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: slemenjc@spart5.k12.sc.us To use this PowerPoint presentation in its entirety, please give credit to the author. 3/27/2017

Sign Languages Around the World Jack Slemenda Converse College A look at France, China and South Africa 3/27/2017

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. 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

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. 3/27/2017

Just to name a few… French Sign Language South African Sign Language Chinese Sign Language 3/27/2017

French Sign Language – Langue des Signes Francaise (LSF) 1st 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) 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

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” 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

And the Winner is… 2004 - LSF officially recognized as a language Oralism still used 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

Communication Between Hearing and Deaf Between Deaf Adults 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 3/27/2017

Norman Neider- Heitmann 1974 – Appointed to research sign languages used in South Africa Hoped to standardize the signs Help all language groups communicate better 3/27/2017

7 years later… Talking to the Deaf was published 1st 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 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

Why so few? Chinese is a tonal language Same phonetic pronunciations with different intonations have different meanings Deaf children cannot hear to distinguish tones 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017

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. 3/27/2017

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 3/27/2017