...Conventionality of a Linguistic Sign as a Social Factor in Language Development By Krystyna Poluektova CONTENTS CHAPTER I – Introduction Statement of the problem and purpose……………………………………………3 CHAPTER II Literature review, definition of terms and main ideas………………………………………………………………………………………………….5 CHAPTER IV – Conclusion…………………………………………........................14 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………….15 Introduction Statement of the problem and purpose The idea of the linguistic sign, which is today asserted or implied in most works of general linguistics, came from Ferdinand de Saussure. Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics. Saussure's ideas had a major impact on the development of linguistic theory in the first half of the 20th century. Two currents of thought emerged independently of each other, one in Europe, the other in America. The results of each incorporated the basic notions of Saussurean thought in forming the central tenets of structural linguistics. Saussure posited that linguistic form is arbitrary, and therefore all languages function in a similar fashion. According to Saussure, a language is arbitrary because it is systematic in that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Also, all languages have their own concepts and...
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...Can Sign Language Help Deaf Children Learn English? One of the most important things to learn in a deaf community is to learn language it is in critical condition. Because of some public schools having deaf students, they have to come up with new ways of teaching English to them. High school graduates that are deaf can read and write, but only at a fourth grade level. This is not good and that is why they have to come up with new ways of teaching children who are deaf. Recently, there have been ideas on what is the best way to teach deaf children language. This was based more on strong feelings then science. Psychologist hopes to change that though. They are providing a scientific base to help them debate of rather or not deaf children should be taught English or should just English be taught? To learn English only it provides oral training, this concentrates on lip reading and written English. It also teaches “total communication” training, which uses English and Sign English. Signed English is just English that is translated into signs. ASL though is a different forum of English; it has its own vocabulary and grammatical structure. To learn oral only and total communication training that has over powered the American education of deaf and hearing children. Did you know that more then ninety percent deaf children are born to hearing parents? These parents want their children in an English only program. They think that learning ASL will “impede” learning English and that...
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...American Sign Language (ASL) is a visual and natural language and used widely by the members of the deaf community in the United States (Valli & Lucas, 2000; Andrews, Leigh, & Weiner, 2004). About 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 2015; Nover et al, 1998). The other 10% are born to one or both deaf parents (Mitchell & Karchmer, 2002). Deaf children who have deaf parents have full access to ASL whereas most deaf children with hearing parents have limited access to ASL. Deaf children with hearing parents are typically not given the same early opportunity (Baker, 2010). Deaf families who use ASL understand the importance of having early language access to develop...
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...Sarah Benor Arts and Letters 100g: 35237R 7 December 2014 American Sign Language “If I hadn't lost my hearing, I wouldn't be where I am now. It forced me to maximize my own potential. I have to be better than the average person to succeed” (Lou Ferrigno). In this short glimpse into Ferrigno’s experience, he explains that losing the ability to hear requires an entirely different perspective towards daily life, especially because another language is needed to be able to communicate with others. This language is called American Sign Language (ASL). There are many different ways that language is spoken throughout the world, due to numerous distinctive features such as accent, pitch, as well as geographical location, and languages that are...
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...and do they understand their statues? By reviewing the research about this subject, we will answer all these questions. The American Sign Language started in 1814 by Dr. Thomas Gallaudet. He was helping his neighbor’s daughter, Alice Mason Fitch Cogswell she was nine years old and she was deaf. Dr. Thomas realized how smart Alice was because...
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...In this documentary we are educated about how Sign language is an independent, complete language; and how hearing parents can acquire it to teach it to their deaf child; and how parents can learn to accept their child as Deaf. Sign language uses body language, facial expressions and gestures to convey meaning as opposed to using voice i.e. LSQ opposed French. It is not only used by deaf people but also by people who cannot speak. It is import for parents to learn and teach their child sign language as early as possible; and encourage people around them to learn it as well because it is critical to sign around Deaf people all the time. Sign language might seem hard to learn at first but motivation is the key; and it is easier for people to sign than for the deaf child to speak. As people learn to sign, they also learn that most of their perceptions were based on false information. Signing comes naturally to Deaf people and it is essential that the child’s foundation should be in sign language first and then English should be their second language. Just like any other language, deaf children will “baby talk” first, but their language will evolve and become more complex with time. It is important for the Deaf child and the family to immerse in the Deaf community and learn about Deaf culture; and for the Deaf child to develop a strong self-identity. Parents of the Deaf child should understand that the child has a different way of life and they should not limit to the one...
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...Alexandra Saenz Katherine McMullen American Sign Language December 14, 2014 And Your Name is Jonah tells us the story of a young boy named Jonah. In the movie a couple has a son who is diagnosed as mentally retarded, and placed into an institution. They are later shocked to discover that the doctor’s diagnosis, is wrong, their son is deaf, not retarded. Throughout the movie Jonah’s parent’s undergo a lot of stress and a few times they give up on him. His father even leaves his mother because he can’t handle everyone talking about how much of a “freak” Jonah is. His parent’s had him attending speech therapy classes to teach him how to talk. Throughout the movie we see Jonah struggle and even have a few breakdowns. One day on his way to a speech therapy class his mom stopped a deaf family and talked to them. The family invited her to come to a deaf club because Jonah’s mom had asked about meeting more deaf people. This opened a whole new world up for Jonah. Jonah started going out with a deaf man and a translator and he started to learn sign language. His mom pulled him from speech therapy and placed him in a school for the Deaf. In the movie you can feel the isolation that Jonah has and his inability to speak to everyone around him. You feel so much emotion throughout the movie, from the parent’s frustration because they don’t know what to do to his grandfather’s love and accepts Jonah just the way he is. The last few scenes are extremely touching as you see Jonah learns...
