Art, obsession, and identity
Sign language is the visual-manual communication method used primarily by members of deaf communities. Since the ratio of deaf to hearing people is low, sign language is often shrouded in mystery and few people know much about how it develops and functions.
Check out the following gallery to discover some key facts about sign language and learn which preconceptions about the communication method are mistaken.
The idea that sign language is universal is a common misconception.
Most countries have their own sign language and those languages are, for the most part, mutually unintelligible.
For example, it might be assumed that because speakers of British and American English are able to understand each other, the same is true of American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL).
However, ASL and BSL are actually mutually unintelligible, sharing only 31% of signs in common.
Just as there is regional variation in spoken language, so too does sign language vary as you move up and down or across a country.
In BSL, for example, signers in Manchester have their own way of signing the numbers and days of the week.
The grammatical rules of sign languages tend to be well established, and it’s perfectly possible to sign with poor grammar.
For example, in order to properly construct a question in sign language, you must assume the correct eyebrow position.
Trauma to the head can sometimes cause brain damage that renders it difficult for a speaking person to formulate sentences.
Brain damage can affect the ability to use sign language in the same way: following a trauma, a person may still be able to make gestures, but may be unable to put those gestures in the correct order needed to convey meaning.
A common misconception about sign language is that it only uses the hands.
In fact, signers regularly use facial expressions and body language as well as manual gestures to express themselves.
In ASL, for example, the alphabet is signed with one hand.
In BSL, however, the alphabet is signed using two.
It is common for signers to adopt a sign name so that others don’t have to fingerspell their name all the time.
It is customary upon meeting a signer to let them know your sign name.
Each sign in a language is comprised of five different components: hand shape, palm orientation, location, movement, and facial expression.
Altering any of these components will change the meaning of the sign. For example, in ASL the difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is communicated by the direction in which the palm is facing.
Sign languages develop in deaf communities independently of any spoken language.
There can be a lot of overlap, however, since signers often read and lip-read their surrounding spoken language and this influences the way in which they sign.
When children first learn to sign, they do so with simplified gestures and by stringing signs together without having a full grasp of the grammatical rules.
Children improve their ‘baby-signing’ by learning from and interacting with those around them.
There are no official figures for the number of people who use sign language worldwide, but according to the Communication Service for the Deaf, in 2019 there were one million users of ASL alone.
Users of the communication method include not only those who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, but also family members of those individuals and people with communication disorders.
It is often thought that sign language is a recent phenomenon, perhaps due to the late introduction of schools for the deaf and the fact that many sign languages are not legally recognized.
In reality, however, sign language can be traced back thousands of years, and one of the earliest records of the existence of a sign language dates back to Plato in the 5th century BCE.
It takes a huge amount of commitment to become a professional sign language interpreter. Most BSL interpreters, for instance, need to train for seven years before they are fully qualified.
This means that the demand for interpreters largely outweighs the supply and unfortunately signers often find themselves without an interpreter in times of need (such as at a medical appointment).
See also: Celebrities who speak English as a second language
Interesting facts about sign language
More than 300 sign languages are used around the world every day!
LIFESTYLE Languages
Sign language is the visual-manual communication method used primarily by members of deaf communities. Since the ratio of deaf to hearing people is low, sign language is often shrouded in mystery and few people know much about how it develops and functions.
Check out the following gallery to discover some key facts about sign language and learn which preconceptions about the communication method are mistaken.