When I began my project, I hadn't really considered what I qualified as language. I think I had somewhat of a prejudice towards ASL, in the way that I didn't really consider it a "proper" or "normal" language. Although ASL isn't spoken with sounds, after doing this project I think I appreciate it more, and I recognize it really is a full language.
This project has definitely confirmed one of my biggest beliefs about language, that as long as you get your point across and people understand you, the main goal of language has been accomplished. I think it's really cool how the primary users of ASL have to have a more creative way to express themselves than the rest of us.
I have a ton of questions about ASL, but right now the one that interests me the most is something that I mentioned in my last post, how some kids don't actually use the signs they have been taught until they begin to talk. This really makes me wonder how different everyone's brain is.
10/22/2008
Recommendations
I only interviewed one person, so I wasn't able to find any trends or patterns. If I could do this project again, I would try to get at least 4-5 parents with experience teaching their children to sign.
I talked to my teacher about her experience with trying to teach her child to sign. She said that her daughter didn't seem to be picking up the signs so eventually she gave up on the idea. When her daughter began to talk, she used the signs that she had been taught in conjunction with the word she was saying.
Although I learned a basic amount about baby signing, but I don't know anything about the psychology around why some kids learn to sign, some before they can talk and others until they begin talking. An area that I would like to learn more about is why this happens, the scientific explanation. (If there even is one.) I haven't looked into if other people have researched this, (I assume that a fair number of people have) but at some point I would like to find out more about it.
I talked to my teacher about her experience with trying to teach her child to sign. She said that her daughter didn't seem to be picking up the signs so eventually she gave up on the idea. When her daughter began to talk, she used the signs that she had been taught in conjunction with the word she was saying.
Although I learned a basic amount about baby signing, but I don't know anything about the psychology around why some kids learn to sign, some before they can talk and others until they begin talking. An area that I would like to learn more about is why this happens, the scientific explanation. (If there even is one.) I haven't looked into if other people have researched this, (I assume that a fair number of people have) but at some point I would like to find out more about it.
Interpretation of Data and Conclusions
Because I only interviewed one person on their experience with baby signing, I can't draw any real conclusions about how helpful baby signing can be or common patterns with signing.
The summary I posted earlier basically says that Mina taught her children to sign when they were little, which helped them to communicate effectively with her even before they could speak.
I take what Mina said to mean that she thinks teaching her children to sign was a positive thing, because it gave her a tool to communicate with her very young kids.
I think that parents of infants can use Baby Signing with their children so that they will hopefully have a way to communicate.
From my secondary research, I learned that American Sign Language is a language in which the speakers have hands signs for ideas rather than individual words. There are an approximated 500,000 to 2 million speakers of ASL in the United States alone.
Before I began this project, I wasn't sure that ASL could even be classified as a language. Now that I know there are possibly as many as 2 millions speakers in the US alone, I know for sure that ASL is really a language.
Another thing that I was unsure of before I began my research was if ASL was based off of English or not. Although the signs that ASL uses are called the same concept, I learned that ASL was not about communicating word for word. ASL is more about getting the concept across, and this means that if someone were to translate a series of signs in ASL to the English that most are familiar with, the grammar and sequence of the words wouldn't be parallel.
The summary I posted earlier basically says that Mina taught her children to sign when they were little, which helped them to communicate effectively with her even before they could speak.
I take what Mina said to mean that she thinks teaching her children to sign was a positive thing, because it gave her a tool to communicate with her very young kids.
I think that parents of infants can use Baby Signing with their children so that they will hopefully have a way to communicate.
From my secondary research, I learned that American Sign Language is a language in which the speakers have hands signs for ideas rather than individual words. There are an approximated 500,000 to 2 million speakers of ASL in the United States alone.
Before I began this project, I wasn't sure that ASL could even be classified as a language. Now that I know there are possibly as many as 2 millions speakers in the US alone, I know for sure that ASL is really a language.
Another thing that I was unsure of before I began my research was if ASL was based off of English or not. Although the signs that ASL uses are called the same concept, I learned that ASL was not about communicating word for word. ASL is more about getting the concept across, and this means that if someone were to translate a series of signs in ASL to the English that most are familiar with, the grammar and sequence of the words wouldn't be parallel.
10/21/2008
Video Clips
Explanation of Movies:
1) I spell out the alphabet, and I am also saying the letters as I go.
2) Eron is signing (and saying) that she doesn't like coffee cake.
3) Eron is signing (and saying) that she is grouchy.
*Watch for funny moments in the videos! (There are obvious ones in the first & third.)
*Thanks to Eron for being my hand in the first movie! :D
10/19/2008
Baby Sign Examples
To go along with the interview, here are six baby signs:
Their meaning is below (respectively) because somehow the computer will not put the meaning below the picture.
1. Cold
2. More
3. Book
4. Food/Eat
5. Bath
6. Bird
Source: (The photographer wasn't named)
"BBC - Birmingham - In Pictures - Baby Signing." BBC - Homepage. 19 Oct. 2008
"http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/image_gallerie/baby_signing_gallery.shtml?4"
Their meaning is below (respectively) because somehow the computer will not put the meaning below the picture.
1. Cold
2. More
3. Book
4. Food/Eat
5. Bath
6. Bird
Source: (The photographer wasn't named)
"BBC - Birmingham - In Pictures - Baby Signing." BBC - Homepage. 19 Oct. 2008
"http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/image_gallerie/baby_signing_gallery.shtml?4"
Data
Here is the summary of what the person I interviewed, Mina, replied with:
Mina read about how babies can learn to sign earlier than they can talk because signing doesn't require the muscles of your mouth to be ready. When her first child, Jesse, was born, she taught him very simple words like "more", "hot", "cold", "eat" and "all done". Because he started talking early, the signing fell off quickly. Mina taught her second child, Kate, the same simple words, plus she has made up some of her own like "elephant" and "sun". She has also picked up on "yes" and "no" by herself.
