American Sign Language: God's Noblest Gift

2326 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Deaf culture more misunderstood

“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things” (American). For centuries, people from all walks of life have been using their hands to communicate with one another, and for centuries people from all walks of life have been learning. Today I am following in their footsteps with a passion from God for the deaf language, culture, and souls. For almost a decade, an intense ardor for American Sign Language and a desire to reach its native users for Christ seeded itself in my soul, wove its roots deeper and deeper, and blossomed into one of the greatest loves of my life. American Sign Language is a unique language with a rich history that not only provides a service to people in the deaf culture, but also to hearing people who seek to attain fluency.
In general, sign language—as defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as “any means of communication through bodily movements … used when spoken communication is impossible or not desirable”—has been used by dozens of cultures for ages, but American Sign Language (ASL) is fairly new. The Native Americans hold one of the earliest records of sign language with their ancient system of communication using signs to converse and break “language barriers” between tribes who spoke different dialects (American). Because many of their cultures were so intertwined with various “shared elements,” the Indians were able to devise “common symbols” to communicate with each other without the use of formal interpreters (American). Across the sea, Juan Pablo de Bonet of Spain was conducting his own research of sign language for the deaf and published the first documentation of a manual alphabet in 1620 (Butterworth). Before ...

... middle of paper ...

...nesota Department of Human Services. Minnesota Department of Human Services, n.d. Web. 30 Nov 2013.
Deaf School vs. Mainstream School Pro's and Con's. 2012. Chart. RedeafinedWeb. 30 Nov 2013.
Harrington, Tom. "Ranking and Number of Users." Gallaudet University Library. Gallaudet University, n.d. Web. 2 Dec 2013.
"Manually Coded English vs. "Natural" Sign Languages." Sign Language. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov 2013.
Merriam-Webster, 2013.Web. 2 December 2013.
National Association of the Deaf. National Association of the Deaf, 12 Nov 2013. Web. 30 Nov 2013.
“Sign Language.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002. Print.
Sign Language Interpretation. Personal Observation. 16 Nov. 2013.
Wells, Kaitlin. Personal interview. 20 Nov. 2013.
"Values and Norms of the Deaf Community." College of the Canyons. College of the Canyons, n.d. Web. 30 Nov 2013.

Show More
Related

  • For Hearing People Only: Chapters 71-131 Book Reaction

    1666 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the following chapters, there is an extensive amount of knowledge to learn about how Deaf culture is involved in our modern world. The pages assigned give us an outlook of how Deaf people are treated in our daily life, and how we should learn from it. Its gives a clear line between what are myths and what are facts, to those who are curious about the Deaf community or have specific questions. This book has definitely taught me new things that I could put to good use in the near future. In specific chapters, my mind really opened up to new ideas and made me think hard about questions, like “why don’t some Deaf people trust hearing people,” or “do we need another ‘Deaf president now’ revolution?” I realized many new things in the course of reading this book, and have recommended this to my family.

    Read More

  • Eradicating the Deaf-World

    1472 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lane, Harlan; Hoffmeister, Rob and Bahan, Ben (1996). A Journey Into the DEAF-WORLD. Dawn Sign Press, San Diego, Ca.

    Read More

  • Mouth Morphemes In American Sign Language

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    In American Sign Language a major part of the language entails being able to express emotions and types of questions through the use of non- manual signals such as when asking a yes-no question the eyebrows will go up but when asking a wh-question such as what the eyebrows go down. Another way to express something is through mouth morphemes this is the way your mouth is shaped to convey different meanings, such as size and grammar. Non-manual signals and mouth morphemes are just as important as any sign and enrich the language to make it possible to effectively communicate.

    Read More

  • Deaf Culture Reflection Paper

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the course of the semester, I have gained a new understanding and respect of Deaf culture and the many aspects it encompasses. The information supplied in class through discussion, movies, and guest lecturers since the previous reflection have aided in the enhancement of my knowledge of Deaf culture and nicely wrapped up all of the information provided throughout the semester.

