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Recognition of ASL as a Language - Coggle Diagram
Recognition of ASL as a Language
Gestures and Sign Language
Which came first?
Sign langauge
Speech probably came second!
Why?
progressed from signs to grunts and then speech
signs provide spacial and directional information
quieter when hunting
Gestures and benefits of sign language
VISUAL-GESTURAL
includes facial expressions and the rest of the body
can express three-dimensional ideas
change in size and shape
three-dimensional shapes
height and space parameters
actions of people and objects description with specificity
What does all sign language include in any language?
hand position
where the hand is in relation to the body
handshape
what shape the hand is in and how the fingers should be shaped
hand orientation
the way the hand is facing in relation to the vody
Sign Language and Deaf History
There have been signs from before 1817 in Martha's Vineyard
have evolved over the years
some changes from MVSL to ASL
two handed signs that touch the face became one handed
sign production is smoother with succintness
signs below the neck that were one handed become two handed
with this fluidity came diverging signs
Some stats and ASL history
40% came from unknown sources
most likely came from MVSL
One of the oldest signs
Institute
used to represent residential schools for deaf students
still is used to this day
about 60% of ASL signs originated from French signs from Clerc
Civil War Laws for Education
took away the diverse cultural languages from immigrants and native americans
made it so that ASL was no longer taught in schools
mainly bc AGB said it was a foreign language that shouldn't be taught
English was the primary language to unionize people
Old Schools teaching methods
sign language was taught peer to peer
teachers would not use ASL in the classroom
the primary form of communication was oral until sign language was a last resort
modern day there is a hybrid approach using ASL and speech
ASL Research and Early Findings
pioneer of studying sign language
Stokoe was chair of the Gallaudet University English department
had no experience with sign language
fascinated with sign language
convinced that ASL was a highly developed language linguistically
established the Linguistics Research Laboratory in 1957
the Deaf community did not support it at first
he studied sign language for several years to find patterns
eventually determined that sign followed specific rules naturally
Stokoe published his findings
Sign Language Structure: An Outline of the Visual Communication Systems of the American Deaf
he noticed that sign language was based upon handshape, location, and movement
Received a lot of backlash from the Deaf community
they did not like how he assigned new names to parts of sign language and called it ASL
he continued his studies though
did not stop discussing ASL and linguistics
started a "ripple effect" that got ASL recognized as an actual language especially in universities
ASL as a Language
Visual-Gestural language
meaning that people use their eyes instead of ears to understand the language
full of significant movements and shapes of the hands and body
the movements serve as the words
ASL contains its own phonology, morphology and syntax
ASL is NOT just a form of English
morphology
study of word formation
the process of using morphemes to bring two words together
ASL uses morphemes all the time
in assimilation it's when two signs become more and more similar until they become one sign
Syntax
Sentence types
how a sentence is organized
the parameters for certain sentence types
phonology
the five parameters
Movement
Orientation
Location
Non-manual markers
Handshape