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Sign language as a language ESSAY
What is the importance of sign language
What is the importance of sign language
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Native American Sign Language
Very basic, elementary and logical characteristics made the Native American Sign Language the world's most easily learned language. It was America's first and only universal language. The necessity for intercommunication between Indian tribes having different vocal speech developed gesture speech or sign language (Clark; pg. 11). Although there is no record or era dating the use of sign language, American Indian people have communicated with Indian Sign Language for thousands of years. The signs illustrated ideas and the language conveyed a message. Many of the simplistic nonverbal gestures that were used by the Indian tribes across the United States are still in use around the world today.
Most of the credit for the development and implementation of Native American Sign Language has been given to the Plains Indians. However, it is believed that the Comanche tribe of Texas actually learned signing in Mexico and much of this information migrated north into the United States (Tomkins). For centuries, most of the Native Americans had been scattered throughout North America, living in the areas where early European explorers and settlers had found them. By the time Christopher Columbus brought word of the "new world" to Europe, the Indian population in North America was well established.
There is no doubt that gesture (sign) language has had immense use and value in the past. It was a learned skill that was once taught to children before they could even speak. Children less than 3 years of age could communicate efficiently with not only adult members of their own tribe and language, but literally any other Indian they came in contact with, no matter what tribe they came from (Comanche Lo...
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... for HEART; touch forehead, and make the sign for GOOD.
Historically unique to the Native Americans, Sign Language is used worldwide today. Gestures are used to communicate almost as much as spoken dialect, especially when one is relaying a story. Without gestures, speeches (and speakers) would quickly become dull and boring. The usefulness of gestures and Sign Language that enabled communication among the various American cultures of the past can not be overstated. Consider this, every nation on earth at one point or another, has universally nodded their head for yes or shaken their head for no.
Works Cited:
Comanche Lodge. "American Indian Sign Language." Feb. 2005
Clark, Winford P. The Indian Sign Language. University of Nebraska Press, 1982.
Tomkins, William. "A History of Native (Indian) Sign Language." June 2004
The Native Americans For at least fifteen thousand years before the arrival of Christopher Columbus and Thomas Hariot, Native Americans had occupied the vastness of North America undisturbed by outside invaders (Shi 2015 pg. 9). Throughout the years leading up to Columbus’s voyage to the “New World” (the Americas) and Hariot’s journey across the sea, the Indians had encountered and adapted to many diverse continents; due to global warming, climatic and environmental diversity throughout the lands (2015). Making the Native Americans culture, religion, and use of tools and technology very strange to that of Columbus’s and Hariot’s more advanced culture and economy, when they first came into contact with the Native Americans. To start with,
In part two the book is about the view of American Sign Language and the way people have naturally created grammar and the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language from basically nothing. He demonstrates that this languag...
...at sign language was a last resort if the child did not pick up lip reading and oral communication. Thomas now met someone who signed and spoke and realized that signing is a language in its own and its importance to people who could not hear the oral language. This began their quest to learn sign language and use it with Lynn despite the school and public opinion.
In American Sign Language a major part of the language entails being able to express emotions and types of questions through the use of non- manual signals such as when asking a yes-no question the eyebrows will go up but when asking a wh-question such as what the eyebrows go down. Another way to express something is through mouth morphemes this is the way your mouth is shaped to convey different meanings, such as size and grammar. Non-manual signals and mouth morphemes are just as important as any sign and enrich the language to make it possible to effectively communicate.
In the Unites States and Canada, an estimated range of 500,00 to 2 million people speak/use American Sign Language. According to the Census Bureau, ASL is the leading minority language after Spanish, Italian German and French. ASL is the focal point of Deaf Culture and nothing is dearer to the Deaf people’s hearts because it is a store of cultural knowledge and also a symbol of social identity, and social interactions. It is a fully complete, autonomous and natural language with complex grammar not derived and independent of English. ASL is visual manual, making visual manual words, moving the larger articulators od the limbs around in space. English uses audible words using small muscles
In general, sign language—as defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as “any means of communication through bodily movements … used when spoken communication is impossible or not desirable”—has been used by dozens of cultures for ages, but American Sign Language (ASL) is fairly new. The Native Americans hold one of the earliest records of sign language with their ancient system of communication using signs to converse and break “language barriers” between tribes who spoke different dialects (American). Because many of their cultures were so intertwined with various “shared elements,” the Indians were able to devise “common symbols” to communicate with each other without the use of formal interpreters (American). Across the sea, Juan Pablo de Bonet of Spain was conducting his own research of sign language for the deaf and published the first documentation of a manual alphabet in 1620 (Butterworth). Before ...
