Sign Language Midterm: Class Notes I

What % of the American population is born with detectable hearing loss?

1. About 2-3/1,000 newborns

What % of American adults ages 18+ report some trouble hearing?

15%

About 1 in BLANK deaf students who graduate from high school have reading levels in between the BLANK and BLANK grades

1. 1/3

2. 2nd-4th grade

Difference between Deaf and deaf

1. Deaf: someone who is culturally deaf and uses ASL, often refers to people who have been deaf their entire lives. Implies active engagement with the deaf community.

2. deaf: refers to the medical condition of having hearing loss. Most likely do not use sign language and prefer to communicate orally. May identify as "lowercase d" if they were born to hearing parents and have NOT had any exposure to the deaf community

Medical model of deafness

1. deafness= medical issue

2. Person prefers to speak/lip read

3. Person wants to become "normal"

4. Prefers the term "hearing-impaired"

5. Wants to associate with the hearing world

Social model of deafness

1. Culture

2. Prefers ASL

3. Thinks they are "normal"

4. Prefers the term "Deaf"

5. Associates with the deaf world

Heather Whitestone

1. First deaf Ms. America

2. Said that the deaf community made her life hell because she didn't know/didn't want to learn ASL

3. Got a cochlear implant later in life, which caused a lot of controversy

4. Also a conservative activist

Hard of hearing

1. Widely-accepted term; used to describe someone with mild-moderate hearing loss

2. Often doesn't use sign language as their 1st/preferred language

Hearing impaired

1. a term the deaf community doesn't want you to use anymore!

2. What if we started calling hearing people "deaf impaired"?

3. Negative connotation- implies that something is wrong with you (medical model)

Deaf-Mute

1. Should NEVER be used at this point

2. Mute means someone can't talk but we know this isn't true; deaf people CAN talk

Deaf and dumb

1. Referred to a person who was born deaf and was unable to speak

2. NOT ACCEPTABLE AT ALL

3. Very derogatory term

4. Deaf people can be speak, but their vocalizations may not be easily understood by hearing people

Henry and his wife were excited that...

1. Their children were also born deaf

Alice (the treasurer of the Metro Silent Club, who was deafened later in life) says that those that suffered the most from her hearing loss were....

1. Her relatives and friends

2. As Helen Keller said, she would be rather be blind than deaf. Blindness cut her off from things, deafness cut her off from PEOPLE

What MUST hearing people who work in deaf education understand?

1. Deaf parents want a child who is similar to them, that they can communicate with

2. Deaf people don't walk around pitying themselves for not being able to listen to music in the same way hearing people can; they can still feel the vibrations and experience music in a different way

3. Hearing people also want certain things in their offspring, i.e., having long legs so they can be a dancer, being a star football player, etc.

4. We want our children to inherit our BEST characteristics

% of deaf children with hearing parents

1. More than 90%!

2. Many of these parents aren't as informed as we are, even though this is just the 1st week of class

3. Many hearing people have never studied deafness critically, or have never met a happy deaf person

4. Hearing parents with deaf children often ask themselves, "what did we do?"

Gloria's coping with the deaf world

1. She is walking in the door with no background knowledge on deaf people

2. Tries to cope with deaf culture in the same way that deaf people must cope/navigate the hearing world

The girl who grew up on a farm with deaf parents/siblings was...

1. Unaware that people communicated without sign language!

2. Assumed all families used sign at home instead of spoken English

Deaf clubs, impact of technology on the Deaf world

1. Deaf clubs in Boston, Revere, and Quincy have all closed because there is simply not the same need for them to exist anymore

2. In the past, deaf people could not use telephones, but now everybody just texts anyways

3. Deaf people were often isolated at work, so they wanted to hang out with people who were like them, even dragging their kids to the deaf club; many had BARS

4. It used to be acceptable for deaf people to just show up at someone's house, but now deaf people accept an invitation or something similar because they can text (gone are the "open door" social conventions of the past)

What is a common hallmark of deaf clubs in the US?

1. A staircase leading to the 2nd floor

Does the deaf community believe that being able to read lips is a useful skill?

1. It may be taught in deaf education, however many believe that lip reading is an innate skill.

2. However, research shows that lip reading can take some time, practice, and frustrations for people to become "fluent" in it

3. Others believe that lip reading is a waste of time because up to 60% of English sounds are indistinguishable from each other

4. Some kids report benefits from lip reading classes- however, nothing will be effective for ALL DEAF PEOPLE

5. Teachers may work with infants to teach them to read lips

Things that can influence whether someone can read your lips

1. Where your body is facing

2. Having a thick mustache/beard

3. Smiling too much?

4. Underbite/overbite

What did deaf people use to carry with them?

