Does sign language change through time? For example, are there archaic words like the sign-language equivalent of “thou”? Are there slang words that younger signers use? Did sign language go through anything that is the visual equivalent of, for example, the Great Vowel Shift of English?
Do people from different regions sign with an “accent”? If so, does this accent consist of? Faster signing? Sloppiness?
First of all, let’s get past the concept that there is just one sign language. There isn’t. Sign language arises wherever you have a substantial number of deaf people, and such clusters have evolved their signs independently of each other due to isolation. In other words, the “Sign” practiced by deaf people in the USA is separate and distinct from the “Sign” found in, say, China.
In fact, I’ve been told that American sign is closer to French sign than it is to British sign.
Sign languages ARE real languages. I know American sign has a lot of slang and regional terms. They change and evolve over time, and certainly new terms have to be invented for new things like computers and TV and space travel and so forth.
There are “accents”, but I’m not famillar enough with the language to discuss them intelligbly. However, deaf people fluent in sign can often identify where someone learned to sign. Gallaudet graduates are said to have a distinctive accent to their signing as well.
I echo Broomstick’s comments. Just because the name has the word Sign in front of Language does not make it any the less a language than an oral language is. Sign Languages are real, living, and used languages. They, like the oral languages, have a language family tree.
And there’s even a way to write Sign Languages which owes exactly zero to the alphabets used to write the oral languages which use alphabets.
I remember an article a while back where a guy was developing a sign language -> english translator where a person wore VResque gloves and signed. He mentioned that each person had to “train” the gloves for a while before use because each person had different “hand accents”
shal, I don’t recall the name, but it was a kid who did this with a golf glove for a science fair project!
On sign language…
It is very regional. The sign for “ocean” is different in California (west coast) than in Maryland (east coast) as I found out one evening! It is also evolutionary. Signs change. Also, signs can sprout up quickly in communities that are specific to a community or region i.e. a sign in the DC area for the 95/495 mixing bowl. There are also signs that sprout quickly in communities, even though the concept is much larger. I can’t think of a good example now, but think technology. Maybe there was a sign for “It” or “Ginger” that came up quickly, but might not have been the same in all communities. It’s not like the Nation Sign Language Council creates a sign and instantly notifies all signers.
Bear in mind I’m talking about British Sign Language. There are regional variations in sign language, if that’s what you mean by “accent”. For example, I can tell what area of the country someone comes from by the sign they use for “people” (I can think of five ways to say it). Styles of sign language vary so much from person to person that it’s difficult to pick out regional styles. I too have heard about Gallaudet sign users being identifiable but I haven’t met enough of them to see.
Styles do differ from country to country though. ASL, for example, is much more one-handed than BSL. But then, ASL is a different language to BSL.
Yes, it does evolve, just like any other language. There are signs that have fallen out of use, and new signs are developed all the time. I don’t know when or where they develop, but one day you’ll see a new sign, just like you hear a new word. And signs for the same word develop - the sign for “digital” has changed as it has become less about clocks (it was previously mostly a sign extension to “clock”) and more about computers and so on.
Signs become un-PC just like words do. A few years ago a new sign for China was developed because the previous one was a slitted-eyes movement - not considered terribly PC.
As for the history of sign language and whether it went through anything like The Great Vowel Shift, it’s important to remember that it’s only very recently sign language as we know it became standardised. Sign language was oppressed (here, at least) for a long, long time and most sign languages were regional. Deaf peole were often very isolated and didn’t meet many other deaf people - a standard national sign language didn’t have much chance to develop.
With the introduction of schools for the deaf, sign languages became more widespread and amalgamated and eventually fused into a national sign language. And then we had a full language that acts just like any other language.
“weiner”
“weinie”
“frankfurter”
“footlong”
and that’s just off the top of my head. If we’re extending the meaning of “hot dog” beyond the food item into “Golly gosh, that’s great!” or “overheated pet” or “to perform show-off stunts while skating, driving, or what have you” then I bet there’s even more ways to say it.
Why shouldn’t there be five ways to say “hot dog”? There’s three ways to say carbonated beverage in American English…
Hmm, thats odd I just answered this here yesterday sort of.
Yes, signs do evolve. Also signs for the same word vary from one part of my state to another,
plus from state to state & again from country to country. I can barely keep track as it is.
At least fingerspelling stays the same.
Me & one sign teacher sign ‘brother’ the same but we have to teach them to sign it another way.
Becuz of some sort of sign evolution or something.
Recently PBS had a series on man. It dealt with theories as to why we as H. sapiens were able to supplant neanderthals as the dominant hominid. One segment focused on language. The pertinant point was that after the Nicaraguan revolution, the Sandanistas set up a school for the deaf. They brought the deaf nicaraguan children to the school and tried to teach the children a standard spanish sign language. They were surprised that the children developed an involved gesticular language. They called a gringa to come investigate and she came to realize that the kids had developed their own distinct sign language (not a dialect, but a distinct language). Yes, Virginia, sign language evolves.
Goggle will be able to provide the details +nicaragua +sign +language. I’m not providing a distinct link, as there is a wealth of information.
You might also be able to find information from the Gauladet (sp?) school for the deaf in DC. I remember a number of news items on their dialect.
Stephen Pinker’s The Language Instinct contains some information on this topic ( including the Nicaraguan school mentioned by xiao_wenti) and numerous references which you could follow up if you’re interested.