Re: Origins of ASL and ASL peculiarities
| From: | Adam Walker <dreamertwo@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, January 22, 2002, 14:05 |
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>From: Clint Jackson Baker <litrex1@...>
>Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 05:25:21 -0800
>
>Siyo!
>For those who may be in the dark on this, American
>Sign Language was developed by a French instructor of
>the deaf named Gallaudet (after whom the university in
>DC is named).
Gallaudet was an American. Laurent Clerc was the Frenchman who came ovr to
help. Because of this French input ASL is a creol of various, previously
existing, native Sign varieties (like Martha's Vinyard Sign which seems to
have come over from Kent, England) with the French import.
IIRC he had been brought over to educate
>the daughter of a wealthy man, and as things
>progressed, this man became a kind of financial backer
>for Gallaudet in promoting deaf education.
>
>I meat a girl who knew sign when I was in England and
>was shocked that there were basically no similarities.
>
Yes, BSL is VERY different. I understand that there is a good deal of
dialectal difference in BSL, and I just learned that a THIRD SL is used in
Canada. It seems Nova Scotia uses an SL closely related to BSL!
>One more thing, ASL can be divided into dialects
>roughly corresponding to each individual state.
>Because each state has one state-run school for the
>deaf
Some of these dialects are, of course, more divergent than others. North
Carolina sign has some really weird signs. Their sign for "truck" looks
like the standard ASL sign for GRASS. Also, due to segregation there are
seperate Black and White dialects in the south.
(I think, or so I gathered from a deaf woman I
>got to know for a little while), the kids develop
>their own subculture and slanglike signs that come
>with it. They like to make puns--an "S" sign next to
>each ear to say "Sears" (a dept store), or a hand past
>the eyes and brought down for the sign for "milk" to
>say "pasteurized milk"--"past-your-eyes milk"!
>
I'm not sure about Sears, but pasturized milk is standard.
>Also, geography plays a role in other ways. "St.
>Louis" is usually spelled out "STL", but deaf St.
>Louisans simply trace an arc in the air representing
>the Gateway Arch to say "St. Louis".
There's been a movement toward using the local sign names for places.
Practically all the signs for nations have been changed in the last decade.
Not just the countries that have split, merged or changed official names.
ASL has chose to borrow the native name and discard the older names for
countries.
Adam
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