1. A pencil and paper to be able to write

2. However, no longer as necessary with cell phones

9 points of the Sign Language Continuum

1. Home signs

2. School signs

3. Local signs

4. ASL/Ameslan

5. Pidgin Signs/PSE

6. Signed English

7. Manual English

8. Seeing Exact English

9. Signing Exact English

Definition of home signs

1. Those signs that are particularly understood within a user's family; may be different than "established" ASl signs

2. Example: boy who asked his mom for a cookie

3. Typically invented by the deaf child; not uncommon in homes in which deaf children are raised by hearing parents

4. Without the ability to come up with a home sign system, many of these children would be unable to express any of their basic needs to their parents

Definition of school signs (aka "childrenese")

1. Those signs which belong to a particular school, and are used/reinforced within the context of the school community

2. Signs referring to the cafeteria, recess, water fountains, maybe name signs of specific people/administrators

3. Very important because many deaf children attend institutes of education that are specifically targeted towards the deaf/HOH

Definition of local signs

1. Those signs that are characteristic of the area where a person lives, or happens to be near

2. Example: the sign for McDonald's was once regional to DC (presumably because of Gally), but it slowly spread across the country

Definition of sign language "accents"

1. Sometimes you can tell where a person is from/where they learned to sign

Three factors included in sign language accents

1. Speed of signing

2. Use of slang

3. Use of touch

New York vs. Southern vs. California sign language accents: 5 differences

1. NY'ers are known to sign at a faster pace; signs are sharper

2. Southerners are known to sign at a slower pace; more flow/ease

3. Californians sign somewhere in between the speed of NY'ers/Southerners

4. Southerners are known for touching their face/chest more with their signs

5. NY'ers are known for using more slang

Who identified the racial differences in between white and black ASL?

1. Carolyn McCaskill: black professor of deaf studies at Gally

2. Grew up in rural Alabama

3. Enrolled at an integrated school when she was 15

4. Noticed that the signs used by the white teacher were very different than those she grew up using with her 2 deaf siblings, practiced at the Alabama School for the Deaf and Blind

What does Carolyn McCaskill research?

1. The degree to which two separate signing systems- one for blacks and whites- evolved AND continue to exist

2. Distinctive structure and grammar of Black Sign Language

6 distinctions between white and black ASL

1. Entire words are signed differently in black ASL (i.e., school, shoe)

2. Black ASL has a larger singing space; bigger hand motions/more body language

3. Black ASL uses more two-handed signs than in "mainstream" ASL

4. Black ASL is more "conservative" (preserves older forms of many signs)

5. Black ASL signers are less likely to show assimilatory lowering of signs produced on forehead

6. Black ASL= indicator of deaf, black pride; way for people to visually identify others who belong to this community

What was the historical reason why black ASL evolved in a distinct way? What is it's relationship with AAVE?

1. Black ASL evolved from racially-segregated schools in certain states, including residential schools for the deaf

2. Contemporary black ASL borrows many idioms from African-American English (i.e., "I feel you")

Definition of American Sign Language (aka ASL/Ameslan)

1. The language used by many deaf people when talking with other deaf people

What are the three key features of ASL?

1. Idiomatic- ASL idioms create bonds between signers because they are expressions that only "in-group" members can understand. Validates ASl as a unique/independent language from English

2. Compact

3. Expresses concepts through gestures

Why did ASL acquire the nickname of a "toilet language?"

1. Prof. Mulligan taught at a school that was strictly oral

2. Had to tell his students "good speech!"

3. Students would go to the bathroom together, in the stall, and gossip about hating the teacher; this is where they went to sign!

4. Why ASL acquired the nickname of "toilet language"; it used to be shameful and used in secret

Who ran the schools for the deaf for many years in Boston?

1. Catholic nuns

2. Nuns would slap kids' hands/make them sit on their hands, in order to prohibit students from signing

Philly Sign Language accent

1. Philadelphians speak with an accent, and deaf people are no different

2. Philly ASL retains more of its French roots

3. Laurent Clerc=1st sign language teacher in the US

Clerc opened/lead a school for the deaf in Philly; it was founded in 1820 and educated many deaf students, until it closed in 1984

Pidgin signs

1. Draws heavily from both ASL and Signed English, combining many of the characteristics of both

2. Liked Signed English, also common among people who learned to sign/became deafened at an older age

3. Used by people whose primarily spoken language is English

Can all ASl signs be directly translated into English?

