[sw-l] introducing SW to Northern Ireland

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
November 7, 2004

Shane -
Thank you for telling us about NISL. I did not know anything about
Northern Irish Sign Language history and it is fascinating! It is sad
to think of the old signs being lost, but maybe SignWriting can
preserve some of the old signs that are still remembered, before they
are forgotten...

Flanders is wonderful...you are certainly right about that...in fact
all of Europe is! I only wish I could go back and live there again...

I am sure the Flemish people wonder why I am so slow with your web
page...I am working on it! ;-)))

Val ;-)

-------------------------------


Shane Gilchrist Ó hEorpa wrote:
> as for Northern Ireland, we have two national sign languages - ISL (as
> a
> large number of people went to Dublin schools - and I was educated in a
> school in Belfast started by the Dublin schools as the feeder school
> for
> Dublin schools) and NISL (Northern Ireland Sign Language)
>
> NISL is what many people refer to as "BSL" - but just because NISL use
> the
> BSL alphabet and a lot of BSL signs doesnt mean its BSL itself - as it
> does
> have a LARGE number of ASL signs in NISL (thanks to Francis Maginn and
> some
> others who brought ASL over from Galladuet 100 years ago) and also a
> large
> number of ISL signs - of course our local signs too.
>
> There is a big debate in Northern Ireland about whether we can use the
> term
> NISL or BSL - but my work, the SLCB, will use the term NISL - in
> sensitive
> areas, we will say NISL (NI-BSL) - its a very political issue - as some
> people want to keep "British" therefore devoiding themselves of their
> local
> identity and local heritage which is a very sad one as our old signs
> are
> disappearing FAST - and it was England who discouraged us from using
> them in
> the first place.
>
> the Flanders - theyre wonderful people - and very intelligent just
> like the
> people in Northern Ireland - it is like being home again :D
>
> Shane
>
>
> -----------------
>
> Dear SignWriting List, and Shane!
> Welcome to the SignWriting List, Shane. We are glad to have you with
> us ;-)
>
> And it is wonderful, to think, that teachers from Belgium inspired you
> to
> try SignWriting... I am doing a web page about Belgium this
> weekend...There
> are several Flemish projects now, and several members of our List are
> from
> Flanders. I bet you know some of them....;-)
>
> We also have several List members from the UK, in England, I believe.
> And in
> Dublin, Ireland, SignWriting is used at Trinity College, in the Deaf
> Studies
> program there. One of the Deaf leaders in Ireland, Patrick Matthews,
> has
> written several books now, teaching Irish Sign Language to hearing
> people,
> and he uses SignWriting throughout the books, teaching the grammar of
> ISL.
> Patrick came to visit me here in California several years ago, to work
> through his plans for his books...which will be a series of books in
> time,
> and are not completed yet.
>
> I realize that Northern Ireland's signed languages are probably not
> the same
> as the signed languages used in Ireland, but are they BSL? What
> languages to
> you speak in Northern Ireland? smile...
>
> Val ;-)
>
>
> Valerie Sutton
> Sutton at SignWriting.org
>
> 1. SignWritingSite
> http://www.SignWriting.org
> Read & Write Sign Languages
>
> 2. SignBankSite
> http://www.SignBank.org
> Sign Language Dictionaries
>
> 3. DanceWritingSite
> http://www.DanceWriting.org
> Read & Write Dance
>
> 4. MovementWritingSite
> http://www.MovementWriting.org
> Read & Write Movement & Gesture
>
> 5. SymbolBank On The Web
> www.MovementWriting.org/symbolbank
> Archive For All Symbols
>
>