Author: Janeen Jarrell

Many people think that “sign language” is basically a gestural form of English, but that’s not true. American Sign Language is a very different language with its own grammar rules and structure.

Here’s one example. Linguistically, English uses suffixes or spelling changes to identify the tense, or time frame, of a statement:

• “I bought a car.” means it happened in the past.
• “I am buying a car.” means it is happening now.
• “I will buy a car.” means it will happen in the future.

These same ideas are expressed in ASL with specific signs indicating time, and these are placed before the same content:

• PAST CAR I BUY
• NOW CAR I BUY
• FUTURE CAR I BUY

There’s an efficiency in both ways of communicating, if everyone has the same resources (hearing or vision) and understanding available to them. If one party cannot hear inflections, cannot see time indicators, or they don’t share a common language, miscommunication happens.

There have been signing systems developed, like Signed Exact English (SEE), in an attempt to bring the two languages closer together. It’s still in use, generally in academic settings, but it has the square-peg-round-hole feel of an artificial construct more than an organic language. Most deaf folks with access to deaf communities shift to the efficiency of ASL, a natural and complete language.

In short, no.

American Sign Language (ASL) is not a universal language.  There are over 400 signed languages used worldwide, just as there are multiple spoken languages. ASL is considered to be the native language of Deaf people in the United States, and is recognized in other areas such as Botswana where ASL was the first exposure to a full signed language.

There are many Deaf people who rely on speaking and speechreading, never learning ASL (or the signed language of their country). These are trained under the belief that since oral communication is most common, it would be the best choice for conducting life and business as an adult. Advances in hearing aid and cochlear implant technology provide support and momentum for this idea. A variety of factors, including social and economic networks, nudge many orally trained people toward learning ASL as adults while others find a comfortable level of success with oral communication.

There are also late-deafened adults who already have a language base in written and spoken English (or the common language of their country). These are more comfortable with captioning and written notes for clear communication. The effort required for them and their families to learn sign language outweighs the value of using resources they already have to communicate. Some of these learn sign language and embrace deaf culture, at which point they have two worlds to operate in.

Outside the U.S., especially in less developed countries, there are Deaf people who do not have a language. It’s not that no language exists, but rather that these people are kept in the shadows, considered to be lesser people without the ability to participate meaningfully in their homes or communities. Some are simply neglected while others are actively abused. The good news is, ministries and educational organizations are stepping up to provide language, education, and skills to Deaf people in these places, providing a new hope and future.

Entering the world of alternate communications may feel like diving into a bowl of alphabet soup. The goal of many educators has been to bring Deaf children into the world of their hearing peers. Here are a few of the options you may still encounter.

ASL, American Sign Language, is a full and thriving language with its own structure, grammar, idioms, and community-led growth. American English has coined and adopted new words for technology and cultural phenomena, so has American Sign Language. In fact, conversations are occurring across the US now about revising some of the signs commonly used to date. There was also an organic consensus reached for how to express the new century — two thousand or twenty (they settled on twenty).

SEE, Signed Exact English, is a code system using ASL signs for nouns and verbs, adding hand movements to represent prefixes and suffixes, and presenting all signs in English word order. For example, “I went running” would be expressed in ASL with RECENT I RUN, and in SEE with I-on-chest (for “I”) W+past (for “went”) RUN+ I+flourish (for “-ing”). It’s an “Englishification” of ASL used often in academic settings so that English grammar is more familiar to the student. As expected, the additional movements disappear as signers spend more time in the community and ASL fluency overrides the artificial constructs.

PSE, Pidgin Signed English, is where most hearing people who study ASL from books land. ASL signs are used in English word order, generally without the non-manual markers that indicate inflection and punctuation. Messages are transmitted, usually owing to the patience of both parties and the quality of their relationship. It would be similar to spending a month in South America relying on a few semesters of classical Spanish taken in High School.

Sim-Com, Simultaneous Communication, sometimes called Total Communication, is a blending of verbal and signed communication. Unfortunately, both languages suffer in a “Spanglish” kind of way. The idea is that one can sign the words as they are spoken, but there are no signs for articles, prepositions, and plurals, just as there are no words for an eyebrow raise, a nose wiggle, or eye gaze (important elements in ASL). At best, it’s a way for one person to express themselves to a mixed audience where both sides get essential bits of the message.

Cued Speech is a system of hand signals placed around the neck and face to indicate unheard phonetics. For example, there’s a placement and handshape for a hard-c (Cake) and a different one for a soft-c (faCe). The idea is to present the information that can’t be seen by observing the lips and throat.

Rochester Method is all fingerspelling — every word is s-p-e-l-l-e-d- -o-u-t- -o-n- -t-h-e- -h-a-n-d. Honestly, my fingers couldn’t make it through a simple sentence, much less a complete conversation. Meanwhile, the communicator’s intended word is presented without ambiguity. The only thing left is ensuring the reader knows the meaning for that collection of letters.

Bi/Bi, for Bi-Lingual/Bi-Cultural, uses ASL as a whole language and English as a whole language. Just as military and missionary children grow up learning two languages in a foreign country, children in a bi/bi educational setting learn to operate in two languages. Keeping the two separate is not a problem when learned consistently and early. This choice gives Deaf children high access to both worlds, most importantly a visual language they can process their own thoughts in, as well as satisfying the need to communicate with most of the people they’ll encounter in the world at large.

Honestly, we hope the fad of signing with babies continues to grow into a cultural norm. The idea is that a toddler who can indicate his desire for mama, milk, or more with hand signals will find that more effective than screaming and crying. Moms find that a great hope for peace, and among the families who have tried it, they’ve found it to be so.

Mechanically, a child’s dense motor skills, like reach and grip, develop sooner than fine motor skills, like clear speech. If they can learn to move their hands in a certain way to declare “more” or “finished,” then meal time can get a lot less messy.

While this is true, the child is also learning the relationship between code and meaning. That’s normal, part of our brain’s design, but when the code is something they can produce easier (dense motor skills) and get feedback sooner (one more cookie), their cognitive development gets a jump-start.

There’s another up-side for moms here — most of us know “the look” that says “stop what you’re doing, immediately.” Imagine the ability to toss a few hand signals across a room that say “sit down” or “go ahead” or “we’ll leave soon” without interrupting your ongoing chat with friends or changing out of your happy face.

These are some of the perks of deciding to use signs with your infant. Then there are the unforeseen circumstances that make it a surprise blessing. The child with speech issues that won’t get detected for a while. The child with a cognitive glitch that will hide for another 2-5 years. The child on the autism spectrum. For these children, this practice sets them up with tools no one could have predicted they’d need, but they, and mom, are ready to take on the hard stuff because they’re already communicating.

There’s another perspective to consider…  signs are signs, just as words are words. We teach children the names of things they encounter, and that enables us to discuss the thing whether we’re looking at it or not. It also gives the children a way to discuss the same thing, by the same name, with other people beyond the household. The sign for milk is the same all over America (and several other places) for people of all ages, so it’s not a “baby sign,” it’s the sign. You can see why adult signers would be bothered by the phrase “baby sign.” See the blog “From the Executive’s Heart” on the Silent Blessings (dot org) website for more on this.

Yes, we highly encourage the fad of using sign language with babies.