Upon preparation for college I began to brainstorming
classes that I thought I would find interesting. My advisor suggested American
Sign Language to me and I immediately thought it was a great idea because I had
always wanted to learn how to sign. When I registered I thought that sign
language was going to be pretty straight forward, this word translates into
this sign. I thought that every English word would just have its own sign and
would be a literal translation. I had no idea that it was a language of its
own. After having figured that out it put the class in a whole new perspective
for me. I learned that the sentence structure and even facial expressions were
different from English. Once I discovered this new revelation I began to
explore a few chapters into my book, “For Hearing People Only” by Matthew S.
Moore & Linda Levitan.
Chapter 1:
As I started to read Chapter 1 the
very first page stood out to me. It stated that, “ASL is a unique language with
its own grammatical rules and syntax (sentence structure), and is every bit as
precise, versatile, and subtle as English.” For me this just confirmed that I
had been so wrong thinking that sign language was just another form of English.
I was beginning to form an idea of how ASL was a language in itself and
therefore that’s why my advisor recommended it for me to take and why it was
considered a foreign language. I found it interesting that in the very
beginning the author explained why ASL didn’t have a REAL definition. I
expected that it would have a real specific definition that would help me piece
every aspect of ASL that we are learning in class. It later made sense to me
though because every signer is different, signs are going to be different and
facial expressions aren’t going to be the same for every person. Sign language
seems to still be evolving since Laurent Clerc brought it to the United States
and from what was used at Old Hartford. “New signs are gradually introduced;
old signs are altered or dropped.” Therefore I understand how no REAL definition
can be formed. I really enjoyed reading about how ASL can be very expressive,
more than English can be. The way that ASL incorporates the raising and
lowering of the eyebrows, hand shapes, and body positions is a great way to
communicate a message. Even if the receiver doesn’t understand a couple of the
signs that you use they can still see the bigger picture because of all the
body language. When reading that some people considered ASL to be “animal-like”
I was shocked. It really upset me because that is there only form of
communication, and I don’t consider the expression of it to be “animal-like” I
consider it being someone who is very animated in a way that helps them
communicate to others to the best of their community. I didn’t understand why parents
of deaf children wouldn’t want their child practicing ASL; I didn’t understand
why they thought it was destructive. When the chapter later discussed how ASL
would be perfect for people in the CIA I thought it was absolutely genius!
Towards the end of the chapter I became very motivated to learn sign language
through all the efforts Laurent Clerc. When I read that “there was no attempt
to teach speech skills. [That] The emphasis was on education.” I felt that the
deaf community was being discriminated against. I was glad to hear that Clerc
and his wife, and later his descendant’s, took the time to help teach the deaf
when others considered it to be a waste of time and how through his work the
school he set up “Old Hartford”, was used as an example for how other Deaf
schools would later be set up. This led to the “Golden Age of Deaf Culture”
which was so important because it was when people began to be “fluent in sign,
and articulate in written English”.
Chapter 2:
Before beginning the class I always
thought that Sign Language was a universal language. I never knew that there
was ASL, BSL, FSL, and many more. I thought it was neat that because of Thomas
Hawkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc the ASL that we learn today shares many
similarities to FSL. Reading this chapter also helped me develop the idea of
why ASL can vary so much, the reason being that every region may use different
signals in order to convey the same word. Later on in the reading when reading
about how creative deaf people can be I began to think about my ASL class.
Whenever our teacher would sign a signal that our class didn’t comprehend she
found other ways to try to display what she meant. “They improvise using
gestures, pantomime, {and} expressions…” I think this allows a deaf person to
be more expressive when trying to sign to a beginning ASL student.
“Gestuno” or the idea of
an International Sign Language I think is a great idea to help deaf people in
different parts of the world help convey messages to one another. I think that
this would be used in settings such as international conventions, or business
meetings or even in United Nation Assemblies.
Chapter 3:
When I read this chapter I guess I
had never even considered Braille and ASL to be similar. I feel as if they are
very different, one dealing with the loss of hearing and the other eyesight. I
think it is a little ridiculous to expect them to be similar other than that
they are both ways of receiving a message. When I read that the blind often get
more respect than the deaf I began to get a little irritated because I feel as
if society expects deaf people to communicate in the same way as a hearing
person which is unfair to them because they do communicate efficiently it is
just using a method that most people are unfamiliar with.