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...provided supported living. While I have never given any direct care to Gary I have seen him at Opportunity Enterprises when I’ve picked up and dropped off my clients. Gary and I signed for a bit, I asked him if he still goes to OE since I haven’t been there for awhile and he said yes, he also asked me if I would ever work with him, because he likes the fact that I know sign language and I said possibly, I’d have to ask my supervisor. I then tried to explain to him that since he isn’t a “24 hour” participant that it is hard for my supervisor to place me at his site, since there are other “24 hour” participants that need care at all times. He was disappointed, but agreed. I then talked with Professor and his wife for a while. His wife explained to me that she is a Sign Language interpreter and told me how to obtain such a license. I was interested and then told both Professor Maloney and his wife how I applied to Indiana Deaf camp to work as a counselor this summer with Deaf children. I feel like this will allow me to immerse myself completely in the culture, and force me to use and learn Sign Language. Hopefully they accept my...
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...deaf woman, Rachel Kolb. It is about communicating in sign language and ASL’s conflict with our hearing culture’s social norms. She described an incident in elementary school where one of her friends scolded her for pointing because it was “rude.” As a child, she was absolutely shocked; it had never occurred to her other people might interpret her signs as disrespectful. Although her mother reassured her that her signing was not rude, Kolb was still left feeling self-conscious and embarrassed about communicating with sign language. Kolb recognized that same self-consciousness twenty years later in her friends who were learning sign. One particular instance that stood out was a lunch with one of her friends. She and her friend had lunch and conversed in sign. Kolb was thrilled to...
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...Have you ever experience learned English in an order late age? I didn’t learn any language since I moved to America in New York City. There are a lot occur during Kosovo school. Their education system was awful for deaf people because there is barrier communicate. My parent decides to send me to a deaf school, there is a new method for me to learn a language is America sign language. The teacher and family are the most important of my life because they influence me to become a better person and, improve education. If those are not existing in my life. I will be gone forever. In 1995, a doctor said that I was a perfectly healthy condition. When I became 1 and half years old, I was sick with high fever for almost 2 weeks, it leads to my hearing...
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...American Sign Language is the interesting, logic, and fun to learn. The other people use American Sign Language to communicate with their friends, family or their loved one who is deaf. ASL is the fourth of the most-used languages in the United States. Now parents are teaching their babies to learn ASL. The estimates were at least 500,000 through two million are using the ASL. The American Sign Language gives children, their confidence, and self-esteem in their lives. Deaf Community vs. Hard of hearing is a different point of views and their impact was to have opportunities to have new friendships, connection to other people in the deaf community and to be able to talk with Deaf people easier. The hard of hearing or non-signer could be friends...
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...English-or any spoken language is going to be a huge challenge for them. One challenge that they are going to have is learning the sounds each letter makes and how they are pronounced. Because they can’t hear the letters, it will be harder for them to learn the language. A verbal language like English requires them to be able to hear their own speech and produce sound. "Without early exposure to language provided by ASL, deaf students are much less likely to become literate" (Browniee, 1989, pp. 58). With deaf children acquiring a visual language such as ASL, they can pick up ASL the same way hearing children can. However, a child who is a native signer will have a lower vocabulary count than someone who is hearing. This...
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...Second language students of ASL must learn the distinction between the ability to communicate in a language and the ability to interpret between two languages and two cultures. (pg. 113) Many foreign language teachers believe that it is important to spend several years abroad, not only to perfect their language skills, but also to get to know native users of the language. (pg.115) Accuracy is not considered important unless errors interfere with communication. (pg.119) When I read this, I didn’t think that you have to be aware culture. Second language students of ASL are necessary for them to communicate effectively. They must learn how to communicate in two or more languages through the development of listening, speaking, reading and writing skills enables them to understand, appreciate and interact with other languages and cultures. And also learning a second language makes students better learners. I think it’s interesting quote about different cultural perspectives. I think that there are always some reasons that can lead to abandoning studying a language in English for me. Eventually, I never quitting English but I’m learning in ASL, SEE and PSE. I can communicate with hearing people in English easily. It’s unnecessary to try to learn my rough language. My English is not always perfectly. That’s my first language in ASL. Hearing people who learn from hearing people are not getting the full benefit of learning a language from a native Deaf signer. Students...
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...“Over 40 years of intensive research by Linguists, Psychologists, Psycholinguists, and Cognitive Neuroscientists, have demonstrated the signed languages of the world in general, and American Sign Language (ASL) in particular, are real languages” (Are Sign Languages Real Languages?). A Sign Language teacher’s salary is about $57,000 a year, while a private interpreter’s salary is about $75,000 a year. Even though a SL teacher would be payed about $20,000 less a year, if more people would learn sign language, more money could go to the teachers, instead of the government. Finding teachers to teach Sign Language, in a school system, is hard because Sign Language isn’t a well-known language, but if we started to teach it in schools that would bring...
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...American Sign Language, or ASL has long been associated with the deaf community, and for good reason, as it was created for those who are deaf, hard of hearing and hearing impaired. After officially being recognized as a language in 1817, it has been the standard used in most of the United States of America, as well as most of Canada. In recent years, however it has been used to teach infants how to speak, and as a tool for nonverbal autistic people to communicate. There are major differences between the ways ASL is used in these situations. Because it is now being used differently, like any language it is evolving to fit the needs and culture of different people groups. Nonverbal people and deaf people experience different challenges in their day to day life they use Sign Language Differently Because most nonverbal people can hear, the function of ASL in their daily life is much different than that of a deaf person. The three most important differences between sign languages in the deaf community and the nonverbal community are the...
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