Five years ago and half a world away, I was part of the cast of “Rustle of a Star,” an original play at NTID’s Panara Theatre. I was pleased to, along with my colleague, to re-enact the timeless Abbott and Costello routine, “Who’s On First?”
A heavily condensed version follows:
A: Who’s on first?
C: That’s right.
A: I said, who’s on first?
C: Correct.
A: What?
C: No, What’s on second. Who’s on first.
A: That’s what I’m asking you! Who’s on first?
C: That’s right.
And so on–Where is on third, I Don’t Know is the pitcher, etc.–until all hilarity ensues. It went over pretty well on the stage performed in ASL.
However, it couldn’t be performed as easily in Sinhala Sign Language, the language used by deaf people in Sri Lanka (at least among the Sinhalese; I’m not sure yet if the northern Tamils also use the same sign language).
For those who are not in the know, I am currently in Sri Lanka volunteering at a deaf school as an English teacher.
This is because Sinhala Sign Language (SSL) does not differentiate among “who?” “what?” and “how?” The sign for all three is simply shaking your fist. Nor does SSL make any distinction between “when” and “how many?”–both signed by wiggling your fingers like the ASL sign for “wait.”
I first learned this when I was teaching the English words for the five W’s. I thought maybe the pupils in my class at Rohana Special School had misunderstood me, so I asked Samatha, a deaf teacher (actually, the only one there), for clarification. She confirmed the same signs the students had taught me.
Not willing to give up, I pulled the English-Sinhala dictionary from the library and found the Sinhalese translation for each of the five W’s. The conversation that followed between Samantha and I could have rivaled Abbott and Costello.
A: “This is what, right?”
S: “Yes.”
A: “And you sign what like this?”
S: “Yes.”
A: “So what’s who?”
S: “What.”
A: “No, that’s what.”
S: “Yes.”
A: “But what is who?”
S: “What. It’s the same.”
A: “How can they be the same?”
S: “Yes.”
We sorted things out eventually. But still, it was getting in the way of my teaching. I would be teaching this English passage about, for example, John and the chair:
A: “Who is in this sentence?”
Pupil 1: “The chair.”
A: “No, not what. Who?”
Pupil 2: “Uhh..the chair?”
Pupil 3: “You mean John?”
A: “Yes! What is the object?”
Pupil 1: “John?”
And forget trying to explain “how,” a higher-level question!
Last week, Anne, a teacher for the deaf from England, arrived in our neighborhood on Sri Lanka’s south coast to train a few teachers and myself about deaf education and language development. I taught her SSL, and touched on this subject of the 5 W’s and their signs.
“Boy, that’s hard,” she said after I explained the situation.
But by then, I had decided to accept this state of things because, after all, it’s their language, not mine. I would just have to make do. Maybe they use the same words for different questions in spoken Sinhala, too.
But a few days later in one of our training classes, she said that maybe it was necessary to introduce new signs. After all, she explained, spoken and written Sinhala have clear, dissimilar words for each question-concept (what: ku-mahk-dhah; who: kau-dhah; where: ko-heh-dhah…).
And let’s face it–it is a very basic thing to ask “who,” “what,” and so on. Putting aside all arguments about sign language not being word-for-word transliterations of spoken language, why shouldn’t SSL contain these important, yet different question-concepts?
It’s also important to consider that these questions are also integral to education; how can you teach reading, writing, and other subjects if you are unable to clearly express “Who is the person this and this is referring to? How did this person arrive at school? What did he bring?”
I was convinced (and remain so) of the critical need for new Sinhala signs to represent these questions. Another volunteer added that languages were always evolving anyway; certainly it’s okay for SSL to do the same thing.
Which signs to use, though? Anne and I agreed that we should introduce the British Sign Language (BSL) signs for “who,” “when,” and “how,” and keep the SSL signs for “why,” “what,” “where,” and “how many.” The interesting thing is that all four SSL signs we are keeping are also exactly the same as their BSL counterparts.
BSL seemed to be a good choice because many SSL signs are the same as BSL, which isn’t too surprising given that Sri Lanka is a Commonwealth country and just became independent from British rule about fifty years ago. In fact, 75% of the foreigners I meet here are English; I am still the only American I know around here.
To elicit some feedback, I shared this idea with three students.
One of them, Sanjeewani, said, “Oh, Sophie [a volunteer from before] did that already. But the deaf association said it was bad, and made us go back to the old signs. It’s difficult!”
Oh. Wow. So Anne and I don’t get points for originality. Anne came back to me the next day and reported that she asked the teachers the same thing, and received exactly the same response about the deaf association squashing these new signs. Anne said the deaf association had said, “we don’t use British signs. We use Sinhala signs.”
Who thought this would be easy? That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try to re-introduce these signs. Sophie, for all the incredible work she did last summer, is a hearing female foreigner. I am a deaf male foreigner; as chauvinist as it sounds, that’s two more attributes in favor of me.
