When people attempt to answer what is sign language question, so many disparate answers arise. So what exactly is sign language?
It is a silent and visual language that requires the use of gestures and mimics made with hand movements. This language enables us to communicate with individuals who have partially or completely lost their hearing, whom we generally define as “deaf” or “hard of hearing.”
Sign language can sometimes be confused with body language due to the frequent use of gestures and mimics. Yet, body language is a form of communication that consists of body posture, facial expressions, or eye movements and supports all these formations with mental and physical activities. This form of non-verbal communication may be the characteristic feature of the person during expression. Also, body language is not used necessarily for hard-of-hearing people.
British Sign Language (BSL) A two-handed alphabet “V” used by deaf. (Shutterstock Photo)
Many places offer paid and free training in first and second-level sign language. While the first level covers 120 hours of introductory sign language training, the second level encompasses 200 hours of instructor and interpretation training. It is crucial to note that if we strive to learn sign language efficiently, we should choose a child of Deaf adults (CODA) trainer whose mother tongue is sign language or a deaf or hard of hearing person.
We tend to think that sign language is universal. Yet it is far away from being a universal language. Each society or country has its specific sign language as well as it is a formation created according to the societal customs, traditions, and culture. Within this frame, Turkish Sign Language (TID), American Sign Language (ASL), and British Sign Language (BSL) can be mentioned. They vary from each other as Italian and Japanese.
The formation of each sign language in the world is regarded simultaneously with the establishment of an institution, namely, a school, that brings together the hard of hearing people. It is because people who do not come together through a gathering of an institution cannot develop their sign language and create a common language alone at home.
The hand gestures used by the deaf people in France around the 1770s were considered a language with a grammatical component and started to be taught in schools. Later, this communication method was taken to the U.S. by a French sign language scientist, and the first sign language school, now known as Gallaudet University, provided training for deaf people and was founded by Thomas Gallaudet.
Shot of a group of sign language learners. (Shutterstock Photo)
The history of Turkish Sign Language can be traced back to the Ottoman period. The first school for the hard of hearing people, Yıldız School for the Deaf (Yıldız Sağırlar Okulu), was founded by Abdülhamid II in 1902. In …….
Source: https://www.dailysabah.com/life/sign-language-less-known-yet-effective-medium-of-communication/news