Is sign language universal? Can Deaf people lie too? Was sign language invented? And how do Deaf people view their sensory disability? These types of questions arise for people who do not know much about sign language. It is good to realize that sign language is a language in the same way as spoken language and is not some kind of derivative of it. When referring to Deaf people, this will be written with a capital D to indicate that this is a group of people with their own culture. Deaf with a small d only refers to the medical condition of being deaf.
Sign language is universal
No, Deaf people around the world cannot necessarily understand each other directly. There is not one language for all Deaf people, just as there is no one language for all hearing people. Wouldn’t it be much easier if all Deaf people had one language? Probably, but the same goes for spoken languages. Sign language is part of Deaf culture just as the spoken language of a hearing community is part of that culture. It is therefore rather patronizing to say that Deaf people should have one language, while hearing people do not.
Within one hearing language community, there can be different sign languages (for example Dutch and Flemish Sign Language in the Netherlands and Belgium), but conversely there can also be one sign language in an area with several spoken languages (for example in India). And sign languages also have dialects.
The myth is somewhat based on truth. Sign language is a visual language and uses the shape of objects to convey meaning. And objects often have a shape rather than a sound. A spoken language is a flood of sounds separated from meaning (except onomatopoeia), while gestures are regularly (but certainly not always!) related to what they refer to. A Dutch and Chinese Deaf person can therefore more easily reach an agreement about the meaning of a sentence than a hearing Dutch person and Chinese.
Sign language was invented
Sign language was not invented and certainly not by hearing people. Sign languages are natural languages that arise from the need for communication. Like spoken languages, they are living languages that are constantly changing. There is no reason why an auditory language should be better than a visual one. With a spoken language you can make phone calls and talk in the dark, but with a sign language you can talk in a noisy environment and at a greater distance from each other. The fact is that the majority of the world’s population is hearing and therefore society is better equipped for hearing people.
You can’t say everything in sign language
This myth is incorrect for several reasons. First of all, sign languages also have gestures for more abstract concepts such as hope, love, holiday, university and dream. Deaf people are great at having political discussions. Secondly, sign languages are grammatically the same as spoken languages, so you can also ask questions , deny, set conditions, talk about the past and future, lie, make jokes, etc. Within Deaf culture, theater is also made and poetry is recited. Third, sign languages can also borrow words from other languages. In the case of Dutch Sign Language, this will usually be from Dutch. Any word can be spelled with the hand alphabet. If this loanword is used often enough, it will eventually be incorporated into the language (in a changed form). And fourthly, Deaf people can also whisper or shout by making the gestures smaller or larger.
Deaf people are disabled
Deaf people absolutely do not see themselves as disabled. Of course, not being able to hear doesn’t mean these people are stupid. Because higher education is not or only poorly equipped for Deaf people, Deaf people have sometimes received less education. But in America, for example, there is Gallaudet, the university for the deaf.
The best way to express the situation of a Deaf person is as depicted in a hand with spread fingers , with the little finger and ring finger touching each other. The fingers represent the five senses. Deaf people have smell, taste and touch (thumb, index and middle fingers), but hearing and vision (the ring finger and little finger) are connected. However, the hand is still whole and unbroken. The fact that two senses are connected does not mean that Deaf people are missing something.
read more
- The five gesture elements
- What is general linguistics?
- What is Applied Linguistics?