Antw: The Amsterdam Manifest

[Angus B. Grieve-Smith]

On Tue, 22 Aug 2000, Franz Dotter wrote:

> My opinion is that only the deaf communities can decide about [the use
> of a particular language as lingua franca]. I do not feel that the
> manifesto can tell us that it comes from this source.

        The three authors, to my mind, are a good start at representing
the worldwide community of Deaf sign linguists.  Christian is from Germany
and uses DGS.  Patrick is from Canada and uses LSQ.  I don't know Gaurav
Mathur, but I believe he's from India and uses IPSL.

        As far as I know, none of the three authors has ASL or BSL as a
first language, which means that they are advocating for a situation that
does not overwhelmingly privilege them above others.  On the other hand,
all three have lived in cities where ASL is widely used (Austin and
Montreal), and therefore have had a chance to become fluent in it.

        I wasn't in Amsterdam, so I don't know firsthand the circumstances
that they are describing.  The idea of going to a conference in Dubai or
Buenos Aires where all the papers are in English or ASL feels very
imperialistic, but we should do what is necessary to make conferences
accessible.

        I would feel more comfortable seeing a wider range of signatories
to the manifesto, which may happen soon.  But the manifesto as it is
should be taken seriously.  Has anyone contacted the organizers of the
Croatian conference that Chris Miller mentioned?

--
                                -Angus B. Grieve-Smith
                                Linguistics Department
                                The University of New Mexico
                                grvsmth at unm.edu