CHAPTER 10:

Are there such things as accents among signers from different areas of the country or world?

Sign language is a language, of course there are different accents just like there are for English-speaking people. Every signer signs differently, they all form their own unique way. Just like how each hearing person speaks differently. Every sign-language system "works" differently. Just like spoken English there are many regional variations.
Sign language is complex. There are differences between the ASL usage of a college graduate and a realtively uneducated deaf person. In ASL there are white-collar and blue-collar. Its just like our own language!
"Linguistic snobbery certainly exists in the Deaf community. Those who are proud of the purity of their ASL, those who enjoy showing off their advanced "Englishy" vocabulary, and those who have learned ASL relatively late in life- all have very different accents, and each may look down on the others."

CHAPTER 9:

Can people who are deaf from birth appreciate jokes and puns that involve homonyms?

Jokes that rely on  homonyms are pretty much incomprehensible to many born-deaf people. A child born deaf grows up without that unconscious absorption of spoken English. This makes deaf children not understand these jokes because they have never heard them in context so to speak. Deaf children often start school with no real language at all which leaves their English vocabulary to be quite llimited. "Most congenitally deaf people cant be expected to understand the whimsical aspects of English wordplay, much less enjoy it." Much of English humor is "oral-based" and not accessible for deaf people.
Deaf humor is visually based. Although hearing people may find some of deaf humor entertaining, it is most of the time incomprehensible to hearing people. Having a deaf background in ASL will help people appreciate deaf humor.

CHAPTER 8:

               How do deaf people learn sign language?

Communication is universal. Deaf people learn how to sign from each other until recently ASL is never formally taught to deaf children. This leaves deaf children plunged into an ASL environment in playgrounds, cafeteria, and the dorms.
In this chapter, signing was forbidden in the classroom. Which is crazy to me because deaf people have no other way of communicating with others without their language. Deaf children use ASL everywhere outside of the classroom and new kids pick up on it quickly and within a few months become fluent and skillful signers.

FUN FACT

Most deaf parents have hearing children, the 10% who have deaf children often send them to the residential schools. Some dead persons learn ASL later in life. The easiest way to become proficient in ASL is by living with a deaf person. It takes time and the right experience to become fluent.

CHAPTER 7:

                         Is ASL a written language?

ASL is purely visual/ gestural language that has no written form. There are no news papers, magazines, books, etc. written in ASL. Generally, we use English (glosses) to write about ASL.

A number of ASL translation compter programs have been developed and much experimental work has been done in this field.

Important names:

Sam SuPalla created a modified ASL- writing system and uses it to successfully help young deaf children learn English.
Dr. William C. Stokoe published the first ASL dictionaty in 1965 for which he devised a set of useful linguistic symbols that showed the five parameters of each sign.
Cokely and Bakers in 1980 developed an ASL textbook to utillize a code of symbols and abbreviations to emphasive the English wors used to translate the meaning of the ASL sentences.

* ASL owes nothing to English

" ASL is never written. It can be coded, glossed, or translated into English"

CHAPTER 6:

Can you explain the sentence structure of ASL? Is it a result of its French background?

The syntactical structure of ASL is not really due to a French origin, even though it was deeply influenced and enriched by FSL. ASL originated in the United States, it existed well over a century before Clerc brought FSL to the states.
Once again, ASL owes nothing to English.

In ASL the entire body is used expressively to convey information and can expand the expression of each sign according to the signers mood, feelings, or attitude.

English = uni-dimensional
ASL= multi-dimensional

In ASL information about nouns, subjects, or objects is incorporated into directional verbs.

CHAPTER 5:

  Why isnt American sign language like British sign language?

American sign language owes nothing to English. American English derives from British English, people assume they have to be the same but they are not.
In fact, there isnt much similarity between ASL and BSL. They both developed from two completely different sources.

