Deaf Communication

What is Sign Language?

Sign languages commonly develop in deaf communities, which can include interpreters and friends and families of deaf people as well as people who are deaf or hard of hearing themselves.

A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning by simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to express fluidly a speaker's thoughts.

In linguistic terms, sign languages are as rich and complex as any oral language, despite the common misconception that they are not "real languages". Professional linguists have studied many sign languages and found them to have every linguistic component required to be classed as true languages.

Sign systems are sometimes developed within a single family. For instance, when hearing parents with no sign language skills have a deaf child, an informal system of signs will naturally develop, unless repressed by the parents. The term for these mini-languages is home sign (sometimes homesign or kitchen sign).

British Sign Language and American Sign Language are quite different. On occasion, where the prevalence of deaf people is high enough, a deaf sign language has been taken up by an entire local community. Famous examples of this include Martha's Vineyard Sign Language in the USA, Kata Kolok in a village in Bali, Adamorobe Sign Language in Ghana and Yucatec Maya sign language in Mexico.

Types of Sign Language

BANZSL, or British, Australian and New Zealand Sign Language - Is the language of which British Sign Language (BSL), Auslan and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) may be considered dialects. These three languages may technically be considered dialects of a single language (BANZSL) due to their use of the same grammar, manual alphabet, and the high degree of lexical sharing (overlap of signs).

Auslan - The sign language of the Australian deaf community. The term Auslan is a portmanteau of "Australian sign language", coined by Trevor Johnston in the early 1980s, although the language itself is much older. Auslan is related to British Sign Language (BSL) and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL); the three have descended from the same parent language, and together comprise the BANZSL language family.

New Zealand Sign Language or NZSL - The main language of the Deaf community in New Zealand. It became an official language of New Zealand in April 2006, alongside Maori and English. Like other natural sign languages, it was devised by and for Deaf people, with no linguistic connection to a spoken or written language, and it is fully capable of expressing anything a fluent signer wants to say.

Sign Supported English or SSE - The preferred signing system for hearing people to communicate with the deaf. It uses the same signs as BSL, but unlike SE, you do not have to sign every word. It also doesn't have its own grammar system like BSL, so hearing people do not have to worry about learning a whole new grammatical structure. This can be picked up fairly quickly to expedite communication.

Signed English or SE - A signing system as well. It has one sign to represent each word in the English language, but is not a language like BSL. It is intended to be used to help with reading and writing, and has important signs to teach grammar.

Paget Gorman Signed Speech - A signing system used with speech to help those with language difficulties. There are 37 basic signs which when combined can make over 4000 more complex ones.

Pidgin Signed English or PSE - A very crude signing system. It combines elements of BSL and spoken English to allow communication between hearing people and deaf who only know the strict confines of sign language. It is not recommended but can be used when needed.

American Sign Language (ASL) - Is a complete, complex language that employs signs made with the hands and other movements, including facial expressions and postures of the body. It is the first language of many deaf North Americans, and one of several communication options available to deaf people. ASL is said to be the fourth most commonly used language in the United States.

American Sign Language is the dominant sign language of the Deaf community in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in parts of Mexico. Although the United Kingdom and the United States share English as a spoken and written language, British Sign Language (BSL) is quite different from ASL, and the two sign languages are not mutually intelligible.

British Sign Language (BSL) - Is the sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language of deaf people in the UK; the number of signers has been put at 30,000 to 70,000. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands, body, face and head. Many thousands of people who are not Deaf also use BSL, as hearing relatives of Deaf people, sign language interpreters or as a result of other contact with the British Deaf community.

Mexican Sign Language - Widely used in Mexico city, Monterrey and in Guadalajara.It varies even within a country. In Mexico, most people use the Mexican sign language. It is also known as "lengua de señas mexicana", "Lenguaje de Signos Mexicano" or simply LSM. It is mainly used in the urban region by about 87000 people.

