Transcript Author: Jack Slemenda Converse College, SC
4/25/2020
Author: Jack Slemenda Converse College, SC
Date submitted to deafed.net – March 20, 2008 To contact the author for permission to use this PowerPoint, please e-mail: [email protected] To use this PowerPoint presentation in its entirety, please give credit to the author.
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Sign Languages Around the World
Jack Slemenda Converse College A look at France, China and South Africa 2
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Did you know?
Contrary to popular belief, sign languages are not universal. Each country or culture has its own gestures or hand shapes for words and sentences.
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Introduction
Sign languages are either the main or only languages used by certain members of society.
Considered its own language Has its own set of rules 4
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More about Sign
Each society, then, has its own primary sign language Variations in dialect just as in spoken language As many sign languages as there are spoken languages.
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Just to name a few…
French Sign Language South African Sign Language Chinese Sign Language 6
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French Sign Language –
Langue des Signes Francaise (LSF) 1 st known sign language identified as a true language Discovered by accident Abbe’ Eppe Met twin sisters who were deaf Developed interest in their communication (OFSL) 7
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Development of LSF
Epee created “methodical signs” Very difficult First attempt for a sign language to have spoken language appearance Started a school for the deaf Located in Paris Deaf students in one place Continuous communication Accelerated the language Deaf could still be intelligent without using spoken language 8
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Transformation of LSF
Abbe’ Sicard Student of Abbe’ Epee Headmaster of Paris school following Epee Theory of Ciphers Code system to help put language into patterns Helped students create sentences using grammatical French 9
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Other Instrumental Individuals
Jean Massieu Born deaf Head Teaching Assistant at the Paris school Laurent Clerc Studied under Jean Massieu Met Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet Decided to go to America to help establish The American School for the Deaf 10
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Spread of Sign Language
Schools for the deaf Graduates took what they learned and found new schools Contributed to transformation of sign language into other “dialects” 11
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The Battle: LSF vs. Oralism
Round 1 Milan Congress 1880 LSF banned from classrooms Only allowed to use oral approach Round 2 1970’s - Deaf began fighting for use of LSF Fabius law passed 1991 Allowed use of LSF to educate deaf children 12
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And the Winner is…
2004 - LSF officially recognized as a language Oralism still used
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South African Sign Language – SASL
Introduction to South Africa 1881 Deaf school established by W. Murray • Children from Afrikaans-speaking families • British Sign Language first used By 1900’s three deaf schools existed in SA 14
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Communication
Between Hearing and Deaf Few hearing people know SASL Mix of speech, signs, and fingerspelling Between Deaf Adults Sign and fingerspelling Some confusion Residential schools develop own dialects Passed down to each generation Individuals leave schools • Still use their own dialect • Can create misunderstanding 15
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Norman Neider Heitmann
1974 – Appointed to research sign languages used in South Africa Hoped to standardize the signs Help all language groups communicate better 16
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7 years later…
Talking to the Deaf
was published 1 st sign dictionary in SA Further research to test validity of signs Seven deaf groups from SA questioned 95% of signs recognized by groups Not necessarily used 17
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What’s happening now?
Talking to the Deaf
Primary method in many schools Follows grammatical rules of language Designed to teach children spoken language Part of both communities 18
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Chinese Sign Language – CSL
First deaf school in China 1887 American missionary C.R. Mills and his wife Focused on oral methods ASL had no influence on CSL CSL fairly new Proposed in 1950 by SL Reform Committee 1961 – sign language book published 19
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Chinese Sign Language
Shapes and motions along with facial expressions Signs resemble written pictorial characters Manual alphabet Used only to fingerspell words Rarely used among deaf Write characters on palm or air 20
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Some Statistics
Approximately 21 million people in China with hearing loss 3 million are deaf Last 50 years CSL discouraged Banned from some classrooms Oral-only policy 1500 hearing rehabilitation centers For preschool children <10% of children leaving hearing rehabilitation centers are able to grasp enough CSL for school 21
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Why so few?
Chinese is a tonal language Same phonetic pronunciations with different intonations have different meanings Deaf children cannot hear to distinguish tones 22
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The Deaf are disabled?
Chinese view deafness as a disability Deaf view themselves as disabled Parents aim to cure deafness Spend 10s of thousands of yen Acupuncture Hearing Aids Rehabilitation Centers Deaf students prefer hearing teacher to a deaf one 23
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Is there hope for CSL?
Schools aiming to embrace deaf culture Tianjin Third largest city Working to create jobs for deaf 2001 Tianjin School for the Deaf Adopted CSL as primary communication method Aim to have deaf employees Tianjin Technical College for the Deaf First technical college for deaf Chinese Focuses on computer technology 24
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References
Chinese Sign Language. In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [online]. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. 2007 [cited 8 July, 2007] http://en.wikipedia.org
French Sign Language. In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [online]. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. 2007 [cited 8 July, 2007] http://en.wikipedia.org
Herbst, Johan M. “South African Sign Languages”. Cleve, John V. van (ed): Gallaudet encyclopedia of deaf people and deafness (Vol. 3. S-Z. New York, NY: McGraw Hill (1987) pp. 106-108 25
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References (continued)
J., Julie “Sign language – Can Deaf People from Different Countries Understand Each Other?” Online posting. February 2007. Yahoo! Answers. 8 July 2007. http://answers.yahoo.com
Moody, William. “French Sign Languages”. Cleve, John V. van (ed): Gallaudet Encyclopedia of deaf people and deafness (Vol. 3. S-Z. New York, NY: McGraw Hill (1987) pp. 74-77.
Singer, M., Afsari, N., Michaut, Frederik, & Lamit, Virginia. “L’Alphabet en LSF.” [online] The DESS Nouvelles Technologies and Handicaps Sensory and Physical at Paris8 University. [cited 20 July 2007] http://ufr6.univ-paris8.fr
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References (continued)
South African Sign Language. In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [online]. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. 2007 [cited 8 July, 2007] http://en.wikipedia.org
“Standard Manual Alphabet.” [online] A to Z to Deafblindness. 17 September 2002. [cited 20 June 2007]. http://www.deafblind.com/ukthma.html
Yau, Shun chiu. “Chinese Sign Languages”. Cleve, John V. van (ed): Gallaudet encyclopedia of deaf people and deafness (Vol. 3. S-Z. New York, NY: McGraw Hill (1987) pp. 65-67 27