UNIT 15: GESTURES AND SIGN LANGUAGE

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GESTURES: although both Sign and gestures involve the use of the hands, they are rather different. Sign is like
speech and is used instead of speaking. Gestures are mostly used while speaking. In the study of non-verbal
behavior, a distinction can be drawn between gestures and emblems. Emblems are signals such as thumbs up
that function like fixed phrases and dont depend on speech.
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Iconics: iconics are gestures that seem to be a reflection of the meaning of what is said, as when we
trace a square in the aire with a finger while saying Im looking for a small box. By itself, an iconic gesture
doesnt mean the same as what is said.
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Deictics: the term deictic means pointing and we often use gestures to point to things or people
while talking.
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Beats: beats are short quick movements of the hand or fingers. These gestures accompany the rhythm
of talk and are often used to emphasize parts of what is being said.
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TYPES OF SIGN LANGUAGE: there are two categories of language that involve the use of signs:
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An alternate sign language: its a system of hand signals developed by speakers for limited
communication in a specific context where speech cannot be used. The users of alternate sign languages
have another first language that they can speak.
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A primary sign language: its the first language of a group of people who dont use a spoken
language with each other. These different primary sign languages do not share identical signs and are not
mutually intelligible. British Sign Language is very different from American Sign Language.
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ORALISM: it was not until the 1960s that the ASL (American Sign Language) was given serious consideration
as a natural langauge. A teaching method known as oralism dominated deaf education during most of the
twentieh century. This method required that the students practice English speech sounds and develop lip-reading
skills. The method produced few students who could speak intelligible English and even fewer who could lip-read.
While oralism was failing, the use of ASL was flourishing.
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SIGNED ENGLISH: many institutions promote the learning of what is known as Signed English. This is a
means of producing signs that correspond to the words in an English sentence, in English word order. Its greatest
advantage is that it seems to be an easier task for the hearing parent of a deaf child and provides the parent with
a communication system to use with the child.
Hearing teachers in deaf education can make use of Signed English when they sign at the same time as they
speak. Many deaf people actually prefer interpreters to use Signed English because they say there is a higher
likelihook of understanding the message.
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ORIGINS OF ASL: ASL developed from the French Sing Language used in a Paris school. In the nineteenth
century, a teacher from this school was brought to the US by an American minister who was trying to establish a
school for deaf children. During the nineteenth century, this imported version of sign language, incorporating
features of natural sign languages used by the American deaf, evolved into what became known as ASL.
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THE STRUCTURE OF SIGNS: ASL is designed for the eyes, not the ears. In producing linguistic forms in ASL,
signers use four key aspects of visual information. These are described as the articulatory parameters of ASL in
terms of shape, orientation, location and movement.
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 Shape and orientation: we start with the shape (or configuration of the hands) used in forming the
sign. The shape may differ in terms of which fingers are used, whether the fingers are extended or bent,
and the general configuration of the hands.
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Location: there will also be a location in relation to the head and upper body of the signer. Some
signs can only be distinguished on the basis of location.
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Movement: the difference between faster and slower movement in signing also has an effect on
meaning.
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Primes: the contrasting elements within these four general parameters can be analyzed into sets of
features or primes. We say that flat hand is a prime in terms of shape and palm up is a prime in terms
of orientation.
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Facial expressions and finger-spelling: there are important functions served by non-manual
components such as head-movement, eye-movement and several specific types of facial expressions. If a
sentence is functioning as a question, it is typically accompanied by a raising of the eyebrows, widened
eyes and a slight leaning forward of the head.
If a new term or name is encountered, signers can use finger-spelling, which is a system of hand
configurations conventionally used to represent the letters of the alphabet.
In the ASL, the majority of signs are located around the neck and head. If a sign is made near the chest or
waist, it tends to be a two-handed sign.
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THE MEANING OF SIGNS: when we are told that a sign is used to refer to a particular object or action, we
can often create some symbolic connection that makes the relationship between sign and signified seem more
transparent in some sense. The signs in ASL have their meanings within the system of signs, not through
reference to some pictorial image each time they are used.
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REPRESENTING SIGNS: the fact that a sign language exploits the visual medium in quise subtle way makes it
difficult to represent accurately on the page. A partial solution is to write one line of signed words (in capital
letters) and then, above this words, we write a letter to indicate the nature and extent of the facial expression that
contributes to the message. The q in the transcription is used to show that the facial expression indicated a
question function.
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ASL AS A NATURAL LANGUAGE: ASL uses Subject Verb Object word order like English, but normally puts
adjectives after nouns, unlike English, but in the same way as French.
Children acquiring ASL as their first language go through developmental stages similar to children learning
spoken language. There are different ASL dialects in different regions and historical changes in the form of signs.