Re: THEORY: Question about the evolution of language

On Tue, 7 Sep 1999, Nik Taylor wrote:

> Speaking of sign languages, what is the origin of "standard" SL's like
> ASL?
Other people have already answered this one.  Essentially, all sign
languages have more or less the same origin - as creoles which grew
out of pidgins used at schools and asylums for the deaf (historically,
the only places where significant communities of signers could come
together).  In some cases the pidgins were signed versions of spoken
languages (Exact Signed English, for instance), in other cases they
were invented, in other cases they grew 'naturally' out of a combination
of homesigns and stylised gestures.  Most sign languages, I think, have
a mixed history.  ASL has a French Sign Language substrate, but has
borrowed from various American regional signed languages, and has also
probably borrowed some homesigns.  There are also a significant number
of borrowings from English, as you might imagine.

> > What I'm disputing is your characterisation of NSL as having arisen sui
> > generis, as it were.  NSL definitely developed out of a pidgin, which
> > in turn grew out of the sharing of certain common homesign conventions
> > among students at the recently-established school for the deaf in
> > Managua.  Just because NSL developed differently from spoken creoles
> > that we know about is no reason not to call it a creole.
>
> Hmm, you may be right.  However, there's still a dramatic difference, in
> that most creoles come from simplified languages, while the homesign
> systems on which NSL was ultimately based were essentially invented,
> yes?  And were never full languages, even by your own admission, they
> were only pidgin-level.
I agree that the pidgin 'substrates' of NSL and spoken creoles had
different origins.  What amazes me is that the development of NSL
pidgin into a full-blown language seems to be following exactly the
same trajectory as, say, Tok Pisin, when it developed from a pidgin
into a creole.  You even find the same kind of 'age gap' phenomenon,
where older children (teenagers) tend to use the more impoverished
pidgin form, while younger children (those below the critical age
for language development) tend to use the richer creole form.

Matt.