LL-L: "Sign language" LOWLANDS-L, 26.JAN.2000 (13) [E]

[Lowlands-L Administrator]

 ========================================================================
 L O W L A N D S - L * 26.JAN.2000 (13) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
 Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/~sassisch/rhahn//lowlands/>
 User's Manual: <http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html>
 =========================================================================
 A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic
 =========================================================================

From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk]
Subject: LL-L: "Sign language"

> From: Roger P. G. Thijs [roger.thijs at village.uunet.be]
> Subject: Sign language
>
> - untill recently there was a common Belgian sign language for the deaf
> (independent of the romance or germanic territorial background of people).
> Since this country is in a process of regionalization, associations have
> been splitted up, and two regional sign dialects started to emerge.
> - there is hardly a connection to the spoken Dutch (/Flemish, /Brabantish,
> /Limburgish) language. Sign speakers of Belgian-Flemish sign language have
> great difficulties in handling Dutch as a written language.

Sign languages in Europe tend not to cross the religious divide between
Catholic and Protestant. I don't know what that means in Belgian terms, you
tell me if it fits! In Northern Ireland Catholics speak Irish Sign Language
and Protestants British Sign Language.

> I'm wondering if sign language is a "real" equivalent to spoken language.
> This just after reading "Once we were not alone" in Scientific American of
> January 2000:

[cut]

> Could that include sign language or whould that just only refer to spoken
> language

It would include sign languages. Recent research has shown that children who
don't develop language early will never develop a high degree of proficiency
in any language. One way in which this shows up clearly is the distinction
between deaf children who are forced to learn spoken languages and can't
cope: later in life they fail to develop competence in either sign or
speech. However, learning sign language naturally at an early age results in
deaf children also becoming proficient at spoken languages later. The
important thing seems to be that language, whether signed or spoken, is
learned early enough for the necessary brain structures to be formed.

There are some important and fairly consistent differences between sign
languages and spoken languages, but these aren't fundamental: they tend to
be a result of the medium of transmission. For example, sign languages tend
to have richer systems of spacial prepositions. This is no surprise because
signed languages are signed in 3 dimensions of space and a single sign can
be "inflected" all over the space to show various positions & directions.

Of course, spoken languages are the "preferred" language type for those that
can use it. I would guess this is to do with ease of transmission for the
speaker - people can turn their eyes away from you but not their ears!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
http://www.fleimin.demon.co.uk

==================================END======================================
 You have received this because your account has been subscribed upon
 request. To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l"
 as message text from the same account to
 <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or sign off at
 <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 ========================================================================
 * Please submit contributions to <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>.
 * Contributions will be displayed unedited in digest form.
 * Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
 * Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
   to be sent to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or at
   <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 * Please use only Plain Text format, not Rich Text (HTML) or any other
   type of format, in your submissions
 =========================================================================