Mina started signing to Kate when she was about 4-6 months. Mina taught the signs to her by making the sign whenever she said the word. Kate started signing a ton by the time she was a year old. Now that Kate is learning to talk, her first instinct is still to sign so Mina has to remind her to say the word, too.
Mina wrote that she thinks it would have been cool to use more signs with her kids, it would have just taken more effort on her part. She also said that it doesn't matter if you use the official sign or not, as long as you sign consistently kids will pick it up. Although Mina's children have started to talk on the pretty early, she knows signing can be a great tool for both kids and their parents.
Mina read about how babies can learn to sign earlier than they can talk because signing doesn't require the muscles of your mouth to be ready. When her first child, Jesse, was born, she taught him very simple words like "more", "hot", "cold", "eat" and "all done". Because he started talking early, the signing fell off quickly. Mina taught her second child, Kate, the same simple words, plus she has made up some of her own like "elephant" and "sun". She has also picked up on "yes" and "no" by herself.
Mina started signing to Kate when she was about 4-6 months. Mina taught the signs to her by making the sign whenever she said the word. Kate started signing a ton by the time she was a year old. Now that Kate is learning to talk, her first instinct is still to sign so Mina has to remind her to say the word, too.
Mina wrote that she thinks it would have been cool to use more signs with her kids, it would have just taken more effort on her part. She also said that it doesn't matter if you use the official sign or not, as long as you sign consistently kids will pick it up. Although Mina's children have started to talk on the pretty early, she knows signing can be a great tool for both kids and their parents.
10/16/2008
Primary Research
For my primary research, I will interview my mom's friend Mina. I will send her a request through email as opposed to having a written survey. The reason I am choosing to interview Mina is because she taught both of her children baby sign language when they were months old. The question I am emailing her is a very open ended one- Will you tell me about your experience with teaching your children to sign when they were babies?
10/08/2008
Secondary Research (Part Two)
- There has been no reliable census to find the number of ASL users in the United States, but estimates are between 500,000 and 2 million.
- ASL is a different language than English. It has its own grammar and culture.
- In 1817, Laurent Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Callaudet founded American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb,which is now (for apparent reasons) called American School for the Deaf.
- ASL adds new signs all the time to keep up with the new technology and such.
- Signs are grouped into categories:
- Transparent: Non-signers can usually guess the meaning correctly
- Translucent: The sign makes sense to non-signers once explained
- Opaque: The meaning can't be guessed by people who don't sign
- Most signs are categorized as opaque.
- ASL is a visual language as opposed to a written one. Therefore, when it is translated to writing, the characters written aren't the exact same as they are when signed.
8 Oct. 2008 "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_sign_language"
Secondary Research (Part One)
- Deaf people in the United States use American Sign Language.
- The language is based on ideas, rather than actual words. (I'm thinking this is because there would be thousands of motions to memorize.)
- When words in English don't have a sign, finger spelling is used.
Source:
Madsen, Willard J. "Sign language." World Book Advanced. [Decatur High.] 7 Oct. 2008
10/07/2008
Research Plan
I will answer my secondary questions through websites. Hopefully I can use only subscription websites that the school has. When I research, my keywords will be American Sign Language and variations of this.
For primary sources, I hope to interview my mom's friend. (She taught her children baby signing.)
For primary sources, I hope to interview my mom's friend. (She taught her children baby signing.)
Research Questions
Here is my list of questions I hope to answer through my research:
(ASL = American Sign Language)
(ASL = American Sign Language)
- How long has ASL been around?
- How many people use ASL?
- Are there variations or different dialects of ASL? Does slang exist?
- How does ASL compare to spoken language? Is it faster? What about punctuation? How is emotion shown in ASL?
- What is the idea behind teaching hearing babies to sign?
10/06/2008
Research Goals
I want to know more about American Sign Language. I know almost nothing about it. There are many people who can't speak and this is their only way of expressing themselves, so I feel like I should understand what it is all about.
Language Beliefs
I believe that language is a critical tool for getting by in the the world. I think that when people understand what you say, the most important aspect of language is covered. Although I say this, I also believe that using correct grammar makes it much easier for people to understand what you are saying. This belief comes from my mom because she is always talking about the importance of grammar.
We watched a video in class that interviewed many people from around the U.S. about accents. I learned a ton from the movie. A few things include: Some accents may only be present in a few hundred people isolated because of water or mountains. A second thing was that although there is no such thing as a better accent, there is one that is favored by actors and speakers. This is called the voice from nowhere. This concept confuses me. It makes sense that one way of speaking is most common and accepted, but I wonder what this "voice from nowhere" is based on. It wouldn't make sense to combine all ways of speaking through some software, because this would just create one really odd sounding voice. I guess there can be a close to accent-less voice, but it seems to me that the voice has to be based off of some accent somewhere.
Source: The movie we watched was called "American Tongues".
We watched a video in class that interviewed many people from around the U.S. about accents. I learned a ton from the movie. A few things include: Some accents may only be present in a few hundred people isolated because of water or mountains. A second thing was that although there is no such thing as a better accent, there is one that is favored by actors and speakers. This is called the voice from nowhere. This concept confuses me. It makes sense that one way of speaking is most common and accepted, but I wonder what this "voice from nowhere" is based on. It wouldn't make sense to combine all ways of speaking through some software, because this would just create one really odd sounding voice. I guess there can be a close to accent-less voice, but it seems to me that the voice has to be based off of some accent somewhere.
Source: The movie we watched was called "American Tongues".
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