SL and other codes: in passing: Russian

[Albert Bickford]

The tendency towards using an internal name as an external one is not limited to Gallaudet or to sign languages.

There is, for example, the tendency to borrow into ASL (and probably other sign languages) the name of a country that is used by Deaf in that country.  Thus, signs for CHINA, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA, RUSSIA, and probably others have changed or are in the process of changing.

Outside the realm of sign linguistics, it has become increasingly common for indigenous groups and their speakers over the past couple decades to reject names given to them by others and to ask/insist/agitate to be called by their own name for themselves.  Often, the etymology behind the name given by outsiders is pejorative, whereas the internal name simply means "people" or "language".  So, for example, I think of the following substitutions that have gained general acceptance in the last couple decades, and I'm sure there are many more.

Auca > Waorani (Ecuador)
Papago > Tohono O'odham (Arizona, USA)
Tlapanec > Me'phaa (Mexico)
Otomi > Hñahñu (Mexico, spelling varies depending on dialect)
Tarascan > Purepecha (Mexico)

I don't feel that etymology determines meaning, but I respect people's concerns and when people want themselves or their languages referred to in certain ways, even when the reference is in another language, I prefer to honor that.  

Ultimately, it boils down to usage: the complex social negotiation that is worked out among users of a language as to what words they want to use.  No one can regulate this, no matter how they try.  

Albert
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Dan Parvaz 
  To: A list for linguists interested in signed languages 
  Sent: September 5, 2007 11:58 AM
  Subject: Re: [SLLING-L] SL and other codes: in passing: Russian


  Hm. And Arabic "Namsa" means Austria. But doesn't the original point remain? Namely, that No one is bound by the internal name for a language/country/whatever. Using the autochthonous sign for a country seems to be an American -- and specifically, a Gallaudetian -- PC obsession. 

  -Dan.
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