NO

Signed English

1. Definition: incorporates the signs of ASl, but they are in English word order.

2. NO English inflections are included such as: -ed, -ing, or the plurals on nouns

3. Usually used by hearing people, and by deaf people who have become deafened AFTER they have acquired language

4. Signs for "was" and "were" are considered Signed English

5. Like Manual English, it is also used for language development. Allows teacher to reinforce the spoken word with its equivalent sign

Manual English definition

1. Definition: the use of ASL signs in English grammatical order. Incorporates word endings AND inflections, which brings it closer to standard English

2. ASL: "store go me"

3. Manual English: "I going to store"

Seeing Essential English/Signing Exact English

1. Definition: both attempt to bring the signer closer to English. SIGNS ARE BASED ON MORPHEMES, NOT CONCEPTS.

2. 1:1 correspondence of signs-morphemes

3. Morpheme: smallest meaningful units in language. NOT identical to a word because morphemes can sometimes stand alone, but words, by definition, always stand alone

4. Seeing Essential English modifies the handshapes, using the handshape of the 1st letter of the corresponding English word

What are morphemes?

1. Smallest meaningful units in language.

2. NOT identical to a word because morphemes can sometimes stand alone, but words, by definition, always stand alone

3 main influences/ingredients in the development of contemporary ASL

1. British

2. French

3. Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL)

1. Widely used from the early 19th century-1952; no fluent signers today

2. Sign language thrived, was used by both deaf and hearing people:

3. Unusually high % of deaf people due to prevalence of a recessive trait; almost anyone could have hearing and deaf siblings

4. Chilmark= highest concentration of deaf people

5. Deaf people lived remarkably independently, but there was still discrimination because of the language barrier

What are the 9 characteristics of ASL?

1. ASL condenses when possible, makes use of facial expressions and body language

2. ASL omits articles (a, an, the)

3. ASL can use one sign (with expression) to communicate a complete sentence

Example: sign for finish= "I have already done, that's enough"

4. ASL can use one sign to cover several English words

Sign for past can also mean a long time ago- distance/force of the hand motion indicates time

Sign for later can also mean "after a while"

5. ASL shows tense by context, or by adding signs such as: past, finish, later, not yet

6. ASL presents short sentences in various word orders. The most important word is FIRST

Example: eat finish noon

7. Long sentences seem to follow the time sequence in which the events occurred

Example: "yesterday me accident, work arrive noon"

8. ASL uses very little fingerspelling- signers tend to stay away from it, when possible. However, older deaf people often finger spell more than young people- may not be familiar with all the latest slang

9. ASL is NOT VOICED

Three Principles of Manual English

1. English should be signed as it is spoken, in order for the deaf child to receive linguistic input which will result in the mastery of English

Example: literal translation of idioms like "dry up" and "cut it out"

Inflections: talks, talked, talking

2. A sign should be translated to only one English equivalent

Examples: rite, right, write

Example 2: left, left home

3. Words are considered in three basic groups: basic, compound, complex

Manual English: basic words

1. Words that can have no more taken away from them

2. Examples: girl, talk, the

Basic words: 3 point criteria/examples

1. Three points= spelling, sound, and meaning

2. If any of these two factors are the same, the word is signed the same

3. Example: "the boys will run," "the motor will run," "your nose will run"

Manual English: compound words/examples

1. Compound words: two or more words put together. If the meaning together is consistent with the meaning separately, then they are signed as component words

2. Example: underline and understand

Underline: you can sign under and line separately to mean 1 word

Understand: you can't sign under and stand to mean an "understandable" word

Manual English: Complex Words/examples

1. Basic words with the addition of an affix or inflection. 2. An affix is added in signs, if it is added in English

3. Example: developmentally (1 sign in ASL, but the prefixes, word, and suffix are separate signs in Manual English)

Developmentally= 4 signs in Manual English

4. Becomes annoying for those who are trying to read/understand the sign

5 words with the most regional ASL variation

1. Birthday

2. Early

3. Soon

4. Halloween

5. Pizza

Reasons for regional variation in ASL/consequences

1. Prevalence of deaf residential schools accounts for much of American variations in signs/sign production

2. Deaf schools often served students from the state in which they were located: this had two important consequences:

a. Limited access to students from other regions/states, especially during the beginning of their education

b. Residential living aspect promoted the use of specific sign variants

Is ASL more standardized than it is variant? How does regional variation compare to other signed languages?

1. ASL= more standardized than it is variant

2. Variation= not vastly different than in other signed language

3. When deaf education was 1st beginning in the USA, many educators flocked to Hartford, CT; provided a central location for the first generation of teachers of the deaf to learn ASL

Who invented TTY/when was it invented?

1. TTY stands for text telephone

2. Allows deaf/HOH people to communicate over the phone by typing text messages

3. Largely have been replaced by fully electronic computer terminals/monitors

4. Invented by Robert Weitbrecht, a deaf scientist/engineer, in 1964

5. Development of Skype, Facetime has led TTY to be somewhat outdated