American Sign Language

[Johanna Rubba]

Dear Mr. Martineau,

I feel compelled to write to you after reading a forward of your 
communications with P. Vincent Reilly regarding the nature of American 
Sign Language (ASL). As I'm sure  you will be hearing from a number of 
academic linguists, your understanding of ASL is somewhat behind the 
times. ASL has been intensively studied for several decades now, and it 
is eminently clear that it is not a form of English; it is not based on 
English. ASL is a completely independent and full-fledged language, as 
are other sign languages found around the globe. It has its own 
distinct vocabulary, word order, system for signaling tenses, 
inflection (related gesturally), and so on. Acquisition of sign 
language in deaf children, both normal and abnormal, has been 
extensively studied at the highly revered Salk Institute in La Jolla, 
California (you can find many references to the work of Ursula Bellugi 
and her associates in academic databases). You have, I'm sure, heard 
from Sherman Wilcox, and eminent sign language expert at the University 
of New Mexico; you may also hear from linguists at Gallaudet University 
who study and teach (in and about) ASL.

As to the connection of ASL to American culture -- ASL originated in 
France and was imported to the USA as a means of educating deaf 
children. Over the decades, a culture of the Deaf (yes, they capitalize 
it) has evolved which has its own practices and traditions. There are 
many Deaf people who feel that they are simply a different group of 
people, analogous to an ethnic minority, and do not see themselves as 
disabled. Their culture is surely very similar to American culture, but 
so is the culture of a country like Canada, South Africa, or Australia.

ASL certainly does have a quite different frame of reference for 
thinking. The way time and space are viewed is quite different from 
English, and ASL has its own set of rules for polite interaction, etc., 
just as other languages and cultures do. In many ways, ASL is 
structurally more "foreign" than other European languages such as 
Spanish or Danish.

The general public is only minimally aware of linguistics as a 
discipline of the human sciences, but scholars of linguistics have been 
amassing an extraordinary base of knowledge about human language for 
over two hundred years. Much of the most revealing research has taken 
place in the last 50-60 years. Because of the discipline's low profile, 
and because of the robustness of popular (but incorrect) "wisdom" about 
language in general, misunderstanding of ASL is widespread.

Personally, I believe ASL should be acceptable as fulfilling a 
high-school or college language requirement. I have had many students 
who have found ASL both fascinating and enriching, and have broadened 
their understanding of humanity greatly by learning to communicate with 
the deaf, and seeing how ASL provides many new frames for seeing the 
world. American children are so often reluctant to study a "foreign" 
language (in many parts of the USA, Spanish can hardly be considered 
foreign), we should welcome a language that students are eager to 
learn. Consider also that most students will have little to no 
opportunity to use the German, French, or Italian they study in high 
school or college after graduation, while they can find many 
opportunities to use ASL right here in the United States. Students who 
study ASL are also often service-oriented and wish to enter professions 
like education, where ASL users are needed. Legislation and policies 
that require the availability of ASL interpreters also abound, and need 
recruits. We should be encouraging the study of ASL, not discouraging 
it.

I hope you and your colleagues at the American Academy for Liberal 
Education will research the many scientifically-sound resources on ASL. 
Whether or not you decide to accept ASL as fulfilling any education 
requirements, it is crucial that an institution with power such as 
yours be up to date on the science that underlies your decisions.

Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

Sincerely,

Dr. Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Department
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu
Tel.: 805.756.2184
Dept. Ofc. Tel.: 805.756.2596
Dept. Fax: 805.756.6374
URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba