Sign Language and Deaf Culture

Hi annifa,

Yep, it's a real language.

One of the best books on the subject is The Mask of Benevolence, by Harlan Lane.

But this is actually the single best article or book on Deafness that I've found, it's long (for an article) but excellent:

http://babel.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Spring_2001/ling001/nytimes_deaf.html

Yes its a language.
No opinion on the culture as Ive never experienced it.

'Course it's a real language, since people use it as their sole (or one of their) means of communicating. It conveys thoughts, deeds, descriptions and emotions. It has a syntax and neologisms can be built by either coining new terms or modifying existing words and phrases. People learn it not only in schools, but children and infants can also learn it from their parents, picking it up much like spoken words.

I'd say it does everything Spanish or English or Norwegian or Urdu or (ack, can't recall the name) clicking languages do, except possibly being able to sing in it.

PS Oh, and you can't write a voice recognition product for it.

I know a VERY small bit of ASL and it's just like learning any other language. Takes time and practice. I'd like to learn more.

I think ASL is a great baseboard for all people.
It teaches you to pay attention to body language, facial expressions, and all of the other subtle hints the human body gives off.
It teaches a person to pay attention to the WHOLE person instead of the spoken voice.
We as people have become so far removed each other that some of us dont even know what our childrens eye color are.
It has come common place to avoid eye contact and just stay in a clammed up position ( arms crossed, fists balled , hunched over) that we dont even notice each other anymore.
Walking down the street, simple eye contact is percieved as a threat instead of acknowledgement or recognition.

ASL has more benefits then any other 'culture ' or language I know of.
But that s just MHO

Is is !Chung! - the one where we write !'s for the clicks?

??????

!Kung, I think. (The language of the people in "The Gods Must Be Crazy", you mean?)

Oh and there is a kind of singing -- ASL poetry, anyway, which is very rhythmic. I saw -- ooh, forget her name, not Ella Mae Lentz, another well-known ASL poet, Cindy something? -- do a "poem" (not a traditional poem) of her impressions of watching her (hearing) daughter's band, it's was so awesome. Totally heard the whole piece of music from watching. (Bach, I believe.)

Yep, I'm thinking of the bushmen's language.

Okay, so the only difference is that a voice recognition product cannot be created, although my company's predecessor really did create one for -- I swear this is true -- dictation in Klingon. For the alien executive in your life, I'm thinkin'.

Wow!

I suspect they never sold a copy of it. I'll see if I can find a box and scan the cover.

Well I was reading the article suggested by sozobe (which is very useful, thanks soz) and came across this sentence:

"At Lexington, I saw Deaf people stand up to the hearing world. I learned how a TTY (a telephone cum typewriter device for the Deaf)..."

A slight digression from the topic of this thread I realise, but I was wondering when used in the above context is it correct to spell 'come' as 'cum'?

hmm? Anybody? No?

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/cum

Annifa: In that text I think it's meant to be pronounced "coom" {rhymes w/broom}. Same as writing "telephone/typewriter".

P.s.: If you want an excellent example of the use
of sign language as a real language,watch the movie "Children of a Lesser God". It stars Marlee
Matlin,a hearing-impaired actress,and William Hurt as her boyfriend.

Ah right. So I see. You know I could have looked that up for myself could not I have...

I took a course on signing at Northeastern University in Boston. Believe me it is a language. I was complaining to my instructor (who is deaf) and she said if you think learning to sign is difficult for a hearing person, just imagin trying to learn English if you're deaf.

Nice tho that several European countries use ASL, so you don't even have to understand French to communicate in ASL

Sglass

Yep!

It's not quite that France uses ASL, though -- American Sign Language is based on French Sign Language, pretty much the same relationship as American English and British English. It was French educators who brought sign language to America, and taught American Deaf students their own (French) sign language. The current languages are not exactly the same -- Martha's Vineyard developed their own sign language due to a high incidence of genetic deafness in the area, and many of those signs were folded into the ASL mix, as well as many other regional variations. But something like 75% (?) of the two languages are the same.

I accidentally met French Deaf people on my two trips to Paris, incredibly friendly and quite easy to communicate with via ASL/ FSL (their acronym is different I think, I forget), even though we were "speaking" (mouthing while signing) two completely different languages. I had to adjust and not do the lipreading I'm used to, just focus on the signs, but it worked well.

If you want a quick reference for a word in a sign language then refer

http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/

Type the english word and scroll for American Sign Language banner down the line.

Its shown in hand pictures.

FYI

I speak sing language and I should say, It's not a language ... It's a culture ... it's part f the deaf culture, u gotta know the language to enter