I think that as far as written
communication that Braille was a cool way to have written messages translated
for a blind person. I also thought that Braille was like Morse code just
raised. I do have respect though for both the deaf and the blind because I know
that it would be a constant struggle to have to make up for the loss or lack of
one of your senses. I guess you never
can say how you would react to a situation until you are put in it, but
I do think that it would be extremely difficult to have to reteach myself to
use my other senses to my advantage to help make up for one not functioning
properly.
Chapter 4:
The abbé Charles-Michael de l’Epée
was important to the preservation of sign language and the community because “…
[He] had nothing to do with invention of sign language. Rather, he recognized the importance of sign
language as the best way to communicate with and educate deaf people. And he pioneered its use in an institutional
setting”. I think it was incredibly humble of him to go and be taught by the
deaf in order to help teach them. By
helping teach the twin deaf sisters he “was the first hearing person to go to
the Deaf community, to learn its language, to let deaf people teach him”. This later inspired him to establish the
National Institute for Deaf Mutes in Paris, which was a free public school for
deaf students. And since he invented some new signs in addition to ASL he
helped represent French grammar that FSL did not portray.
Abbe Roch-Ambroise Cucurron Sicard was important
to the preservation of sign language and the communication needs of the deaf by
the adaptation of his book, “Gallaudet studied it and ultimately adapted it for
American use”. The institute he directed taught Jean Massieu who later taught
Larent Clerc who brought FSL to the United States which began ASL.
Chapter 5:
At first when I thought that ASL
was just like a literal translation of English I thought it would have
similarities to BSL. Once I realized that ASL was a language of its own I
didn’t expect for ASL to be like BSL because American Sign Language originated
from FSL. “BSL uses a two-handed manual alphabet (one of the few such still in
use); ASL, like FSL, [uses a] one-handed version derived from the Spanish
system”. I remember seeing this in class
when our teacher finger spelled her name in ASL then showed us what it would be
using BSL, this really helped me see how different the two languages are. The
signs between ASL and BSL can also be the same but have different meanings.
Which makes sense because even in ASL the sign for one word in one region could
be similar to a sign common in another region that has different meaning. We
also learned in class how just the orientation of a sign can change the meaning
of a word, for example the word meet.
I think
it would be incredibly challenging to learn ASL then also learn BSL. I feel
like I would mix up some signals between the two which would completely change
the meaning in my communication. It would be like mixing French and Spanish in
a sentence. They are two different languages that may look similar but are
different.
I think
the British use the phrase “Deaf and Dumb” because the schools they had
established for the deaf declined and so they aren’t as quite open to another
form of communication, therefore they are looked down upon. I think that
America finds this term politically incorrect because America is growing in the
number of people who use and teach ASL every day. ASL is becoming very popular
and is now considered its own language so society is more accepting.
When I
learned about Princess Dianna being tutored in BSL I was really impressed with
her as a leader and her efforts to address a deaf community. I think that was
great for her to attempt even though she didn’t learn many signs. I have never
heard of any other public figures doing this but I would respect people who at
least attempted. One thing I learned at the Deaf Culture Event is that people
understand that you are new to the language and really just appreciate that you
are putting in effort to learn the language.
Chapter 6:
The syntax and grammar that ASL
uses is way different than what I had expected. I had no idea that it would not
be in the same order as English so that shocked me. I feel like it will just
take me time to adjust to the syntax of ASL, but I feel like eventually it will
become more natural for me. I find it
very unique how expressive ASL is, and how it can express the “signer’s mood,
feelings, or attitude”. ASL reminds me so much of charades and I love how the
use of body language expresses emotions that words sometimes can’t. I also
learned that “the face is used as a grammatical marker”. I connected this idea
to the class period when we learned about lowering our eyebrows for Wh question
and raising them to ask Yes/No questions. Both are ways that we can use our
expressions to portray what kind of punctuation we are using.
