LL-L "Deaf culture" 2002.12.09 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 09.DEC.2002 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic
               V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Deaf culture"

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Names
>
> This got me thinking ... (Uh-oh!)  It's not as though we don't have plenty
> of projects already, but I would like you and others on the List
> to consider
> the possibility of presenting a brief introduction to
> Lowlands-specific sign
> language features, namely what the sign languages of the Lowlands

That's quite an idea - I'll see what I can find out and if
anyone else has any information along these lines we should
gradually be able to pull something together.

Aside from its occurrence in the story of the lumberjack, I
didn't even mention that other large and fascinating area of
Deaf communication, namely fingerspelling. In most countries,
fingerspelling is done one-handed, using the hand to make
shapes resembling the letters of an alphabet. In the UK,
Australia and NZ, however, a two-handed alphabet is used.
This can be traced back to Dalgrano's Glove, a fingerspelling
alphabet devised by the 17th century scholar George Dalgranoch.

Statistical analysis of Dalgrano's Glove suggests that it in
turn was devised from the Pictish Ogham script, which Dalgranoch,
being from Aberdeen, may well have been familiar with.

Ogham, in turn, may actually have been a fingerspelling alphabet
before it was ever carved on the standing stones. Why else would
one transform the Roman alphabet into a script involving four
sequences of five strokes, (left, right, slanted and dots)?

It may be that Ogham derives from the Druidic tradition of Imbas
Forosnai, where a poet or seer would cover his face with his hands
and vast amounts of knowledge in poetic form would flow from his
fingertips. St Patrick banned this practice in its incantatory
form, but allowed it as a mnemonic device for recalling poetry.

>  propos "sign language" ... This leads me to ask if there are signing
> equivalents for the languages that are "lower-ranking" (minority/regional)
> or officially not recognized.  What about Scots?  Is there a general
> Scottish (common English/Scots) sign language or two separate
> ones?  I don't
> think there is a Lowlands Saxon (Low German) one, or that, if one
> did exist,
> it is now lost, pushed out of the way by the Dutch and German sign
> languages.

Like every other language in the UK, the main danger to BSL
is from English. Many hearing teachers of the Deaf only know
the most rudimentary BSL and as a result attempt to either
teach Deaf children to speak English, or in the case of those
who really can't make themselves understood this way, attempt
to teach them BSL signs with English grammar.

The situation is slowly improving, however.

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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