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For Hearing People Only

Is there one sign language for all countries?

No more so than there is one spoken language for all countries! But everywhere you find Deaf people, you will find sign language. The impulse to communicate is universal. For deaf people, the impulse to sign is universal. Deaf children not exposed to any standard sign language will invent their own sign systems ("home sign"). Every national sign language, however, is different. In Europe, even within a single country, there can be tremendous variation from city to city , while American Sign Language, although possessing many regional dialects and "accents," is standardized enough to be easily understood by ASL users (an estimated 500,000) from coast to coast. So a Deaf Californian and a Deaf New Englander will have no difficulty understanding each other. ASL is also used in Canada, which extends its scope considerably.

Deaf people in the States were using sign language long before Laurent Clerc, the first Deaf educator in America, arrived from France, bringing French Sign Language with him. It is thought that native sign language of Chilmark and Tisbury, the Martha's Vineyard communities with an unusual high incidence of hereditary deafness, evolved from Old Kentish Sign Language, as the earliest deaf settlers came from the Kentish region of England.

Although ASL was subsequently influenced by FSL (and thus has some recognizably French signs), many such borrowed signs have been modified over time. But while ASL belongs to the same family as FSL and Spanish Sign Language, which all gave some signs in common ("baby," "book"), it is quite different from British Sign Language, which remained largely impervious to French influence. Nonetheless, the French National Institute (where Clerc trained and taught) sent its teachers to several countries, including Holland, Denmark, Spain, and Russia, so FSL left its mark on those sign languages, too.

Scandinavian sign languages, (e.g., Swedish Sign Language) form an important group, rich and vibrant, whose artistic possibilities have begun to be explored. Asian sign languages (e.g. Japanese Sign Language, Taiwanese Sign Language) differ from any European sign language. Each school for the deaf in Japan - and 11 of the 12 are oral - has its own sign language system, as used by the students. Some African sign languages are influenced by the native sign languages of missionaries. There are undoubtedly several complete and rich sign languages that have never been adequately studied or recognized.

Every different sign language reflects its own history, culture and social mores. Thus ( in most of these different sign languages) you will find completely different signs for universal concepts: "mother," "father," "boy," "girl," "day," "night," "tree," "water," "good," "bad," and so forth. Each sign language may have a myriad of regional variations. And what is a perfectly acceptable sign in one language may turn out to be an obscenity in another! E.g. the perfectly innocent for "brother" in Taiwanese Sign Language bears an uncanny resemblance to the vulgar "up yours" gesture popularized by hearing (and deaf) Americans.

But Signers from one country seem to have less trouble establishing communication with Signers from another than do their speaking counterparts. Deaf people can be very inventive, even ingenious, in bridging language gaps! They improvise, using gestures, pantomime, expressions - whatever works - until they establish some sort of mutual comprehension, and build on that foundation.

"International sign language" does exist to some extent. An "artificial" international vocabulary, "Gestuno," which functions as a kind of visual Eperanto, was developed in the mid-70s by the Commission of Unification of Signs of the World Federation of the Deaf. Gestuno hasn't really caught on. It is useful for international gatherings of Deaf people (e.g., the Gala Opening Performance at the DEAF WAY Conference and Fesitval in Washington, D.C., July 1989), where it's impractical to throng the stage with dozens of interpreters in everybody's native sign languages. American Deaf performers were specially drilled in Gestuno, and used it to introduce acts and give simple communications to the audience - "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen;" "No smoking, please;" "I hope you enjoy our show." The signs used are as simple, logical and universally recognizable as possible. Since Gestuno was developed by a committee, it's not a real language. But Gestuno was partly based on ASL, which, as the world's most well-known and popular sign language, is the closest thing we have to a "universally" recognized one.

For Hearing People Only was recommended to me by my sign language teacher, who is deaf. If you've ever been curious about issues relating to the deaf community and had basic questions that you were too embarrassed to ask, this is a great book for you. I've been studying American Sign Language for several years and I learned a lot from this compact, well written and easy to read book.