ASL and BSL are two different languages. BSL is the creation of members of the deaf community in the British Isles, New Zealand and Austrailia. ASL is an indigenous product influenced by French sign language. BSL could be mistaken for ASL at first glance, except it isnt "readable" to an ASL user who doesnt know BSL.

More differences

BSL uses a two-handed manual alphabet while ASL and FSL use a one-handed version derived from the spanish fingerspelling system. Signs appear similar but are different.

"BSL is a beautiful, expressive and vivid language, in its own right, and reflects the culture, struggle, and visual humor of the British deaf community."

CHAPTER 4:

 Wasnt French Sign Language invented by the Abbe' del' Epee?

No. French sign language was invented by deaf people, along with many other dialects of sign language. Although Epee was a "neiborhood priest" whose involvement with deaf people began in the mid- 1700s and who is now known as the first known educator, who bothered to learn from deaf people themselves.
Epee wanted to save deaf peoples souls from damnation, he researched information on deaf education and soon adapted the spanish fingerspelling. He was the first hearing person to go to the deaf community to learn its language.
Epee approached deaf people with an open mind, unlike previous educators who didnt take into account the fact that deaf people alread had a highly developed "visual" means  of communication.

Although Abbe' del' Eppe is an inspirational figure to many deaf people, he did not have anything to do with the invention of sign language, rather he recognized the importance of sign language as the best way to communicate with and educate deaf people.

CHAPTER 3:

             Is there any similarity between Braille and ASL?

No. None.
Braille is used for individuals that are blind and ASL is sign language that deaf people use to communicate with either hearing people or deaf people like themselves. Braille is not a langauge like ASL or English. Its a code, a way of translating.
In our culture blindness has become more reognized and more respected than deafness. Blind people are easily recognized and are offered assistance but deaf people are not immediately recognized unless signing a conversation.
Although society thinks that deaf people know braille, they are not correct.

" You will never see two people standing on the corner having a conversation "in braille"".

CHAPTER 2:

                   Is there one sign language for all countries?

No more so then there is one spoken laguage for all countries! Like stated in the previous post in Chapter 1, communication is universal. There is sign language everywhere you find deaf people. So just like hearing people find ways to communicate using words, deaf people have an impluse to sign. For example, deaf children not exposed to any standardd sign language invented their own sign system called "home sign".

Every national sign is different, but deaf people have no trouble understanding one another. There are several complete and rich sign languages that have never been studied, along with the many languages that have been recognized. Every differnt sign however, reflects its own history, culture, and social mores. You have to be careful signing certain words in some areas because what is "acceptable" here may be banned for others.

Deaf people improvise using whatever method works. They use gestures and expressions until they establish some sort of mutual comprehension to build on to start a conversation. "International Sign Language" does not exist.

CHAPTER 1:

                                 WHAT IS ASL?

American Sign Language is not "bad or broken" English. ASL (American Sign Language) is a unique language with its own grammatical rules and synatax that is precise, and subtle as English. Chapter one is focused on the history behind this language, which in the classroom it began at Hartford Connecticut in the early 19th century ASL evolved from a blend of whats now called old french sign language, which was traced to the "dialect" used in the communities of Childmark and West Tisbury on Marthas Vineyard. To me,  this chapters main point is to bring to hearing peoples attention that communication is universal. People find ways to communicate to one another. There is no "exact" definition for American Sign Language and the subject is rather controversy. ASL structure and vocabualry owes nothing to English. This language continues to evolve, and every user has a unique style of signing.

In chapter one, it says, "not long ago, deaf children were discouraged if  not prohibited even in schools for the deaf from signing in the classroom, and adults were ashamed to be signing in public". I could not believe it! If communication is universal why should sign language of any kind be prohbited to the individuals that are deaf? Deaf people were made to feel that ASL was strictly inferior to English, and communicating in sign was not socially acceptable.

Luckily, people have become more accepting of  it, but of course there are still some sentiments that exist and children are still discouraged from making ASL their first language. 

"ASL is a beautiful, expressive, and colorful language that is finally beginning to get the respect it deserves."