LL-L 'Language varieties' 2007.01.26 (03) [E/LS]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L - 26 January 2007 - Volume 03

=========================================================================

From: jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
Subject: LL-L 'Phonology' 2007.01.25 (03) [E]

Beste Ronny,

you wrote:

> Can you think of any sign language that was invented and adopted in recent
> times?  I thought the roots of sign languages were somewhere in the murky
> past just like those of other types of languages -- and all languages are
> in a perpetual state of development ...
Hmm- I thought about modern, organized sign languages and really assumed
them to be very young. Of course- I'm aware that there are very archaic and
international signs between people with communicational problems all over
the world.
But- how old are the first mentioned ones, in their highly developed form? I
really don't know but put them to the, let's say, last onehundred years...!?

> You bet your sweet ninny, mate!  It looks like you're finally catching on
> to the fact that Heiko and I are among the top kingpins of a global
> conspiracy network dedicated to the purpose of keeping you in a perpetual
> state of exasperation.
You know- a good foe is like a good friend! You have to be true blue to both
of them ;-)! In April I'll have my 5th anniversary with you, Ron- köönt wii
meist 'Hölten Hochtiid' fiiern (we could celebrate our 'Wooden Wedding', as
it's done so in some parts of Germany)!

Allerbest!

Johannes "Jonny" Meibohm

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language varieties

Moin, Jonny!

I believe that among us the issue of sign languages would be most
competently addressed by our Sandy, and he usually swings into action on
weekends, thus anytime now.

However, here's my 43 cents' worth of stuff to kick around in your head in
the meantime.

As Ole already said, real sign languages are real languages. They are not
like real languages. There may be some artificial sign language proposals
out there, just as there are numerous artificial spoken language proposals
out there.  However, genuine sign languages, as far as I know, evolved
"organicanically."  The only artifical thing about them is that at one point
or other they came to be standardized nationally or regionally, while prior
to that there were numerous dialects.  And this is the case with any other
type of language as well.

While you can probably know when standardization took place, you can not
know how old a sign language is just as you can't know how old any other
type of language is.  The origin of sign languages goes way, way back into
prehistory, as long as there have been deaf people and hunters have had to
communicate with each other soundlessly.  Why, I assume that even
international sign languages evolved naturally, such as those traditionally
used among North American aboriginals that speak different languages.

> Ron- köönt wii meist 'Hölten Hochtiid' fiiern (we could celebrate our
'Wooden Wedding', as it's done so in some parts of Germany)!

Only with me?  Not with everyone else on the List?  Will we have to wear hulten
Tüffeln ("wooden slippers" = clogs) for the occasion?  That'll coincide with
the 12th aniversary of Lowlands-L, by the way.

Kumpelmenten,
Reinhard/Ron
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20070126/b4ead46c/attachment.htm>