Alethea Chamberlain
May 7, 2007
The Role of ASL in Language Extinction
American
Sign Language (ASL) is a living, modern language which is
constantly evolving to coincide with the changing
environment and community it serves. The adaptation of a
language to its surroundings and inhabitants is a crucial
component for those who rely on it to subsist. As with any
organism in the biological world, if the species does not
change in structure or form, the chances of its survival
become dismal. The same principle of accommodation could
also be applied to language. If modification of a language
(including ASL) does not take place, then the impact that it
would have on those who depend on ASL to exist would be
profound.
Linguists
are now discovering a few indigenous inhabitants of lands
whose sole form of communication relies heavily on some
variation of manual gestures. These imperfectly developed
signs, also called “home signs” are often the person’s only
means of interacting with family, friends, and others within
their social unit. One such population is the peoples of the
Keresan Indian Pueblo in New Mexico.
During a
study conducted in the Spring 2000 by the University of
Texas at Austin, a previously undiscovered form of sign
language was uncovered. Walter Kelley and Tony McGregor, two
doctoral candidates from the University write, “The signs,
Keresan Pueblo Indian Sign Language (KPISL), are used by
some of the pueblo’s Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing individuals. This
newly discovered language, an idiosyncratic home sign
language, was developed perhaps by family members in order
to communicate with their offspring, siblings and relatives
who have a hearing loss. The signs appear to have evolved in
the same way as spoken language, progressing gradually from
the representational to the symbolic, from the picture to
the symbol, but still remaining primarily representational
or ideographic (Frishberg, 1987). Today, many individuals in
the pueblo use it while communicating with others inside the
small village” (Kelley,1998). However, the potential for
collision with ASL lies in the fact that without regular
usage or due to the integration of American ASL in schools,
KPISL is now becoming a dying language. Kelley and McGregor
go on to reveal, “Unfortunately, the signs are not used
among the younger Pueblo Indian generation due to their
learning in school American Sign Language (ASL) used by
American Deaf individuals or Seeing Exact English 2 (SEE 2),
a methodology of using signs following the spoken English
word order. In addition, KPISL was used at a nearby pueblo
but it is no longer seen” (Kelley, 1998).
Another
example of an indigenous sign language is Nicaraguan Sign
Language (NSL). In an article written by Elizabeth Malone
for the National Science Foundation, this language developed
as a result of people who were isolated for years, but when
they were reunited in schools with other deaf individuals, a
new language emerged. She explains, “This case is
particularly interesting because this language arose not as
the result of language contact or the creolization (merging)
of previously existing languages, but rather from the
merging of idiosyncratic gesture systems (called "home
signs") that were used for communication within the
immediate family by the first generation of deaf children to
enter the schools. Home signers quickly began to share their
idiosyncratic systems. Young children exposed to a mix of
gesturing began to produce a communication form radically
different from their input. The new form was more fluid,
more complex and wholly language-like” (Malone, 2005).
If a
language (spoken or otherwise) is not utilized or passed
down from one generation to the next, then the devastating
result would be language extinction. Accompanying the loss
of a native language is the loss of the traditions, culture,
and perhaps even a loss of life. Language extinction, also
referred to as total language death, is defined as
occurring, “when there are no speakers of a
given language idiom remaining in a population where the
idiom was previously used (i.e. when all native speakers
die). Language death may affect any language idiom,
including (so-called) dialects and languages” ("Language
Death," 2007).
To ensure the integrity of a culture
remains intact while those who need to learn ASL are exposed
to new ways of communicating, the dominant group must
demonstrate extraordinary intercultural competence skills.
This delicate task of synthesizing two languages and two
cultures is not a easy undertaking, however, it is as
assignment that is necessary when blending ASL with rare
native signs. One anthropologist from California State
University, Chico describes this as language maintenance. He
indicates, “Language maintenance, or language conservation,
refers to efforts made to keep languages from disappearing.
In the past, many languages have become extinct. Efforts are
currently being made to preserve endangered languages. These
efforts involve the development of bilingual educational
programs, recording and curating native languages, and
encouraging cross-generational use of native languages”
(Findlay,1998).
What role can ASL play in this mission of
preservation? The educators of ASL can use their exclusive
knowledge of manual signs to assist in regaining lost
cultural languages and traditions. In remote areas
where home signs are used as the main source of
communication, ASL instructors have a responsibility to
ensure the integration of native signs into mainstream
manual communication in order to provide a much more rich
level of language and fellowship between the Deaf or Hard of
Hearing and their loved ones, and more importantly to aid in
the prevention of linguistic genocide.
Works Cited:
- Findlay, Michael Shaw. Language
and Communication: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia.
Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1998.
- Kelley,
Walter P., McGregor, Tony l. (2001, April). Keresan
Pueblo Indian Sign Language, A Paper Presented at the
Deaf Studies VII Conference. Retrieved April
21,2007, from
http://www.flagler.edu/about_f/gal/kelleymcgregor.html.
·
"Language death."
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 30 Apr 2007, 00:50
UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 6 May 2007
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Language_death&oldid=126997191>.
·
Malone, Elizabeth. “Language
and Linguistics; a Special Report: Nicaraguan Sign
Language.” National Science Foundation (July 2005). April
21, 2007
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/linguistics/examples.jsp