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Infinite Pandora

PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 7:46 pm


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♫ → If you guys think that sign language qualifies as a language?

I do, and I'll be learning it this summer, even though I don't know anybody who's deaf. So I was just wondering if any of you knew sign language and whether you think it's considered a language.

P.S. Sorry if this thread seems stupid.
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:46 pm


Of course it's a language 3nodding
People need it to be able to communicate with each other, and there are even rules for grammar. I took sign language for 3 years, and I loved it.
I haven't had to use it much in the last couple years, so my receptive abilities are a little shoddy, but I can still sign pretty well.

e r i s e d y m


Im A Little Pea

PostPosted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 12:24 pm


Just the same as any other language. (: There was one researcher (Hockett I think?) who wrote what he believed defined natural human languages, and according to his definition it was not because he saw the use of vocal-auditory channel as necessary. If I recall correctly he didn't really address sign languages, and I think he just didn't know too much about them.
They're considered languages. The only difference between a sign language and a spoken language is the way they're 'spoken'.
PostPosted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 12:52 pm


I've learned and still learning British Sign Language~ 3nodding

Anzthuniel

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lili of the lamplight

PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 2:12 pm


It's a language according to the definitions provided by linguists; whether it's accepted as a language by the community at large is variable. In many areas, it is widely accepted, but it's still not uncommon to hear people claim otherwise.

I can sign ASL; I'm not fluent but I'm conversationally proficient.
PostPosted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 4:27 pm


It's as much a language as all the other languages. You can communicate with other people, and it has established grammar and what not. Interestingly, one of my friends took an ASL class. From what he described it was an interesting experience.

apiyo

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kyuuketsuki4

PostPosted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 5:01 pm


I have an ASL dictionary that i acquired sometime in elementary school, but that's about the extent of my experience with sign languages. For some reason I have a strange urge to learn Japanese Sign Language though.

As for it being a language, yes, it is. As apiyo said, it has grammar, and if I recall correctly, when placed in an environment where it's being used deaf children will learn it basically the same as any child learns their native language. Hmm, I wonder if non-deaf children would learn it too. I want to say they wouldn't unless nobody around them used spoken languages. Anyone?
PostPosted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 5:34 pm


It is a language. But there is a debate in schools here in America about Sign Language counting as a foreign language class. If you live in America and study ASL, it's not a foreign language, just an alternative form of communication.

Lover_2_The_Fire

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