Sociolinguistics Symposium 14 and the standardisation of sign languages

[Angus B. Grieve-Smith]

On Tue, 7 Aug 2001, Dan Parvaz wrote:

> If the latter, this is probably supposed to mirror the realities of
> spoken Arabic where each area has its own spoken variety, as well as a
> Classical lingua franca with its roots in the language of the Qur'an
> (and further back to the pre-Islamic poets).

        This is almost comical: it seems that in every country, once
hearing bureaucrats are convinced that sign languages are real languages,
they want the sociolinguistic situation of their sign language(s) to mimic
the situation of their spoken languages.

        My understanding is that in the German-speaking part of
Switzerland, people speak Swiss German in more casual situations, but
learn Standard (High) German in school and use it in writing and in more
formal situations.  Are there bureaucrats in Switzerland who want to let
deaf people sign in Swiss German Sign Language, but teach them DGS in
school?

        Similarly, are there people in West Africa who want Deaf people
taught LSF?  Do they want people in India to be bilingual in
India-Pakistan SL and BSL?  In Paraguay, are they creating a separate
Guarani Sign Language just so that people can be bilingual in it and the
national sign language?

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