I’m going to approach the association next week and ask them to reconsider. I also need to discover whether their objection lies with using British signs (in this case, easily resolved by having them invent new signs on the spot) or using new signs at all (in this case, not so easily resolved).
Frankly, the children’s education is being crippled by an inadequate sign language system, and I’m going to try my best to correct this by expanding SSL’s vocabulary. It’s a very small expansion in quantity which will result in a very large change in quality.
My whole point of writing about this fascinating issue and posting it on DeafDC.com, instead of on my personal blog, was to elicit feedback from other deaf people.*
What are the ethical implications of introducing new, possibly foreign signs? What about the fact that it is being driven by foreigners rather than by deaf Sinhalese people? Are there other ways around this that I’m missing? Why shouldn’t I do this? Are there other deaf people who have experienced similar situations when they volunteered overseas?
*And because I did promise my former employers I would write on DeafDC.com every once in a while! :)
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31 Comments
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I totally get you, Adam. When I first started giving English lessons to my Deaf Kenyan 6th graders, I ran into the same problem of a limited vocabulary in Kenyan Sign Language (although not as limited as SSL!). Fortunately, there was a Deaf Kenyan teacher at the school who possessed a teaching diploma (not all 55+ Deaf schools in the country has a Deaf teacher with a diploma), and he showed me how KSL was a contextual language because there were several same signs for different concept. Cultural relevancy is another important factor; after all they do not have a sign for fall, strawberry, snowman, and so forth. The first few months were interesting and frustrating because my students used different signs than what I learned during training prior to my assignment. So it was very challenging!
Did you ask Samatha how did she comprehend the 5 Ws as a child? How did she learn to differentiate between the signs for who and what? How does SHE teach those concepts? Other than the Deaf teacher, have you met Deaf adults who are literate? You could plan your lessons accordingly from their experiences.
The key player is the deaf association. You said you will talk with them which is very good. Of course they said, “we don’t use British signs. We use Sinhala signs.” We will say the same if BSL was imposed on us. The ethical implication of introducing new/foreign signs by foreigners is a form of colonialism. Throughout my Kenya years, I met many American missionaries who came to Africa and based their missionary curriculum on ASL/SEE for Deaf Africans. I met a Deaf man from Burundi who was fluent in ASL/SEE and replied that *it* was his language when I asked what about Burundi Sign Language – that’s sad; they don’t have a sign language of their own.
“…and I’m going to try my best to correct this by expanding SSL’s vocabulary”—that can happen as long as you work with the appropriate stakeholders, and the “new” signs will continue instead of dying out after you left. The important thing is for the Deaf community to have ownership of their language, and the language will evolve but sustain as well.
very well put.
i think you want to be very careful how you handle this. i understand it feels like a barrier to teaching them english, but its a very tough situation to deal with. you dont want to be the cliche white american colonialist. yet, you want to teach them english — how how? while i cant think of examples right now (other ASL users, help me?) but we have some signs that mean completely different things yet are the same signs. i’ve had hearing people look at me like: “WHAT?! how do you know what you mean” and we just … do. i doubt the students, when using SSL, get this confused - otherwise htey would have fixed it long ago.. it might be useful to find how how teachers of english in the US deal with those situations — they certainly didn’t change our signs..
its very clear that you re being highly attentive and analytical which is great. i think youre learning alot that will carry with you throughout your life.
i think it was great of you to share this and seek feedback.
ps: while i posted that as a “Reply to nm” i really wrote that to adam — sorry if that was confusing.. i was just “expanding” on nm’s point cus i think its right on.
Welcome back, Adam! I always miss your superbu writing!
Many thanks for sharing your recent journey of life with all of us, DeafDC.com readers.
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
I’m not sure how I feel about interfering or influencing the natural development of another culture’s language. Star Trek and the Prime Directive come to mind. Will think about this some more and come back with more comments!
I need to think through this some more as well. But my initial thoughts are:
1) Basically the wh-questions all ask the same thing: for more information. Not every language has the same way of eliciting such information. Not every language has the same set of wh-questions. But every language DOES have a way of asking for that information. I’m sure that they know how to ask for time, for the identity of people, etc. It may not be done through single signs but through phrases. I would recommend you do more investigation before determining that their language does not have the ability to elicit this information. Although I lived in Kenya for two years and a half, by the end of my service, I felt as if I only had scratched the surface of its complex (although seemingly simple) grammar.
2) Good and honest intentions can (and almost always do) backfire. I am a firm believer in not interfering with other people’s cultures or languages. You are already doing so (and I already did so in Kenya) just by being there and living as you are. I think it’s wise to limit such impact.
3) Change must come from within. I know that’s a bit trite but I do believe it to be true. Only people who live there their whole lives can begin to implement changes and they would do it far better because they have a more intuitive idea about norms in the culture. They would be able to develop more appropriate changes (if they deemed such necessary) according to such norms.