I suggest there be larger sample sizes and that all participants be randomly assigned to experimental groups. Not only would this help show empirical support, but results could then be generalized beyond the experiments. Longitudinal data should also be recorded in order to measure the long term effects of teaching children sign language or symbolic gestures, especially as it relates to development of language. If there more longitudinal data becomes available to analyze, then parents and educators could be better informed when making the decision use baby sign language or not. Also, there needs to be a more diverse sample of participants. Many studies only included with middle class parents. Since there is no evidence of harm to children with the use o baby sign language, I believe it is a useful communication tool.
Sign language is a natural human language, they have their own vocabularies and sentence structures. Sign language comes into practice wherever Deaf societies come into existence. Sign language is not identical worldwide; every country has its own language and accents; however, these are not the verbal or transcribed languages used by hearing individuals around them.
American Sign Language is not considered a foreign language for many reasons. These reasons are, it has no culture behind it, the language itself is based off of American English, the language is not used in any other countries besides the one in which it has originated, and American Sign Language has no official written form like other languages. For these reasons American Sign Language cannot be cons...
Sign language is a method of communication for people who have hearing or speech impairments. Sign language is a language that is made up of gestures using the hands and some facial expressions which classifies it as a visual language. There are two different versions of sign language for english, American Sign Language (ASL) and Pidgin Signed English (PSE). Both are widely used across the world, but the signer who uses the versions and the syntax will be different, while the signs and the actual use will be the same.
THESIS STATEMENT (central idea + preview statement): American Sign Language didn’t begin until 1814 which is fairly new language compared to modern languages such as English, Spanish, and French. ASL started when deaf education was first introduced in America. In this speech, we will be discussing the following: where, when, and why did ASL started, the history of Martha’s Vineyard, evolution of ASL, recognition of ASL as a real language.
In learning about the deaf culture I have taken on a new understanding about the people it includes. Through readings and the lessons, I have learned that being deaf has both its hardships and its blessings. The beauty of the language alone makes one want to learn all that he or she can about it. In this paper I will discuss the beauty of the language and the misconceptions the hearing world has about deafness.
According to Hutchison (2007), the pivotal moment in the early history of deaf education was the International Congress of the Education of the Deaf, which met in Milan in 1880. Prior to that time, sign language was widely used as the language of instruction in schools for the deaf around the world. At the Milan conference, leading educators passed several resolutions that effectively banned sign language from classrooms, stating the “incontestable superiority of speech over signs in restoring the deaf-mute to society, which gives him a fuller knowledge of language” (Hutchison, 2007, p. 481) and declaring that “the oral method should be preferred to that of signs in the education and instruction of deaf-mutes” (Hutchison, 2007, p. 481). Not only did the resolutions disallow the use of the na...
Learning sign language was a big part of my life. I originally learned the language to get around the rules in the cafeteria my fifth grade year, and now here I am, advocating for the deaf community. I always thought sign was something everyone should at least know the basics of, but as I get older and I see the deaf all around me I know it’s more than that. We learn German and French as second languages, but why does no one teach sign language? Are we really more likely to go to France than meet someone who is hearing impaired? So many are surprised to have someone understand them, and that just isn’t
...tention to how people react to one another’s comments, guessing the relationship between the people and guessing how each feels about what is being said. This can inform individuals to better understand the use of body language when conversing with other people. It is also important to take into account individual differences. Different cultures use different non-verbal gestures. Frequently, when observing these gestures alone the observer can get the wrong impression, for instance, the listener can subconsciously cross their arms. This does not mean that they are bored or annoyed with the speaker; it can be a gesture that they are comfortable with. Viewing gestures as a whole will prevent these misunderstandings. Non-verbal gestures are not only physical, for example; the tone of voice addressing a child will be different from the way it is addressed to an adult.