Madras Institute of Technology

Sign Language
Fundamentals of Language and Linguistics
A seminar by Srilakshmi H
 Introduction

Types

History

Linguistics

Topics Relationships with spoken languages

Non - manual elements and Classification

Deaf communities and Deaf Culture

Interpretation and Technology

Communication systems similar to sign language

Alphabets and a few common signs

Questions
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 Introduction
also known as signed language
visual-spatial languages used by deaf and hard
of hearing communities
hand movements, facial expressions, and body
language
own grammar and lexicon
manually coded language
foster linguistic and cultural identity within deaf
communities
 Deaf Sign Languages

Types Preferred languages of deaf communities around the world

Include Village-sign languages
Eg: Nicaraguan Sign Language, which emerged when deaf children in
Nicaragua were brought together for the first time

Auxiliary sign languages

Not native languages but sign systems of varying complexity
Simple gestures are not included, as they do not constitute language.
Complementing Spoken Language, Enhancing Accessibility, Facilitating
Communication, Cultural Considerations

Signed modes of spoken languages

Manually coded languages
Bridges between signed and spoken languages
Directly interpolate the grammar and syntax of oral languages in a
gestural-visual form
History
5th Century BC
Plato’s Cratylus - Socrates
“If we hadn't a voice or a
tongue, and wanted to
express things to one
another, wouldn't we try to
make signs by moving our
hands...”
One of the earliest written
records of a sign language
1530 - 1584
Spanish monk, Pedro Ponce de
León - first manual alphabet.
The alphabet was based, in
whole or in part, on the simple
hand gestures used by monks
living in silence.
1620 1680
Juan Pablo Bonet - George Dalgarno - The deaf
Reduction of letters and and dumb mans tutor
art for teaching mute Own method of deaf
people to speak education - "arthrological"
First modern treatise of alphabet, where letters are
sign language phonetics, indicated by pointing to
setting out a method of different joints of the
oral education for deaf fingers and palm of the left
people. hand.
Continued...
1720
British manual alphabet had
found more or less its
present form.
Veeran Sundaralingam
communicated with
Oomaithurai, by using their
own sign language.
India, Australia, NZ, South
Africa, US, Norway, etc.
1755
Abbé de l'Épée founded the
first school for deaf children in
Paris
Laurent Clerc went to the
United States with Thomas
Hopkins Gallaudet to found
the American School for the
Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut,
in 1817.
1857
Edward Miner Gallaudet,
founded a school for the deaf
in 1857 in Washington, D.C.
1864 - National Deaf-Mute
College. Now called Gallaudet
University, only liberal arts
university for deaf people in
the world.
Present
International Sign, formerly
known as Gestuno, is used
mainly at international deaf
events such as the
Deaflympics and meetings of
the World Federation of the
Deaf.
Technological Advances
Linguistics
In linguistic terms, sign languages are as rich and complex as any spoken
language.
They exhibit the fundamental properties that exist in all languages, such as
Duality of patterning and Recursion.
Not Mime - They are conventional, often arbitrary and do not necessarily have
a visual relationship to their referent.
Can be used to discuss any topic, from the simple and concrete to the lofty
and abstract.
Sign languages organize elementary, meaningless units (chremes) into
meaningful semantic units.
Parameters: Handshape (or handform), Orientation, Location (or place of
articulation), Movement, and Non-manual expression.
Relationship with Spoken Languages
Sign languages are NOT dependent on spoken
languages.
Developed by the people who use them, in this case,
deaf people, who may have little or no knowledge of
any spoken language.
Sometimes borrows elements from spoken languages.
A manual alphabet (fingerspelling) may be used in
signed communication to borrow a word from a spoken
language, by spelling out the letters.
Grammars of sign languages do not usually resemble
those of spoken languages used in the same
geographical area.
 Non - Manual Elements and Classification
Non-manual elements refer to facial expressions, body movements, and other
non-hand-related signals that convey grammatical and emotional information.
Crucial for understanding the nuances and context of signed communication.
Eg. Not yet and Late
Deaf Communities and Deaf Culture
Deaf communities often develop that are distinct from the
surrounding hearing community.
One example of sign language variation in the Deaf
community is Black ASL.
Use of sign languages in hearing communities - village
sign language or shared signing community
Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, United States
Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language, Israel
Kata Kolok, Bali
Adamorobe Sign Language, Ghana
Yucatec Maya Sign Language, Mexico
Plains Indian Sign Language
Interpretation and Technology
The interpretation flow is normally between a sign
language and a spoken language that are customarily
used in the same country.
Live sign interpretation of important televised events is
increasingly common but still an informal industry.
Some emerging television technologies allow the
viewer to turn the signer on and off in a similar manner
to subtitles.
With recent developments in AI, deep learning based
machine translation algorithms have been developed
which automatically translate short videos containing
sign language sentences directly to written language.
Communication
systems Manual
languages
codes for spoken

similar to Baby sign language with hearing

children

sign language Home or Kitchen Sign

Primate use
Gestural Theory of Human
Language Origins
Any Questions ?
Feel Free to Reach Out!
Thank you for your time!