Finger Spelling - A signing system generally used alongside sign language. It is used to spell out names, places, and anything else there is not a sign for. Many times new words take longer to spell out into BSL so must be spelled before a sign is adopted.

BSL finger spelling is also different from ASL, as it uses two hands whereas ASL uses one. BSL is also distinct from Irish Sign Language (ISL) (ISG in the ISO system) which is more closely related to French Sign Language (LSF) and ASL.

Research shows that babies are not born with a blank slate of their brains when it comes to language. Sign language enables infants to speak earlier than speech language in the early stage of physical development. Next generations might be able to speak both vocally and manually.

Further Information Regarding Deaf Communication

Effective Communication for Deaf or Hard of Hearing Patients
Under a settlement agreement reached with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, deaf patients at the Fort Washington Medical Center in Prince George's County, Md., will be screened and provided with sign language interpreters whenever interpreter services are necessary for effective communication.

Improved Lip-reading Training for Deaf and Hearing Impaired
This research confirms how difficult the vital skill of lip-reading is to learn and why RNID is campaigning for people who are deaf or hard of hearing to have improved access to classes.

World of Sound Speaks up on NICE
Following a major breakthrough in the provision of cochlear implants for profoundly deaf children and adults, the latest drive to raise awareness of the procedure has been launched on campaigning website, World of Sound. World of Sound talks to professionals, parents and implant recipients, gathering their comments about the impact of changes following the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on cochlear implants announced earlier this year.

Cochlear Implant Information
A cochlear implant is a small and complex electronic device that can assist a person in developing a sense of sound when they are otherwise profoundly deaf or hard of hearing. The implant is comprised of two portions; an external portion that sits behind the person's ear, and another portion that is surgically placed underneath the person's skin.

Sign-Tube - Sign Language Video Sharing for the Deaf
Sign-tube.com is a dedicated video sharing web site for the deaf community to share news, information, and events with people across the world. A British site, Sign-tube.com allows members to upload videos and presentations using sign language. It appears most of the videos are in BSL or British Sign Language.

Cochlear Implant Surgery Safe for Elderly
Contrary to conventional medical wisdom, a new study by NYU Langone Medical Center researchers shows that healthy elderly patients with severe to profound hearing loss can undergo a surgical procedure to receive cochlear implants with minimal risk.

Devices Aids the Deaf Translating Sound Waves to Vibrations
Lip reading is a critical means of communication for many deaf people, but it has a drawback: Certain consonants (for example, p and b) can be nearly impossible to distinguish by sight alone. Tactile devices, which translate sound waves into vibrations that can be felt by the skin, can help overcome that obstacle by conveying nuances of speech that can't be gleaned from lip reading.

Multiple Senses Used in Speech Perception
When someone speaks to you, do you see what they are saying? We tend to think of speech as being something we hear, but recent studies suggest that we use a variety of senses for speech perception - that the brain treats speech as something we hear, see and even feel. In a new report in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychologist Lawrence Rosenblum describes research examining how our different senses blend together to help us perceive speech.

Teach Your Child Sign Language
There are many reasons that sign languages have been introduced into a child's life. Most of the time we as parents don't think about sign language or teaching the language to our children if they are not hearing impaired.

British Sign Language Information
British Sign language (or BSL) is a visual-gestural language which makes use of three dimensional space and the movement of hands (and other parts of the body) to convey meaning. It has its own vocabulary and syntax.

Learning Sign Language
American sign language is probably the most popular and widely used. It isn't hard to learn. Yes, it does take a little bit of time, but anything worth while is going to take time. Besides, the satisfaction that you will feel once you have mastered the language, well, it's like nothing else you're ever going to experience.

American Sign Language Information
American Sign Language is a complete language. It is very complex and uses motions of the hands to make signs and facial expressions, and posture to communicate. Usually referred to as ASL, the language is a way to use hand movements, gestures, and facial expressions to convey thoughts.