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From: James.Womack@f14.n300.z1.fidonet.org (James Womack)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Sign Languages
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Date: 28 Feb 91 15:57:23 GMT
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Index Number: 13720

[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]

The sign language that is truly the one that belongs toteh deaf is
ASL. It has dialects tobe sure but any ASL user from anywhere in America
can understand another ASL'er with very little difficulty. Every once
in a while, an unfamiliar sign may show up. Usually it needs explanation
only once. Indeed, ASL'ers and FSL'er (French Sign Language users)
are able to hold a fairly decent conversation because FSL is the mother
of ASL.

When "deaf" signers ger together and havethe difficulty you described
in your post to Anne Stalkner, itis usually because they arre not ASL'ers
but deaf people who have been indoctrinated in some MCE (manually coded
English) method or another. MCE whether you cann it Signed Englsih,
SEE 1 or SEE 2 etc. is not a true language in and of itself. Moreover,
a truly deaf person never really masters English on thelevel a hearing
person does it he or she is born deaf or deaf froma very early age.
The reason is that English is a phonetic language. The deaf person
(God, how many times will I say this?) cannot hear it. You can speak

it, signit, write it, lipread it all you want and you are simply not
ve
going to infuse the level of mastery a native or hearing speaker achieves
with English by virtue of deafness itself. So when you have a bunch
of deaf people who are indoctrinated with MCE together, you are seeing
a pseudo language created by hearing people and not wholly comprehended
by deaf people. You get the kind of confusion and miscommunication
you mention-everybody saying "What?" This is a hearing creation. You
don't get that with ASL users at least not on the level you mention.
With hearing people too, you may have a person who speaks a dialect
of Englsih taht may force you from time to time you say things like,
"Excuse me." "Come again?" What did you say?" It is no less true with

signers of ASL. Once in a while, a word (or sign) may throw you off.
But only because of your personal lack of familairity with the way
it is spoken (signed). The confusion you mentioned is typical of artificial
communication methods but not with true languages used by the people
whose language it is. And thatis why deaf people as a whole so resist
the Babylon of hearing created sign methods such as SEE, L O V E, Signed
English and their ilk.

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