h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.h2g2.com/A508574

This Article is on American Sign Language and it's place in the deaf community, something I have been studying for the last few months. The article has a general "in a nutshell" attitude, broadly covering a large range of information, going from more Historical-type aspects to Advice/instruction as to how to sign to The Etiquette of Signing and Recent Developments. I hope you like it!

Hi gelfling,

This entry is interesting and informative. It needs a little more work though. You should proof read it and check the spelling. It would look nicer with proper headings, for which you'd need to convert it to GuideML. You'll find instructions on how to do that here http://www.h2g2.com/A395552 .

I remember from a project I did on British Sign Language (about 20 years ago) that if a bunch of deaf children with no language whatsoever were to find themselves thrown together (so to speak), they would quickly construct their own sign language with it's own recognisable grammar. Quite remarkable really. Our instinct for language is so strong that very little will stand in its way.

When you say 'hearing people should not create their own signs and should allow a deaf person to create their "nickname sign" for them', is this an etiquette issue?

Good work in any case. I expect this will picked for the Edited Guide before long.

Sal

Pretty good! My only suggestion would be to add a bit on "Signed English" and "Signed Exact English" as opposed to ASL, especially since SEE is increasingly used as more deaf children are placed in mainstream classes. A good point in the entry for that would be when you're discussing the idea that ASL is not a direct word-for-word translation of spoken english.



Mikey

This is going very well. I recognise that you have considered a comparison with other forms of sign language, and talk at one point of "ASL and sign language in general" but it would still not be clear to a reader with no knowledge of other sign languages what is different about ASL. For instance, para 2 talks about how ASL is a language in its own right, not just a translation of English - this of course is the same for BSL, and many other SL variants.

How about a mention of deafblindness?

In regards to the last two posts, I would have loved to include information on deafblindness, signed english and otherwise, but unfortunately I have very little and vague knowledge of them. However, I do see where parts of my article can be misleading or vague...that shall be changed soon!

Here's some info on signed english you could use:

Unlike ASL, Signed English (SE) does attempt to directly translate spoken English. It uses a relatively small vocabulary derived from ASL, but in the word order and grammatical structure of spoken English. Its use originally began to help deaf children learn to read - as written English uses the same word order as spoken English, it can often be difficult to learn for children raised using ASL. SE never achieved widespread acceptance by the deaf community, largely because of its limited vocabulary. Signed Exact English (SEE), on the other hand, is based on the same system but with a wider vocabulary. Unfortunately, its use can be considerably more awkward than ASL. Since SEE and SE allow for a direct correlation between the signed and spoken word, they are most often used by the hearing impaired who combine sign language with lip reading, especially with hearing impaired children who have been mainstreamed into regular classrooms.

It also might be worth noting that ASL is alternatively referred to as Ameslan or Amerslan by some communities.

THANK YOU!!!!

And here is the New And vastly (I think) improved article:

http://www.h2g2.com/A508574

Hope you like it...
gelfling

A very interesting and informative Entry. Sign Language is one of those things that everybody seems to know something about (perhaps only that it exists), but hardly anybody who is not trained in signing knows very much how it works actually.

I have to admit that I believed in some of the myths, too. In my opinion that's exactly what the Guide needs: After reading the Entry you know a lot of useful things that you did not know before.

Jeremy FS JBB

You'll be glad to hear that your excellent entry has now gone into the Editorial Process for future inclusion in the Edited Guide. This means that the day will come when your Entry will be featured on the Front Page. Please keep in mind that the Sub-Editors are only humans (that's what I've been told ) and that the Editorial process may take some time. You'll be informed by Email when your Entry has made it.

Jeremy

Editorial Note: This thread has been moved out of the Peer Review forum because this entry has now been recommended for the Edited Guide.

If they have not been along already, the Scout who recommended your entry will post here soon, to let you know what happens next. Meanwhile you can find out what will happen to your entry here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/SubEditors-Process

Congratulations!