000 to 500,000
deaf people in the United States and Canada use American
Sign Language (AL) as their primary language.
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Similarities Between The Spoken & Sign Languages
As the spoken languages use units of sounds to
produce words, sign languages too use units of form,
which are composed of four basic hand forms: |
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hand
shape, like the open hand or closed fist;
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hand
location - the middle of the forehead or in front of
the chest; (the hand gesture for 'father' and
'mother' are the same, but when the
hand is close to the forehead, it means 'father', and when it
is near the chest, 'mother.')
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hand
movement - moving up or down and
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hand
orientation, for instance, the palm facing up or out.
In spoken
languages, we have different units of sound that are combined to
make meaning, like 'm', 'o' and 'm' do not mean anything on
their own, but when combined they create 'mom'.
Similarly, sign languages also have their own units of form that
are put together to make a word. But the main difference between
the two is that in spoken languages, the units of sound are
brought together in a sequence, but in sign
languages, the units of form and meaning are
simultaneously combined.
Both sign languages and spoken languages have their own
dialects, for example, in Switzerland,
the Swiss German Sign Language has 5 geographic
dialects that have risen from small changes made by the
different schools for the deaf. Even in Ireland,
the boys and girls attend different schools for the deaf, and
this has resulted in both sides using different vocabulary in
their sign language.
Today, people with hearing disabilities use a variety of systems
for communication - sign language, finger spelling (used
primarily for spelling out names etc.) Signing Exact English,
lip reading, hearing aides etc. depending on the way
they were brought up, what makes them comfortable, the society
they are living in and so on. For a long time, we expected them
to adjust to our hearing world but now its time for us
to know more about their deaf world - a place just as beautiful.
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