Sign Language Issues - Term Paper Example

The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't being said. - Anonymous Introduction Sign language is the natural languageof the deaf community. As a non-verbal, visual language, sign is clearly different in form from that of spoken languages; however the same purpose is achieved by its use - communication. Although sign language is used in almost every nation of the world, it is not a universal language. Regional differences have created languages such as German Sign Language (GSL), American Sign Language (ASL) and Australian Sign Language (AUSLAN) (Brauer 1). Regardless of region, the dominant features of sign languages are that they have manual and non-manual parameters, including; hand-shape, hand orientation, location, and motion (manual) and gaze, facial expression, mouth movements, position, and motion of the trunk and head (non-manual parameters). Sometimes, sign is confused with the practice of pantomime, but sign language does not include its environment. This paper aims to review sign language in general. Firstly, the nature of signs will be described. Secondly, the similarities and differences between sign and spoken language will be presented. Finally, a conclusion shall synthesize the main points of the paper. Describing the Nature of Signs Sign takes place in 3-D space also known as "signing space," which is usually close to the trunk of the body and the head. Signs can be wither one or two-handed. When only one-handed a dominant hand performs the sign, and in two-handed signing, the non-dominant hand comes into play. It has only lately been realized that the non-manual forms of sign are able to effectively express the feelings of the signer (Weaver and Pentland 1). This is similar to verbal speaker's ability to transmit meaning through non-verbal means. However, for signers, non-manual channels are also critical to communicate the grammar of the language. Unfortunately, not much is known as yet about non-manual forms as compared to manual forms, however current research interests into this topic may change this. It is not unusual for a child to learn sign from other deaf children whilst at school, although most children will learn sign from their parents initially in the home environment (Senghas and Coppola 3). Studies have implicated many equivalent learning processes between sign and spoken language learning. Primarily for sign, inflection is of more importance than word positioning. Using a visual-gestic mode for the arrangement of inflexion, sign is very similar to Navajo or Latin language. The hand configuration used in signs means that each sign has numerous parts consisting of; the configuration, place of articulation, orientation, path of movement and non-sign components that include facial expressions (Braem 1). Some sign languages have up to 18-19 handshapes, 24 movements and 12 locations. Visual and kinetic aspects of sign make it difficult or can make it impossible for a person from learning the language from a book, such as its movement aspects. As such, a teacher is required who is more proficient in the language. Hence, a model is required to be observed by the learner, and as it is some of the best teachers are those who originated this language, that is the "deaf and dumb" (Braem 4). There are many common linguistical features to sign languages; these include the extensive use of classifiers, a high level of use of inflection and a topic-comment syntax. Mostly, the linguistical characteristics of sign language are its ability to produce meaning in different areas of the visual field simultaneously. That is, the receiver of the communication may be able to read the meaning of the signs that the hands make, whilst reading the facial expression and the positioning of the body. This is in stark contrast to oral languages, wherein sounds that make up words tend to spoken sequentially, although the use of tone takes exception to this. The body and facial expressions are essential to communication in sign. The hands, face, eyes, eyebrows, lips and body, are the body parts most often used. They tend to form as adjectives and adverbs. These gestures aid in communicating size and sentence types to others. Even using the same sign, a change in eyes or other facial gesture can change the meaning of the word. There are some difficulties with continuous sign language at times, for example, some fingers, or the whole hand may become occluded during signing (Weaver and Pentland 2). Also, the boundaries of signs need to be identified automatically be a person receiving the communication. Further, a sign is affected by both the preceeding sign, and the subsequent sign, also known as coarticualtion. Finally, the speed of signing can differ widely and so affect communication. For example, even the same person making the same sign twice will result in changes to speed and positioning of the hands. Similarities and Differences between Sign Language and Spoken Language It is accepted within the industrialized world that the majority of deaf children will attend schools where they must learn the spoken language, often with great difficulty (Senghas and Coppola 2). Understandably, most children would prefer to use sign with other deaf people. With regard to spoken languages, meaningful sound units can be identified by way of finding minimal pairs. That is, recognising words that differ in meaning and that differ only in one sound. Hence, the one sound needs to be meaningful and unique in character, otherwise a new word is produced. For example, a change to the first sound of the word "wit" produces bit, fit quit, zit, lit, mit, kit, and pit. Another difference between sign language and spoken languages is that many conditions will influence the generation and reception of each language (Senghas and Coppola 3). In spoken language the words are produced by vocal chords, tongues, lips etc. In contrast sign language is produced by the hands and body, and is visually perceived. It is clear that sign developed separate to that of spoken language. So, the grammar that is used in sign language can be recognised as being distinctly different from that of spoken languages. In spoken language, the sentence structure is linear, as one word follows another (Brauer 2). In contrast, for sign language, a simultaneous structure exists, with parallel temporal and spatial configurations. Based on these features, the syntax of sign language sentences is not as rigid as that of spoken languages. Whereas in a spoken language a letter represents a sound, the configurations used in sign language refer to time, location, person, predicate. As a result, many of those who are born deaf or who become deaf in their formative years have only a limited vocab of a spoken language, and often experience great difficulties in reading grand writing (Brauer 2). However, sign is similar to spoken language in that much of it is comprised of grammatical universalities, such as signs to identify who is the subject or the active person in a sentence, or who or what is the object of an action, or whether one or numerous objects are involved (Brauer 2). Like spoken languages, sign is based around numerous linguistic levels (Bream 2). For example; 1) at the level of the smallest substantive particle (or the phonological level/sublexical level); at the level of the smallest carrier of meaning (or the morphological level in spoken language); at the level of connection between the words in bound statements (or the syntax); and at the level of conversation or discourse. Finally, just as there are numerous variations of human languages, there are also a multitude of forms of sign language (Brauer 5). In spoken English in Britain, the words may be spoken or pronounced differently by different people across regions of the country; or alternatively by those with different backgrounds (e.g., depending on their place of work). Also, like in the spoken language, a number of different words will be used to make reference to the same reality (e.g., hero, hoagie, sub, Italian sandwich). Also similar is the focal point of perception for spoken language, and when reading signs. For signing the focal point tends to be around the receiver's eyes, and concentric circles of relative focus may also be used in the sign space around the partner's eyes. So too in spoken language, the point of focus tends to be the eyes of the receiver of the message. In conclusion, it is clear that sign language is a natural language that occurs within deaf communities. Parents may teach their children, or children may learn the language at school form their deaf peers. The meaningless units of sign language are organised into semantic units. These elements consist of handshape (or handform), orientation, location of the sign, its movement and the use of non-manual markers by way of facial expression and body orientation. Similar to spoken languages, sign language occurs along the same learning processes during the formative years. And it consists of grammatical universalities. Also, like spoken languages many types of sign language exist across the globe. However, unlike spoken language, sign language is not a linear language, but meaning occurs simultaneously across numerous signs. Works Cited Bauer, Britta and Hienz, Hermann. "Relevant features for video-based continuous sign language recognition". n.d. December 7, 2006. http://www.techinfo.rwth-aachen.de/ Veroeffentlichungen/V009_2000.pdf Braem, Penny Boyes. Introduction to and Study of Sign Language. (1990). Hamburg: Signum Verlag. Senghas, Alex and Coppola Micheal. "Children creating language: How Nicaraguan sign language acquired a spatial grammar". Psychological Science, Vol, 12, No 4 (2001): 323- 328. Weaver, Joshua and Pentland, Alex. "Real-time American Sign Language recognition using desk and wearable computer based video". IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. (1998): 1-15. Read More