Notes On American Sign Language

In order to fully understand the creation of American Sign Language (ASL), it must be understood that it is a form of communication. That means every sign has a meaning that is culturally bound just like languages in oral communication. That also means that the language has a distinctive origin. In fact, ASL carries “several linguistic features that are similar to spoken languages” (Rosen, 2008) such as the presence of homonyms and its constant evolution (Shaw & Delaporte, 2011). The unique concept about ASL, though, is that it actually has very strong ties and connections with the French Sign Language, also known as LFS. This connection is explained by Delaporte & Shaw (2009) and Shaw & Delaporte (2011) as being due to how ASL was formalized in the U.S. by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet with the help of a deaf French professor named Laurent Clerc who used LSF. Because “LFS

     ASL is essentially the offspring of native new world sign languages and French Sign Language. LSF merged with the indigenous sign languages when it was brought to the United States in 1817 by Laurent Clerc, a Deaf Frenchman who opened the first American school for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. Grammatically, ASL is far removed from English. One common misconception is that ASL is simply silent English; a means of representing English with the hands. Codes such as this do exist, but they are rough hybrids of English grammar and ASL hand

In the Deaf community Benjamin Bahan is considered an influential figure because not only does he write about Deaf culture but he is a storyteller as well. Bahan has published at least twenty-eight articles, five books, and eight videotapes. With Dirksen Bauman and Melissa Malzkuhn they created the world’s first online journal called, Deaf Studies Digital Journal. It is a “peer-reviewed academic and cultural arts journal to feature scholarship and creative work in both signed and written languages” (Gallaudet Press). Because he is a storyteller he appears in chapter two of “Signing the Body Poetics”. In this chapter he talks about the Face-to-Face tradition in the American

The Book I decided to read is called “Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf”. In this book the author Oliver Sacks basically focuses on Deaf history and the community of the deaf developed toward linguistic self-sufficiency. Sacks is a Professor of Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He became interested in the problem of how deaf children acquire language after reviewing a book by Harlan Lane. The book was titled “When the Mind Hears: A History of the Deaf”. This book was first published in 1984 and was published again in 1989. Before reading Harlan’s book Sacks did not know any sign language. The book encouraged him to begin studying sign language. Sacks became extremely interested on how the deaf learn to communicate with the ability of sound being nonexistent. He wanted to know what this process may tell us about the nature of language. Seeing Voices is made up of three chapters, the history of the deaf, a discussion of language and the brain, and an evaluation of the problems behind the student strike that occurred at Gallaudet University, in March of 1988.

From the twentieth century until the present of 2015, the people often wonder about how sign language started. Sign language is described as a visual language that is used in combination with facial and body movements to communicate with other Deaf people. The definition of "Deaf" people are the people who use sign language as their "spoken language everyday life"(World Federation of the Deaf 2014, ¶ 1). It is estimated there are about "130 Deaf sign languages"(UCL, Deafness Cognition and Language (DCAL) Research Centre 1999-2015, ¶ 1). More sign languages have recently been recognised as ‘languages’ in their given countries around the world. This essay will attempt to explain the history, culture and social aspects of Australian Sign Language otherwise known as Auslan.

Thanks for pointing out that sign language is not universal. Sign language is just as diverse as spoken languages with its own regional dialects for different countries (NAD, n.d.). Wow! For some reason I thought deaf people spoke the same standard sign language. I’ve been enlightened. With that in mind, I see how easy it is for people and sometimes frontline medical professionals to assume that hearing impaired individuals use one language. I think it also speaks to my own cultural challenge. Since I do not have any hearing impaired individuals in my family or close friendships, I am not familiar with the way hearing impaired individuals communicate other than through sign language, which I assumed was universal. I think this is valuable because

The use of ASL is extremely important to the deaf community and to Deaf culture. Although fluency is always desired, the willingness to learn and communicate in ASL goes a long way in being accepted. A skilled signer who does not have the right attitude will be seen in a less appealing light than a struggling signer with a true heart for the deaf.