Chapter 7:
In the beginning of class I
wondered how we would write things for the course. I wasn’t all that surprised when I read that
ASL does not have a written form. I didn’t exactly know how you would go about
writing in ASL when you are using body expressions. I struggled with this when
I wanted to take notes in class on the new vocabulary we had learned. I wanted
to be able to write down things to help me jog my memory on each word and found
that the only way I knew how to do this was by just describing in English the
parameters of each sign by understanding H-O-L-M-S, which stands for the hand
shape, orientation, location, movement and signals. In this chapter we also
learn about Dr.Stokoe who has made a large contribution to ASL. He discovered how
to make computer programs that translates ASL for us. We may not be able to go
and read an ASL newspaper but we can now use websites and programs to help
visually display signals used in ASL.
Chapter 8:
Deaf students should have the
opportunity to formally learn ASL through school because I think that it would
help them become “fluent, skillful signers” not only in the outside world but
in subjects pertaining to their school work.
I think that if they learned proper ASL it could help unify the language
as a whole creating more universal signs rather than having specific signs used
in just one region. I understand though that the students learn about ASL by
“total-immersion”. I didn’t realize that our classroom would use this style of
teaching. I found this really frustrating to learn in the beginning because
everything is foreign. I think that once you learn the meaning of a few signs
and through repetition it can help us discover more signs, so it becomes a
little easier as time goes on. I do think this method is very complicated but
it must help because according to this chapter, the third most effective way to
learn sign language is to “associate with them regularly in the classroom or
office”. I think that this method will help me in the long run.
At the
end of this chapter it discusses ways to help you learn better when starting
out as an ASL student. One of those ways is through the use of a video camera.
“Videotapes of skilled native ASL users are good as a supplement, but real live
person-to-person interaction is the best way”. I absolutely agree with this
helpful method. I have recently started taping class and putting the videos onto
my laptop so that I can go and review signs that we learned during class. This
method helps me remember the parameters of each sign which helps me later on in
remembering the sign and being able to use the sign when practicing.
Chapter 9:
Jokes that use the play on words
will translate into ASL but loses meaning doing so. I think this could be
frustrating to many deaf people because they want to understand the joke but
they have no way of understanding. A hearing person could translate it for them
but if it was a play on words then the humor would be lost. If these were on standardized test I would
think that deaf children would be at a great disadvantage, I don’t feel like
they would do that though because it would be discriminating against the deaf
community.
As far as
the letter David Anthony had written, I never thought of the book title, “For
Hearing People Only” to be showing superiority. I always considered the title
to just be a disclaimer, like a Cultural about the Deaf community for Dummies
kind of book, to inform hearing people of a language that they have a hard time
relating too. I thought that his remarks attacking the examples the authors used
for “Homonyms” was a little over the top. Clearly the authors were just trying
to give examples so that hearing people would understand how a joke could lose
its humor in translation. I thought the writer’s response back to him addressed
his concerns professionally and explained how they didn’t mean for the title of
the book to be used as slander against deaf people.
Chapter 10:
Before reading the chapter I had
never really considered ASL to have different accents because it wasn’t a
verbal language, but I think that my definition of a “language” has changed.
When thinking about someone having an accent I had always thought about the way
people pronounced different words in different regions. This chapter taught me that
accents are not just about the pronunciation of words. ASL teaches us that
people can do different signs for the same word in different regions, and that
classifies them as having an accent. After reading this chapter that idea made
perfect sense. Some learn the formal way of signing and others may use a form
of “Signed English”.
When trying to think about how this
idea could be applied, I thought about our class room and how Zach and Ms. Webb
sometimes sign the same things but in different ways. For example, we were in
class practicing the word college. Zach had learned to do a motion that
required more of an up and down movement where as our teacher had learned more
of a circular motion. Either sign clearly works and communicates the word
effectively it is just they had different accents.
I had also never heard about the
“Deaf Accent” vs. “Hearing Accent” before.
I could see how a hearing person may sign differently, how it may not
come as natural to them. “Few hearing people become really fluent signers, a
native signer can usually (though not invariably) recognize a hearing person by
the slightest halting quality of their signing, expression, and movement, and
the way the mouth words while signing.” I’m sure these are all things that a
deaf person would notice allowing them to determine a hearing person vs. a deaf
person.
