THE HISTORY OF SIGN LANGUAGE:🤟

 

THE HISTORY OF SIGN LANGUAGE:

THE HISTORY OF SIGN LANGUAGE:🤟

Hello! Today I have an interesting topic for you all -

History Of Sign Language for deaf

I'll tell you all about when and how sign language for deaf started?

In ancient times, there were stone caves.

During primitive times, humans wore a dress made of leaves

They used to hunt animals.

At that time, how did they (hearing humans) communicate?

While hunting, primitive humans used different kinds of sounds to sign language communicating

send signals in order to communicate with each other.

GESTURE COMMUNICATE:

Primitive humans did not have any formal language to communicate with each other. But the sign language for deaf just communicate with deaf people.

They also used hand gestures to communicate

They also used to draw some pictures for communication.

As many centuries passed by, humans started to speak some words.

Due to the development of spoken language, the usage of gestures and pictures faded.

In 500 BC, There were three famous Greek philosophers - Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

THE HISTORY OF SIGN LANGUAGE:

STUDYING DEAF SOCIETY:

They were interested in studying deaf society at that time.

Socrates felt that deaf people were very intelligent!

The deaf can be taught to write and speak with the help of hand gestures, facial expressions, and body language.

Plato wrote about deaf education & society!

Aristotle believed that the earth was flat.

The same person Aristotle opposed Socrates' suggestion and said that deaf were not intelligent and they can not be educated!

People believed Aristotle's theory on deaf education and they thought that it was impossible to educate deaf people.

Such beliefs existed for 2000 years from 500 BC to 1500 AD. In this painful period, Parents of deaf children were ashamed because society believes that deaf children brought bad luck

Parents hid their deaf children in their house and, they did not allow the deaf to go out of their home.

DEAF COUPLE:

Deaf people were not allowed to marry because society feared that deaf couples might give birth to deaf children if they married.

Deaf people were not allowed to go out for attending any functions/programs.

At that time, deaf people suffered a lot. I feel sad for them!

In 685 AD, Archbishop of York, John Beverly taught deaf children to speak. The deaf managed to communicate well.

In 1600 AD, a famous Italian mathematician Gerolamo Cardano gave birth to a deaf child.

He worried about his deaf son's education.

Cardano taught his deaf son with his own teaching methods. He became well educated.

INHERIT PROPERTY:

His deaf son later became a doctor. Wow!

Around 1500 AD, in Spain royal palace, many nobles had deaf children.

The nobles worried that their deaf children were not able to inherit property because the deaf cannot read and write.

As per the law in Spain, only the educated children should get property from their parents.

The nobles called a monk Pedro Ponce De Leon and requested him to teach their deaf children to read and write.

The monk accepted their request.

The monk taught deaf children to read and write. They were well educated. The nobles were happy.

The Nobles passed their property to their deaf children.

In 1620 AD, another Spanish Monk - Juan Pablo Bonet taught deaf students to read and write.

During his teaching, he invented hand signs representing alphabets. He created hand shapes for alphabets.

He drew pictures of hand signs in his book.

THE HISTORY OF SIGN LANGUAGE:

MANUAL ALPHABET:

The picture on his manual alphabet book can be viewed on the screen.

He was the first person to publish a book on hand signs.

This is the first part of the history of sign language. I will make one more video on the history of sign language (part 2) next time.

Please subscribe to this channel to see my new videos next time. Thank you.

American Sign Language is a beautiful visual language,

with a history, a fascinating history,

of its arrival on the mainland.

Nearly 400 years ago, a man named Jonathan Lambert

who was deaf traveled from Kent, England

to the town of Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard.

After settling, his children were born

and they were also deaf.

Because Chilmark was a fishing village with no ships

or ports for travel,

THE HISTORY OF SIGN LANGUAGE:

ISOLATION:

And it's isolation from other towns,

there was no flow of outsiders.

As a result it was common for residents to marry

within the family and have children.

Because of this their genetic deafness spread to a point,

approaching the 19th century

1 in every 25 residents was deaf.

Lambert not only brought his deaf genetics over,

but the regional sign language of Kent, England.

This language evolved in Chilmark

as the deaf population grew.

It became Martha's Vineyard sign language or MVSL.

THE HISTORY OF SIGN LANGUAGE:

The language belong to both deaf and hearing people

throughout the island,

where it had become completely natural to use.

HAPPENING:

While all this was happening,

on the mainland of America,

In 1814, in Hartford Connecticut

a preacher named Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet

was visiting family.

He noticed one day his younger brothers and sisters

were not playing with a child.

Upon investigating

he learned that the child,

Alice Cogswell, was deaf.

Not knowing any sign language,

he attempted to communicate with her

by pointing to his hat,

and writing H-A-T in the dirt.

Alice was able to understand him.

Alice's father, a talented surgeon,

financed a trip for Gallaudet.

To visit Europe

and learn more about deaf education practices.

First, he visited the Braidwood school,

a family-run school with a focus on

using oral methods with deaf children.

The family refused to share their methods with Thomas.

While in England, he happened to meet

Abbé Roch-Ambroise Sicard.

THE HISTORY OF SIGN LANGUAGE:

HEARING MEN:

The hearing man who was the Principal of

Institut Royal des Sourds-Muets,

a School for the Deaf in Bordeaux, France.

Accompanying Abbé Sicard,

was Laurent Clerc

and Jean Massieu,

two students of Abbé Sicard,

who were now educators along with him.

Abbé Sicard welcomed Thomas

to visit the school, and learn more.

Gallaudet actually had the foresight

to know he wouldn't be able to bring this

amazing knowledge back to America on his own,

and asked Laurent Clerc to return home with him.

In exchange for learning French sign language,

Thomas taught Clerc written English.

Upon returning to Connecticut in 1817,

they established the

American School for the Deaf, in Hartford.

Over time the deaf children from Martha's Vineyard

we're being educated at the new school, ASD.

Through time they moved, and settled to the mainland.

The Deaf population of Martha's Vineyard wained

FRENCH SIGN LANGUAGE:

However, the French sign language

and the Martha's Vineyard Sign Language

became intertwined,

and became what is our present-day

American Sign Language.

I am proud to say that 179 years later,

I graduated from

American School for the Deaf.

The school and language is just as important today,

as it was all those years ago.

I hope you enjoyed this fascinating look at the history of

American Sign Language,

and those important people on a journey.