    Read More

  • Benefits Of British Sign Language

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sign language is a natural human language, they have their own vocabularies and sentence structures. Sign language comes into practice wherever Deaf societies come into existence. Sign language is not identical worldwide; every country has its own language and accents; however, these are not the verbal or transcribed languages used by hearing individuals around them.

    Read More

  • American Sign Language And Pidgin Signed English

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sign language is a method of communication for people who have hearing or speech impairments. Sign language is a language that is made up of gestures using the hands and some facial expressions which classifies it as a visual language. There are two different versions of sign language for english, American Sign Language (ASL) and Pidgin Signed English (PSE). Both are widely used across the world, but the signer who uses the versions and the syntax will be different, while the signs and the actual use will be the same.

    Read More

  • Is Deafness a Disability or a Way of Living?

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    Singleton, Jenny and Matthew Tittle. “Deaf Parents and Their Hearing Children.” Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. 5.3 (2000): 221-234. PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.

    Read More

  • Deaf President Now

    1884 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...people making decisions for the deaf community. The past resulted in the strengthening of unity in the culture. “They claim the right to “personal diversity”, which is “something to be cherished rather than fixed and erased” (Tucker, 1997).

    Read More

  • DEAF TECHNOLOGY

    1866 Words  | 4 Pages

    National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. (November 2002). Retrieved October 17, 2004, from http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/coch.asp

    Read More

  • American Sign Language Analysis

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although some things are implied about ASL literature, or can be inferred just by learning about the language itself, I have been unable to find a substantial amount of research on ASL literature thus far. However, Karen Christie and Dorothy M. Wilkins, two of the very few people I have been able to find who have done any amount of research relating to this subject, stated that: “…in much the same way that the poetry of non-signed languages use sound play and rhyme, ASL poetry uses visual play and sign rhymes.” (K. Christie and D. Wilkins, 58). This shows that people are aware of the details of ASL literature, but there still isn’t enough research being done on the topic.

    Read More

  • Deaf Culture

    1566 Words  | 4 Pages

    Breaking the Federal Glass Walls, 2 April 2000. National Association of the Deaf. 24 Mar. 2005 http://www.nad.org

    Read More

  • Essay On American Sign Language

    1745 Words  | 4 Pages

    When children are born and as they grow most of what they learn to speak is from hearing their parents talk but what if they couldn 't hear? How would they learn? Its pretty simple actually. They wouldn 't learn. Those who were born hearing but got sick or eventually lost their hearing learned a few things and use them but, eventually they turn to ASL to be able to communicate with others and be able to further their education. When having to learn this language you have to keep many things in mind such as handshape, palm orientation, location, movement and facial expression, all of those things are crucial to being able to speak this language correctly. While this language has been around for many years there are still things that don 't have an ASL name and in those cases you would do something called finger spelling, where you spell out what you are trying to say in order to get your point across.(Learning Sign Language,2) As every language you are learning a whole different way of saying things and you are also opening yourself to those who can’t really open themselves to you. The deaf community do really try to not be a burden to us. They learn to read lips or even talk because they were forced to. A couple a years ago they were restricted from learning ASL and were punished if they tried to sign. (About sign

    Read More

  • Deafness In The Book Seeing Voices, By Oliver Sacks

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    In part two the book is about the view of American Sign Language and the way people have naturally created grammar and the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language from basically nothing. He demonstrates that this languag...

    Read More

  • Discrimination Against the Deaf Culture

    2335 Words  | 5 Pages

    National Institute of Health. (2011). National Institute on Deafness and other communication disorders: Improving the lives of people who have communication disorders. National Institute on

    Read More

  • American Sign Language Thesis Statement

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    THESIS STATEMENT (central idea + preview statement): American Sign Language didn’t begin until 1814 which is fairly new language compared to modern languages such as English, Spanish, and French. ASL started when deaf education was first introduced in America. In this speech, we will be discussing the following: where, when, and why did ASL started, the history of Martha’s Vineyard, evolution of ASL, recognition of ASL as a real language.

    Read More

More about American Sign Language: God's Noblest Gift

Open Document