ASL: A Vanishing Act?
Thanks to DeafRead's latest controversy, courtesy of SeekGeo, I've collected a couple of links debating this issue. My personal thoughts about ASL? I think it will vanish altogether, but not in my lifetime. Probably 100 years from now. The inexorable and relentless march of progress will continue to reduce numbers of deaf people, and there's only so much hearing people can carry the beauty, grace, and legacy of ASL.
One beautiful thing about ASL is that it is definitely the 'Lazarus' of languages; it continues to survive without the absence of a mother country, and thrives within a mainstreamed linguistic minority. Despite years of speech/language training, hearing aids, cochlear implants, Deaf people continue to use ASL, or acquire ASL in adulthood. However, ASL is not immune to anthropological forces that conspire to its disappearance. Time will tell if ASL will continue to live on, despite these extraordinary pressures exerted by mainstream society.
Vlog - Is ASL Fading Away Or Not? [Seek Geo]
Vlog - Year 2200: Deafness goes Extinct; but ASL Survives! [See-Say Jay]
Future Shock [AllDeaf.com]
The Day When ASL Dies [Kokonut Pundit]
posted by Todd @ 3:22 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Hello,
I do think long and hard on the possiblity of the American Sign Language's disappearance from the existence in the distant future. Think about it...As others had pointed out the near-extinct American Indian Sign Language, I would like for us to bring to the attention at least two sign languages that disappeared from the sands of time.
There, far as I know, was an Ancient Greek deaf community in Athens over 2,300 years ago that was dependent on what was described a complex system of gestures, facial expressions, and such according to the writings of Socrates. It was mentioned in one of his conversations/debates with an Ancient Athenian nobleman regarding how a person develops the ability to reason (hence the breeding ground for learning) or that he/she have the ability to imiate (or to copy) instead of actual learning.
But for this agrument's sake, let's call it the Athenian Sign Language. I think it is probably safe to assume that this sign language disappeared the day the Ancient Roman invasion was commenced. There were not any writings that pointed out the causes of Athenian Sign Language's disappearance but its safe to say that cochlea implants were not invented back then.
The second sign language that disappeared is Martha's Vineyard Sign Language that flourished for several centuries before the American Revolutionary War period and the founding of American Sign Language. Imported in from England during the days of Oliver Cromwell (who had a strong dislike for the deaf thus causing the massive immigration to Martha's Vineyard) and the venture of the Pilgrims, it was the common language for both the deaf and hearing inhabitants of the Martha's Vineyard island off the state of Massachusetts with its humble beginnings in the seventeenth century leading up to the last Martha's Vineyard signing family in 1953. Causes for this language's death: influx of new people moving in, new social opportunities for deaf Martha's Vineyarders to mingle with deaf people from other orignial 13 states, and such.
I would list more sign languages such as the Theives's Sign Language during the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. Known as the Theives' Tongue, there were very little writings about this code of communication since it was so secretive throughout the various guilds located in many cities especially in Italy and France.
sign language is already 10,000 years old
will vanish?
you must be idiot of the month ?
Anonymous at #2;
Thank you for your comment. All I can say is that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.
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