History of British Sign Language (BSL)?

[Trevor Jenkins]

On Sat, 1 Apr 2006, Valerie Sutton <sutton at signwriting.org> wrote:

> I received this message asking me about the history of BSL. Can
> anyone answer these questions for us? ;-)

All we know for certain is that BSL was well established by 1575 when a
certain Thomas Tillsye was married. The report of his wedding to Ursula
Ruddell included a description of signs he used. The specific details are
quoted in "The Linguistics of BSL" by Rachel Sutton-Spence and Bencie Woll
(Cambridge, 1999, p34).

In answer to the second question. CACDP (the organisation currently
responsible for awarding qualifications in BSL) claims that learning the
language is one of the most popular subjects taken in evening classes. As
for schools teaching it there are few (and getting fewer) --- though
Shane's work in Norhtern Ireland is the start of a reinesance for BSL
teaching in school. There are some Deaf schools where BSL is the language
of tution but sadly they are not that numerous; two examples are Frank
Barnes School in N W London and Hamilton Lodge in Brighton.

The situation may change with the introduction of a second syllabus BSL.
This time from the British Deaf Association. The advantage of this new
approach is the formal definition of course content is given in BSL itself
not written in English as the one from CACDP.

However, the situation will not change very much until such time as the
British Government does more than pay lip service to BSL. They may have
recognised the language but there is so far no legislation to require or
protect its use.

> > Hello,
> >> I am french. My english is not very good, but I would like know
> >> when the BSL was invented, why, who has invented ? I would like
> >> know this history.
> >> And, I have a a second question, I would like know if there are a
> >> lot of school in Great Britain to learn the BSL, and how the deaf
> >> persons learn this language ?
> >>
> >> I must to give a talk on for my teacher. I have research somme
> >> informations,but it's not the very good informations also, that's
> >> why I ask you.
> >>
> >> I thank you very much for all.
> >>
>

Regards, Trevor

<>< Re: deemed!