Signed Languages

Signed languages are natural human languages used by deaf people around the world as their native or primary language. The term signed is used, parallel to the terms spoken and written, to refer to the modalities in which language is expressed. Signed language is a broad category that includes languages, such as American Sign Language (ASL), that are used by a relatively large community often across multiple continents, and village sign languages that arise when a number of deaf children are born into an indigenous community. Several myths and misunderstandings have pervaded the understanding of the first class of signed languages, the natural signed languages of large communities of Deaf people.

One misunderstanding is that signed languages are merely depictive gestures and are not linguistically structured. Signed languages are not simply gestures. There is, however, a complex relationship between signed languages and gesture that scholars are only now beginning to understand.

Another common misunderstanding is that signed languages are representations of spoken languages—that ASL, for example, is a signed representation of spoken English. Signed languages are independent languages with their own lexicons and grammars. Like spoken languages, signed languages are naturally developing human languages. There are, however, sign systems created to represent spoken/written language. Such a system was used in early French deaf education and influenced the historical development of ASL.

Many people believe that signed languages are invented languages. They are not. It is often assumed that signed languages have shallow historical depth. Signed languages are mentioned in Talmudic law, and in the writings of Aristotle, Quintilian, and others. In his dialog “De Magistro” (389 CE) St. Augustine observed that people hold conversations with the deaf, and that the deaf themselves ask questions, respond, teach, or indicate all that they wish—all by means of what Augustine called gesture but which we would now recognize as a signed language.

Signed languages are not universal; each signed language is a distinct language. Just as for spoken languages, signed languages have historical [Page 1712]connections to other signed languages. Signed languages, however, do not reflect the same historical relationships as the dominant spoken languages of the regions in which they are used. For example, while spoken English is the dominant language of the United States and Great Britain, deaf people in these countries use historically and grammatically unrelated signed languages.

Signed languages are related in language families. The French Sign Language family, for example, includes French Sign Language, American Sign Language, Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS), Tunisian Sign Language, Russian Sign Language, and others. The British Sign Language family includes Australian Sign Language (Auslan), New Zealand Sign Language, Sri Lankan Sign Language, and others. While the exact number of signed languages is not known, SIL International’s Ethnologue, of the world’s languages, currently lists 138 signed languages. This number is likely underrepresentative, as new signed languages are discovered every year.