Tripoli University

Faculty of Languages
Post-graduate Studies program

Written By :
Saleh Ali Abu Hussain

Supervised by :

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 15 Dr. Nadia Nuseir

GESTURES AND SIGN LANGUAGES

 GESTURES AND SIGN LANGUAGES
• American Sign Language (ASL) is a visual language designed for the eyes, not the
ears, where signers use four key aspects of visual information: shape, orientation,
location, and movement
• ASL is a primary sign language used by deaf communities, with British Sign
Language (BSL) and French Sign Language (SLF) being other primary sign
languages, each unique and not mutually intelligible.
• Historically, ASL evolved from French Sign Language in the 18th century and
developed into its own distinct language in the United States during the 19th
century.
• Signed English, a system that corresponds signs to English words in English word
order, is used to facilitate communication between deaf and hearing individuals
but is not English or ASL but serves as a bridge between the two languages.
• ASL incorporates non-manual components like facial expressions, head
movements, and finger-spelling to convey meaning effectively in face-to-face
interactions.
• Gestures are distinct from sign language like ASL; gestures are used while
speaking, whereas sign language is used instead of speaking.
• Within gestures accompanying speech, there are different types like iconic that
reflect the meaning of spoken words and deictics that point to things or people
being referred to.
• Alternate sign languages are systems developed for limited communication
where speech cannot be used, while primary sign languages like ASL are the first
language of a group of people who do not use a spoken language with each
other.
• Signed English (or Manually Coded English) corresponds signs to English words
in English word order, facilitating communication between deaf and hearing
individuals.
• ASL is a widely used language in the United States, with a signing population of
at least half a million and perhaps as many as two million.
• Until relatively recently, the use of ASL was discouraged in most educational
institutions for the deaf.
• Historically, very few teachers of the deaf learned ASL, or even considered it to be
a "real" language at all.
• For many people, Sign wasn't language, it was "merely gestures"
• Gestures are used while speaking, whereas sign language like ASL is used instead
of speaking.
• Examples of gestures include making a downward movement with one hand
while talking about not doing very well in a class or making a twisting motion
with one hand as you describe trying to open a bottle or jar.
• The gestures are just part of the way in which meaning is expressed and can be
observed while people are speaking and signing.
• In the study of non-verbal behavior, a distinction can be drawn between gestures
and emblems.
• Emblems are signals such as "thumbs up" (= things are good) or "shush" (= keep
quiet) that function like fixed phrases and do not depend on speech.
• Emblems are conventional and depend on social knowledge (e.g. what is and isn't
considered offensive in a particular social world).
• Types of gestures Within the set of gestures that accompany speech, we can
distinguish between those that echo, in some way, the content of the spoken
message and those that indicate something being referred to.
• Iconics are gestures that seem to be a reflection of the meaning of what is said,
as when we trace a square in the air with a finger while saying I'm looking for a
small box.
• Another common group of gestures can be described as deictics.
• As noted in Chapter 10, the term "deictic" means "pointing" and we often use
gestures to point to things or people while talking.
• We can use deictics in the current context, as when we use a hand to indicate a
table (with a cake on it) and ask someone Would you like some cake?.
• We can also use the same gesture and the same table (with cake no longer on it)
when we later say That cake was delicious.
• There are other gestures, such as those described as beats, which are short quick
movements of the hand or fingers.
• These gestures accompany the rhythm of talk and are often used to emphasize
parts of what is being said or to mark a change from describing events in a story
to commenting on those events.
• When hand movements are used in order to "speak," we can describe them as
part of a sign language.
• Types of sign languages There are two general categories of language involving
the use of signs: alternate sign languages and primary sign languages.
• By definition, an alternate sign language is a system of hand signals developed
by speakers for limited communication in a specific context where speech cannot
be used.
• In some religious orders where there are rules of silence, restricted alternate sign
languages are used (e.g. by monks in a monastery).
• Among some Australian Aboriginal groups, there are periods (e.g. times of
bereavement) when speech is avoided completely and quite elaborate alternate
sign languages are used instead.
• Less elaborate versions are to be found in some special working circumstances
(e.g. among bookmakers at British racecourses or traders in commodity
exchanges).
• In all these examples, the users of alternate sign languages have another first
language that they can speak.
• In contrast, a primary sign language is the first language of a group of people
who do not use a spoken language with each other.
• British Sign Language (BSL) and French Sign Language (SLF), as used for everyday
communication among members of the deaf communities of Britain and France,
are primary sign languages.
• Contrary to popular belief, these different primary sign languages do not share
identical signs and are not mutually intelligible.
• British Sign Language is also very different from American Sign Language (ASL)
which, for historical reasons, has more in common with French Sign Language.
• We will focus our attention on ASL in order to describe some features of a
primary sign language, but first, we have to account for the fact that, until fairly
recently, it was not treated as a possible language at all.
• Oralism It was not until the 1960s that any serious consideration was given to the
status of ASL as a natural language, following the work of William Stokoe (1960).
• Before that, it was believed by many well-intentioned teachers that the use of
sign language by deaf children, perhaps because it was considered too "easy,"
actually inhibited the acquisition of the English language.
• Since spoken English was what those teachers believed the children really