Some sign language I observed was through watching the TV series Switched at Birth. Which is a show about two girls that were switched at birth (hence the title of the show). So when the main character Bay finally meets her mother, and the other child that was switched, you find out the other daughter (Daphne) is deaf. Daphne and her mother use sign language as well as voice to communicate and I find that interesting. I feel like it would be simpler and a lot more comfortable to just use sign language, seeing as it is Daphne's language.

Communication has always been taken for granted, and unfortunately, it can leave many Deaf people to be taken advantage of. With evidence of this, interpreters became popular because they could translate the source language that was spoken in the home to the target language, American Sign Language. Not to be confused with translators or transliterators, American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters are a vital part of the tangled web of communication, and yet, their history is not as long as their worth. ASL interpreters have only been around since 1964, which left many Deaf and Hard of Hearing people feeling managed, but after interpreting became a profession, many developments

During registration last semester, when I decided to take this course to see if I wanted to continue onward with ASL as my minor, I was not sure what to expect. Through my brief introduction of Deaf culture during my first sign language courses, I knew some vague details about historical events. Gallaudet had been mentioned several times within not only my workbook, but also by my professor. I could have given you a short synopsis of the oral movement that threatened to wipe ASL out as a language. Though I knew these facts, and a few traits about Deaf culture that I had experienced firsthand, there was so much that I had not considered before the readings and journals for this course opened my eyes.

Louis Laurent Marie Clerc was the first well-taught Sign Language teacher in America, but he was French. He was born on December 26, 1785 in La Balme-les-Grottes, France. He was born hearing, but was left on a chair when he was only a year old and fell into a fire. He was left deaf and unable to smell, with a scar on the right side of his face that he later used to sign his name. When he was seven years old his mother took him to see a physician in the nearby town of Lyons to treat his deafness. After two weeks and many painful shots and injections, it proved ineffective. He had never gone to school, nor learned to read or write so his family had adapted their own sort of sign language so that he could express himself.

Language plays an essential role in the development and unification of a culture or nation. American Sign Language (ASL) is a combination of expressions, movements, and gestures that enable the Deaf Community to communicate with one another. ASL is a visual language and without having any words spoken, thousands of ideas and emotions could be expressed. Two films that help convey the significance of ASL are Beyond Silence and Love is Never Silent. These works revolve around the lives of Children of Deaf Adults (CODAs) and the struggles that they have encountered by being born into deaf families.

The Deaf community have their own culture that often goes misunderstood by those who are not involved with it. A lot of hearing people believe that the Deaf are sad to be deaf and that they are stupid and not capable of mundane tasks. American Sign Language is the language used by the Deaf community in Canada and the United States; ASL is not a universal language. In 1814 Dr. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet wanted to teach his neighbors daughter how to communicate because she was deaf. At the time, America didn’t have a Deaf community or culture so he went to Europe to learn deaf education; they already had a forming language. He studied the language in Europe and decided that he would return to the US to establish a language there. In 1817, Gallaudet returned with Laurent Clerc, a teacher in Europe and founded the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut.

To complicate matters in terms of language barriers for deaf students, the ASL does not “use suffixes or prefixes” or apply the “be” verb (“Why is English Difficult for Deaf Students?”). However, as the article points out, ASL does have similarities with the English language such as the “use of pronouns” and “exquisite poetry” (“Why is English Difficult for Deaf Students?”). Another source, Karen Nakamura, author of The Deaf Resource Library website, suggests that one of the barriers between the two languages occurs because they use different syntax. “ASL has a topic-comment syntax while English uses Subject-Object-Verb” (Nakamura). For example, "I am a teacher" would be signed: "Teacher me " or even "Me Teacher” (“American Sign Language (ASL) Syntax”).

The Deaf Studies in the 20th century focused on the studies of sign languages and of Deaf culture (Bauman & Murray, 2010). It was during the late part of the 20th century when sign languages and their practical use for communication of deaf students were formally studied. Many systems were explored, but the study of American Sign Language (ASL) became popular. A powerful argument why formal studies of sign language existed was to give Deaf students access to various modes of communication. Later, the study