International Day Of Sign Languages
Jambo, Happy Mind’s, or should I say; *gestures a salute*, which is International Sign language for ‘Hello’. Any of you who have been following this blog for a while will know that I’m fascinated by language and its impact on cognition, as evidenced by this juicy little number from March 2024, ‘Does Language Shape Our Reality’. That’s one of the reasons that I was so keen to write something about International Day Of Sign Languages, which is celebrated annually on 23 September.
Another reason is that my uncle Gerard was born deaf, a consequence of an antenatal infection which affected the development of his inner ear structure. Gerard’s parents never learned sign language, relying instead upon lip reading and gestures as their only method of communication with their son, and I have often had occasion to reflect that his early life must have been very isolating. Especially since he was one of five children in a busy household. Of course, this was a different time and place – greater Manchester in the early 1960’s – so it may well be that they weren’t provided any opportunities to learn. We like to think that things have moved on now, and in some ways that’s true, but reflecting on his lived experience got me thinking…
Why don’t we all learn International Sign Language?
Just think about it, there are something like 7,000 different languages spoken worldwide, but even if you zero in on the most commonly spoken languages, you would still have to learn Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, German, French, Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, Russian, Portuguese and Japanese to be in with a solid chance of communicating with almost everyone in the world, and you would still be leaving more than 70 million deaf individuals out of the conversation. But if we made a concerted, global effort we could teach the next few generations of children to speak at least a little International Sign Language and within a century we would potentially have a truly international second language that is not specific to any one nation but allows communication between all cultures and nationalities, while having the knock on benefit of making the world a brighter place for our deaf and hard of hearing friends and neighbours. That’s got to be worth exploring, right?
The Complexity of Sign Language
Well of course, as with so much in life, the reality is a heck of a lot more complicated. For instance, did you know that there are actually more than 300 different sign languages, each of them related to, but structurally distinct from, a base native language? And assuming you’re a native English Speaker, it might challenge some of your cultural preconceptions to realise that the most commonly used sign language is Indo-Pakistani Sign. American and British sign languages are mutually exclusive and are only the fourth and fifth most commonly spoken dialects respectively.
International sign language sounds like a one size fits all solution, it actually lacks much of the nuance and complexity of a regional sign language. It’s also generally believed that you will need a firm grounding in a primary sign language before attempting to learn ISL. Still, even learning a handful of choice phrases in British or American Sign Language (or your preferred local dialect) has got to go someway to making members of the deaf community feel more recognised and included. It must be incredibly frustrating to require specially trained interpreters for any interactions with people outside of your immediate social circle. Consider what a difference it would make if it became the norm for most people to know even a handful of the most commonly used signs.
Why Individual Sign Languages Matter
One of the primary goals of International Day Of Sign Languages is actually to protect and preserve deaf culture, and part of that effort is to keep the individual sign language dialects alive. But the trouble with preserving any language, spoken or signed, is that languages are living things. They grow, shift and change in tandem with our culture. In fact, there are at least 46 languages active in the world today which are spoken by just a single individual. And since language is tied intrinsically to history and culture, when one disappears, so too does our link to the other.
Take for instance the example of Maritime Sign Language in Nova Scotia, Canada, which relies heavily on facial expressions to derive meaning. Itself a unique descendant of British sign language, maritime sign language evolved during the 1800’s but sign language education in the region has focused exclusively on American Sign Language (ASL) since the 1990’s. A major project is now underway within the local deaf community, including MSL in videos, plays and stories to preserve the dialect for the future.
So How Can We Join the Conversation?
OK, so it’s going to be a stretch for any of us to spearhead a centuries long global initiative to teach every single young person International Sign Language. Especially since I’m guessing many of you reading this don’t know any sign language at all – if you’re the exception then more power to you. So if you’d like to use this International Sign Language day to change that, then here’s a couple of handy resources for you!
