Re: CHAT: My new treasure
| From: | Adam Walker <dreamertwo@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, January 22, 2002, 11:48 |
|---|
>From: Tristan Alexander McLeay <anstouh@...>
>Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 21:59:33 +1100
>
>And I'm just wondering if sign languages other than Auslan have names other
>than <Country> Sign Language?
Well, I doubt that Auslan is a self-designation for the language, but
American Sign Language is sometimes called Ameslan by hearing people in
close contact with the Deaf community. ASL is commonly use among Deaf to
refer to their language the full three-sign name AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE is
not used all that often. Here in Taiwan it seems to be TAIWAN SIGN. They
refer to ASL as MEI SIGN, where MEI is the first half of the sign for MEIGUO
= America. The MEI used in these compounds is not the same MEI used for the
sense of beautiful which is the ordinary significance of the Chinese
character. It is in fact the ASL sign for AMERICA with a slightly different
motion since the motion used in the ASL sign is foreign to TSL.
And more importantly---if this is a ligitimate
>question---what do the various speakers of sign languages call themselves
>in
>their respective language?
TSL speakers (at least the ones I've met) seem to refer to themselves as
TAIREN. The part I've written as TAIis a single sign which is the name for
Taiwan, but is also used in combination with north, south middle and East
for the names of the cities Taipei, Tianan, Taichung and Taitung. REN is
the sign for people or person. Of course they also call themselves Deaf.
What the do not do is call themselves Chinese. That may differ in Taipei in
which case I would attribute it to politics. The South of Taiwan is very
strongly pro-independence.
>(Can one transcribe signs into letters?
The usual convention in ASL is to write the sign's most basic English
translation (or the most salient one) in all-caps. There is also the Stoke
notation for indicating hanshapes, placements and movements. I haven't
learned it, but I once saw a really nice Thai Sign Language organized
according to that principle! Sign Writing is a system that is being used
and taught in Nicaragua.
Or at least
>say Auslan's name for itself is Jump Up And Down While Pointing At The Sun,
>which is obviously derived from BSL's name for itself, Walk Left And Right
>While Digging In The Ground, as regular sign changes from BSL to Auslan
>include
>Left-To-Right to Up-And-Down and Down to Up. Yes, I know these aren't
>ligitimate words in the languages mentioned, but I've used them to
>illustrate a
>point.)
>
Well, there hasn't been an awful lot of work done in comparative Sign
linguistics. Most of what I have seen Is along the lines of. . . .
*acdemic voice* Ah hem. The core vocabulary of SL A shows a 34% similarity
to the core vocabualry of SL B. This result was arrived at useing a
modified Swadesh List. It would be intriguing to compare these result with
a comparison to SL C.
I've never seen attempts at reconstructions or proto-forms.
>And France has TWO sign langs? Oh god... I thought the fact that deaf
>Aussies,
>Brits and Americans couldn't communicate all that easirly was bad enough...
>
India's got four or five. China's got Shanghia, Canton, Beiging, Sichuan
and Hong Kong varieties that I've heard of. I'm not sure if anyone knows if
they're really seperate languages or just regional dialects. Hong Kong is
supposed to be partly derived from Shanghai.
Canada's got two. Canadian Sign Language, which is a dialect of ASL, and
LSQ in Quebec.
While Colombia, Singapore and IIRC Malaysia use local varieties of ASL. I
think I recall hearing that Zimbabwe uses ASL too.
There are supposed to be several Sings used in Israel, one among Israeli
Jews another among Palestinians and oodles more among immigrant Jewish
communities.
The world is a wondrous place.
Adam
>Tristan
>
> --- jogloran <exponent@...> wrote: > Adam Walker
><dreamertwo@H...> wrote:
> > <<
> > Anyhow, the friend who works at the dept store took me over to the
> > language
> > books where he showed me a treasure which I could not resist -- a
> > three
> > volume intro to Hong Kong Sign Language! I've already scanned
> > through it
> > and have found lots of similarities with Taiwan Sign Language, but
> > about as
> > many differences. There are also some similarities with the few
> > words of
> > Japanese Sign Language and Korean Sign Language that I know.
> > >>
> >
> > Hmm, I'm not too familiar with asian sign languages; how do they work
> > in comparison to others?
> >
> > Imperative
>
>
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