The real voyage of American Sign Language (ASL)
discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes,
but in having new eyes for the language
and culture of the Deaf.
I've met and known some people who naturally deny American Sign Language (ASL). Isn't Gebarentaal (Dutch Sign Language into which I was born) also the opposite true? Little thought fosters gullibility, but careful consideration leads to the logical conclusion that both ASL and Gebarentaal don't exist for them. These people are called Audists--people who practice the hegemony of spoken language over signed language.
Obviously, terming oneself Audist explains as little as calling oneself advocate of ASL, for as there are different sorts of thought, so there are many possible forms of unthinkable. Audists might find ASL or Gebarentaal 'codswallop', a British term for nonsense. But this isn't really a philosophical position, merely a selfish personal reaction, like saying: 'Other people understand her, but Jackie does nothing for me.' If we combine this with the type of thing troubling to the simpler sort of ASL or Gebarentaal users--the parts of signs, a classifier so clear that you can figure its size or shape, singularity or plurality, and the like--then we can really appreciate a loose paraphrase of Socrates: An unexamined sign language is not worth respecting and revering.
ASL plays no direct role in language philosophy but I rely heavily on ASL for information, knowledge, and communication. Audists undoubtedly contribute to ASL's language bigotry, especially in Education of the Deaf and even in higher education at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.
However, if representative, the survey shows that most ASL users haven't just stopped using ASL. 'Depth in language bigotry' has brought some people to Audism, which is problematic.
Carl Schroeder, October 6, 2012
i think it's really sad. I don't there shouldn't be discrimation against ASl people.we all need to be treated eqaul.
ReplyDeleteWow! She is really good. I didn't understand anything though. I caught signs here and there, but that was it. I wish I knew what the conversation was about.
ReplyDeleteWow, I don't even know what to say about this ...
ReplyDeleteI can say with the little bit of signs ive learn thus far and have know for years, it has helped with my working with Audism children.
ReplyDeleteDenying ASL is a language? Codswallop. A language that one doesn't know perhaps. Experts opinions not withstanding (of course ASL is a language, fool)... after studying just a little bit it's crystal clear that of course it is. One that I plan to embrace as spoken language does me less and less good.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think of how barbarians were so named. When the Greeks heard them speak, all they heard was "bar bar bar" and so they came to be called Barbarians ("they of incomprehensible speech"). Assumed by the Greeks to be uncivilized and uneducated, etc.... "whoever is not Greek is a Barbarian" (whoever does not use oral language is dim-witted, be it ASL or Gebarentaal or another signed language).
Seems to be to be a very xenophobic position. Once again, it's that fear of "the other" rearing its ugly head.
It is an interesting and perhaps unintended example that I (at my present level of understanding) cannot understand Jackie. How does that make me feel? Makes me feel that I need to expand my knowledge. It does not make me feel like Jackie is "gibbering" in "codswallop". It makes me feel deficient. Perhaps the people that regard ASL as codswallop are insecure and cannot accept that they don't understand? That point of view often makes people behave badly