While talking about ASL abounds, a very few schools teach Deaf children the parts of signs: hand shapes, palm orientations, onset/coda locations, non-manual expressions, and modifier movements. Many well-educated Deaf adults whose language is ASL couldn't even discuss the H-deletion when two signs are used in sequence, and they couldn't even discuss five language components important to effective communication: ASL phonology, ASL semantics, ASL syntax, ASL discourse, and ASL pragmatics. This results in a shameful experience especially when we meet our counterparts who can hear and have studied our language and culture.
ASL/English bilingual education seems quite popular, as it is Spanish/English bilingual among Spanish speaking people. The difference is that Spanish is a spoken language so this type of "bilingualism" is just one of many loose and misleading expressions concealing a hidden agenda of language hegemony of English over Spanish. ASL, on the other hand, isn't a spoken language; it is a signed language.
ASL has a powerful capacity of language borrowing in which the English word order can be used while signing. English does not have this language borrowing power as it cannot be spoken in the ASL "word order." ASL can do what English cannot.
There are all the ingredients here for the tower of Babel or for the kind of bitter disputes over Signed English and initialized signs which have plagued Deaf education. Yet the institutions of higher education, namely Gallaudet University and National Technical Institution for the Deaf, have continued to distribute books on Signed English and initialized signs. These institutions are sending out wrong signals to our society.
ASL may be a language of great beauty and subtly. However, if you keep bastardizing ASL by signing in the English word order, you cannot communicate honestly. Signing in the English word order constantly is like painting yourself into the corner for life. Apply ASL as much as you humanly know it!
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What do you mean exactly when you say "ASL has a powerful capacity of language borrowing in which the English word order can be used while signing. English does not have this language borrowing power as it cannot be spoken in the ASL "word order." ?" I would like to understand more about this. My mother, who used to teach deaf children, tried to explain how the sentence structure in ASL is different from English, but I didn't quite understand how until now.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I understand what he is saying. Signing isn't as literal as speaking English. You don't need to see the signs in order, as you would English, to understand that someone is asking what you did over the weekend. I'm not sure what signs are used for that conversation, but that was just an example I could think of.
DeleteOk thanks, that makes sense.
DeleteNo problem :)
DeleteSo, spoken word order is different from signed word order? Also, I wasn't aware that there were so many components to sign language. ASL is so complex and intriguing. :)
ReplyDelete~Alexandra Woods
Would spoken word order differ as they do from one language to another? For example: in English I would say 'I have big expectations for this class' and in Spanish I would translate 'Tengo expectativas grandes en esta clase(I have expectations big en this class')
ReplyDeleteWould an example for borrowing from the English word order be finger spelling a word like 'Nitrogen' because some things are difficult to describe using sign?
I love how educational that information was. Very big eye opener for me.
ReplyDelete"ASL may be a language of great beauty and subtly. However, if you keep bastardizing ASL by signing in the English word order, you cannot communicate honestly."
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I've really come to love about ASL is how simple it is to communicate, even when one is not yet aware of all of the meanings behind the signs. As someone who has attempted (and sometimes succeeded) in learning multiple spoken languages I'm consistently amazed at how easy it is to understand. Thought-based language (ASL, written Mandarin/Cantonese/Japanese/other Asian languages) have always astounded me as a somewhat quadrolingual person. The communication seems much more (for lack of a better word) heartfelt, more open, and (as stated) honest. It's really, *truly*, astounding.
This was a good read, I had no idea ASL has experienced so many boundaries in the classrooms, and communication in general. I like the quote "ASL can do what English cannot." Its good to know about the English word order too. Information = understanding.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I wish people took enough time to truly learn something that is foreign to them. It really would make a huge difference in this world. And it really would be nice if schools were able to have what they needed to teach ASL correctly. ASL to me is something that is very beautiful. I want to learn as much of it as I can. I am grateful to have an instructor as yourself who can teach us the true way it's done. :)
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that all language has different rules it goes by. ASL is no different. It can be a beautiful, flowing language and deserves to be recognized as such.
ReplyDelete