Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Contents
Aims 3
Study guide 3
1 Language and culture 4
2 The study of language 6
3 Visual-gestural communication 7
4 The structure of British Sign Language 12
5 Poetic form and sign language 13
6 The recognition of British Sign Language 16
Myths and misconceptions about sign language 19
Popular misconceptions 19
All sign languages are the same? 20
The iconic nature of sign language 22
Sign language is not grammatical? 24
Sign language is a concrete language and cannot express complex
ideas? 24
Sign languages are inferior to spoken languages? 25
Finger spellmg and sign language 27
Signing in use: variations on a theme 33
Sign Supported English 33
Pidgins and creoles 33
Signed English 34
Artificial slgn systems 35
Sign language acquisition 35
Early studies of sign language acquisition 35
How do children acquire language? 36
Language acquisition by hearing children 36
Language acquisition by deaf children 38
Advising hearing parents of deaf children 41
Teaching and assessing British Sign Language 43
11 Sign language interpreters 45
12 Language and power 48
Suggestions for further reading 53
Answers for page 22 53
References 53
Acknowledgements 56
Study guide
Because this unit is about British Sign Language, it draws heavily on video
material (the same material being used in different ways throughout),
Reader articles and Set Books. It also makes extensive use of activities which
are seen as an integral part of the work for this section of the course. This
means that studying this unit requires particularly careful planning. We
suggest that you go through the unit carefully, noting the activities
(particularly those involving another person) and the use of video material
and readings, so that you can plan your work to fit your circumstances. It
may be helpful, for example, to view all the video material first, or to leave
all the Reader articles to the end.
A suggested plan for study would be:
Week one
Review unit.
Study Sections 1-4, to gain or increase your understanding of BSL.
Week two
Study Sections 5-8, looking at misconceptions about sign language and sign
language as it is used.
Week three
Study Sections 9-12, looking at the acquisition of sign language, and
language and power. You should have time to review the unit at the end of
this week, perhaps by reviewing the video.
'If you do not know Brit~shSign Language but would like to learn it, the Study Skdls
and Resource Booklet will give you ideas on how you m ~ g h tpursue this.
1 Language and culture
You can cut off the fingers of deaf people and they will sign with
their arms, and you can cut off their arms and they will sign with
their shoulders.
(Reported by Hans Furth, 1973, in Deapess and Learning: A Psychosocial
Approach)
In the last unit the Deaf community and Deaf culture were described. One
of the main defining elements of Deaf culture is its language, which for the
British Deaf community is British Sign Language or BSL. Most definitions of
the Deaf community stress the importance of sharing a common language.
This is emphasized in the articles in Reader Two, Section 2 'Defining the
Deaf Community'. Deaf culture was described in Unit 2 partly in terms of
its stories, humour, games and traditions, all of which are interwoven with
the language of Deaf people-sign language
In all societies, language and culture are inextricably bound up together,
with each being a reflection of the other. The relationship between them
can be understood in two complementary ways: on the one hand the
language reflects and describes the culture in which it is used, while on the
other, and at the same time, it constructs that society. One way to
appreciate this is to draw an analogy with advertising. Television
commercials are often criticized for making people want the products
advertised-for creating a need. The advertiser's response is often to say that
they only reflect society, that they can only work because they show to
people images with which they can easily identify. We would want to say
that both processes are occurring together.
The power of language to reflect the society in which it is used and to
construct its reality is an important concept. Some languages talk of
concepts that would not be meaningful in others. Roy Harris gives the
following examples:
ASL has a unifying function, since deaf people are unified by their
common language. But the use of ASL simultaneously separates deaf
people from the hearing world. So the two functions are different
perspectives on the same reality-one from inside the group which is
unified, and the other from outside. The group is separated from the
hearing world. This separatist function is a protection for deaf people
For example, we can talk about anything we want, right in the middle
of a crowd of hearing people. They are supposed not to understand us.
It is important to understand that ASL is the only thing we have that
belongs to deaf people completely. It is the only thing that has grown
out of the deaf group. Maybe we are afraid to share our language with
hearing people. Maybe our group identity will disappear once hearing
people know ASL.
(Kannapell, 1980)