When I was in third grade, a missionary who worked with mute, deaf, and blind children in Mexico visited my Sunday school class. I clearly remember the missionary teaching us a few signs and I was captured by the realization that people could fully communicate with their hands alone. I also remember going to a concert where there were two ASL interpreters, the entire concert I watched the graceful and expressive movements of the signers and have been fascinated by sign language since.
There is not a wealth of information on the origins of American Sign Language (ASL), but I was able to gather some basic information of the beginnings of ASL from different web sites. ASL started to develop as a language in the early 1800s when a public school for the deaf was founded. Up to that point deaf Americans had some basic signs that they used to communicate with the people around them. The basic signs differed from region to region. The school that was founded for the deaf in the 1800s based its sign language on the sign language used in France. As students came to this school from different areas of the United States the language began to adopt the signs from the different regions and developed into its own unique language. American sign language is a relatively new language and like any other language it is still developing as new words are added and older words are lost as they are no longer used.
ASL most definitely qualifies as a language. ASL is a form of communication for many people in America. Before I took an ASL class a few years ago I thought that ASL was simply English where the words were replaced with signs, but I was wrong. ASL has its own grammar and sentence structure that is very different from English which qualifies it to be considered a language. Some people might think that ASL is an inefficient way of communication because tone, speed, and volume cannot be discerned in signs. While this is true ASL makes up for these in other ways. Like spoken languages, sign languages communicates not only by the signs themselves, but by body language, facial expressions, and the way in which the signs are made. I have noticed that deaf people have extremely expressive facial expressions which communicate the ‘tone’ that they are signing in. Signs can also be communicated in a slow graceful way or in a quick and rough way to express feelings behind the signs. ASL is a very dynamic and expressive language that is beautiful to observe.
ASL has radically changed the lives of nonhearing people. It was once believed that nonhearing people were unintelligent but they just lacked a form of communication. ASL opened the door for deaf people to communicate with each other and also put their thoughts into words. In Helen Keller’s autobiography she tells her readers how she lived in a world of darkness due to the fact that she had no language to process her thoughts. Have you ever tried to think without words? It doesn’t work well. It is hard to imagine growing up without any way to process feelings, emotions, and life situations. Helen describes when the “mystery of language” was revealed to her. She says, “That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, home, joy, set it free!” I believe this is what sign language has done for deaf people throughout the world. ASL has opened the doors for nonhearing people to put their thoughts and feelings into a language. Without a language one cannot be educated and in America one cannot succeed without any education. Because of American Sign Language, deaf Americans have the opportunity to have a good education and find a good job. The American Dream has become an attainable goal for the deaf and hard of hearing. ASL has made it possible for a world of silence to find a voice.
I want to thank you for educating me in this field. I have always been fascinated by sign language but never had the chance to be more educated about it. It is so interesting that it is indeed a language by itself. I also thought that it was English put into signs! I was absolutely amazed by Helen Keller's story and you stated it beautifully when you asked whether one could think without words. It is impossible and that is why ASL is so amazing.
ReplyDeleteI take for granted the fact that I can express any emotion I feel and know exactly how to convey it for others. It was so interesting when Keller talked about the difficulty of having a conversation and knowing what to say next. The opportunity she had to learn was not only to express herself but also to be social and form relationships. Something as simple as having a conversation, small-talk even, is something that ASL has made possible. It seems that before, as you mentioned, deaf people were not only seen as less intelligent, but almost less human because they could not reach out socially and build relationships.
It seems ASL is a complex language because one does have to use body language and facial expression in addition to signs in order to convey something that we could just convey with a tone or certain volume of our voices. Do you feel that ASL is in any way still limiting? I want to say that deaf people are able to express themselves just as well as we can, but I could not know until I was able to understand ASL. This language is however a revolutionary step toward communication and socialization for those who use it.
Erica, I could not agree more! I remember kind of along the same way you learned about ASL, too. I first saw my fifth-grade teacher teach us a few rudimentary signs and I thought it was so interesting. There used to be a woman at my church whosd son was deaf and she used to sign all of the songs on Sunday mornings. I remember the first time I went to service, I was completely wrapped up in how beautiful and graceful the signing was. ASL is breathtaking. I made a decision there and then to learn about the deaf culture and, if I could, try to learn the language as well.
ReplyDeleteI took ASL 101 with Dan Humphrey and it was then that I realized that ASL is nothing like English. It’s a completely different language that’s separate from everything else. You’re completely right about that! How you deliver the signs, your facial expressions. It’s all so important with considering ASL. It took me a while to realize that, but everything about the language is so rich. The history in itself is absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for putting the amazing history and language out there. Thank you for recognizing it and allowing me to read your thoughts. I really appreciate it.
I, too, chose this question for my posting. through my research I learned a lot about ASL.
ReplyDeleteThe human body is so very interesting. One of the facts I learned was that nine out of ten children who are deaf or go deaf during their lifetime are born to parents with no hearing problems (National Institue on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders).
Another ironical fact I discovered was that Alexander Graham Bell almost killed the entire sign language movement believing and convincing Congress that oral language should the only form of language taught in American schools. And this coming from the inventor of the telephone. It's amazing how thick man's mind was back then.
Not much has really changed when it comes to accepting changes to the status quo. Look how long it took our nation to grapple with the whole sign language thing. It wasn't until 1960 that ASL was officially acknowledge as a language unto its own. Now what needs to happen is for deaf people to be recognized as their own culture and given the same respect as other minorities.
Hi Erica! First and foremost, I wanted to thank you for your little comment on my blog title, "Ahh Blog It", I find it funny too.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I wanted to admit and share the experience of not realizing that there were other people outside of the English language who knew sign language. In other words, I also didn’t recognize that Sign Language wasn’t solely English. Although I personally know a couple of deaf people, it wasn’t until this essay that I realize the different world they live in. Until now, I don’t think they are given as much props or appreciation for their extra effort to live in a speaking and very loud world. My boyfriend’s little sister was maltreated by her nanny and became deaf even before her 1st birthday. In the Philippines, being deaf was a very difficult situation because ASL wasn’t available in public schools and was only affordable by fortunate people. They had no way of communicating with her, but through body language; it was hard to please her when she cried. It wasn’t until they moved to America (and she was around 7 or 8) that they received help. He and his family were provided a few ASL classes with handbooks of several basic signs. Although it was only a few sessions, the basic signs (like the alphabet, thank you, etc.) improved their family’s relationship. Now that she is 18, and turning 19 this year, they know how talkative she actually is. She still does feel lonely sometimes because communication is still hard, but now she has confidence.
I’m ashamed to admit that I used to wonder why she didn’t understand many things, like trends or long writing. I didn’t think about how different it is unable to hear, even before you could speak.