Excellent post Julie!
Adam, you’ve only been in S.L. for what, 1.5 months and you’re nowhere near being proficient of the SSL. Who is it for you to judge that it needs vocabulary expansion?
I am impressed, altho not surprised, that you are picking up the language quickly. Do not misunderstand it for being a step closer to becoming an expert to change the language to see fit. Spend more time being an observer but if you have to be a participant, do it wisely (like NM said, talk with the stakeholders).
I don’t think that I can say much more than what has already been said here, Adam - by people who are far more experienced and thus better knowledgeable on this topic than I am. I think they all have made some very good points to which I have to agree.
My recommendation is the same one that these people seem to be making…go slow. Don’t be in a hurry to implement changes that might not be yours to make. While I do understand and appreciate the frustration you may be feeling and the desire to find answers, I do think it is necessary to remember that whatever impact you make is going to affect only yourself and your teaching, but also the people who will live with that impact long after you are gone.
Make your legacy be one worth remembering.
Beautifully said, Virginia!
You are already being a positive influence by just being there - and by being yourself. Knowing you, I’m sure you are already infusing distinct, signed interrogatives into your SSL to make conversations more fluid.
This is really fascinating stuff. In the US and elsewhere, one’s signed vocabulary freely evolves by way of social interaction. But what does one do when living in a country where language evolution becomes stunted by the powers that be? Is it moral for any governing body to regulate what is linguistically acceptable? And if not, what is the best way to justify and instigate systematic change?
France does it by the way. There’s a government entity there that exists for the sole purpose of ensuring that the French language does not evolve or change.
I agree with Virginia and Rob. The kids must adore you.
Rob brings up an interesting question. “what does one do when living in a country where language evolution becomes stunted by the powers that be?”
I’ve got a question to add to this: do your kids live at the school? I should probably read your own blog for the answer to this question. But anyway if they do, then I suspect that the language is thriving. Anytime you have a community of deaf people, sign language always flourishes, as languages do.
And Rob, to answer whether it’s moral or not, I’m not so sure. I do know that such regulation usually fails. People WILL say what they say. Language pays no heeds to sticklers.
But on another note… I got to see an awesome speaker at Georgetown for a linguistics conference last March. Elena Shohamy talked about how people tried to enforce Hebrew as the language to be used in Israel. (I’d have to research more to find out the time period - I think after WWII.) This revitalization of the language caused much trouble with people who didn’t know how to speak it. It’s quite difficult learning a new language when you’re in your forties, sixties, or even twenties. Business owners who didn’t speak Hebrew were forced to close their doors. Teachers who didn’t speak it were forced to quit. All sorts of miseries ensued. That, I’d say, would be immoral.
As a Francophone, I can confirm that, while as Rob says, there is a bureau that attempts to regulate français, it doesn’t succeed in suppressing the remarkably inventive French and their ability to play with language. (Verlan and argots française, anyone?) Language, by its very nature, demands word play, innovation, and evolution.
L’Academie Francaise is what this entity is called. Moi, are you living in DC? I’m a fellow Francophone too… e-mail me!
The Spanish also have a similar institution that regulates the use of the Spanish language. This institute has great influence throughout the entire Latin American world as well.
I SECOND ya, Rob Rice for all of us ought to respect and embrace other’s way of life and culture than trying to influence or impose our accustomed way of life, ex. language.
Too bad, our given language (ASL and English) have been evoluted from the indirect influence of other language anyway.
The ripple effects from the time travel or ungodly intervention within science fiction imagination often are questionable or exist within reality itself, ex. Star Trek or the Time Tunnel.
For some reason, I read RLM’s comment in the last sentence to read “The nipple effects from time travel…”
Nearly caused me to spew my coffee at the monitor. But it’s certainly an interesting sentence nontheless….
Bwahaha
Another thought that has come to mind here…
Playing the Devil’s Advocate - while I do realize that we DO have separate signs for words such as who, what, where, who, etc…if my ASL is correct, the facial expressions and gestures which often accompany these words are generally similar. There have been times when I have seen Deaf people conversing with each other asking a basic “who?” “what?” “why?” question using only their facial expression or simple gesture without use of the sign itself. And yet they seem to make themselves understood pretty easily.
Perhaps that is based on an understanding of the concept one is trying to convey? That it is just part of the overall…”osmosis” (for lack of a better term) of the language? A basic cultural comprehension that defies specific boundaries of language?
I don’t know…but it might be worth spending more time developing a greater understanding not merely of the language, but of the culture itself. It would seem to me that they have been able to effectively work around this seeming lack of sign vocabularly…a lack that is perceived as being there by an outsider (yourself). Might be something to think about.
Good point, Virginia. Language and cultural relevancy do go together. Chat with older Deaf adults and watch them while absorbing SSL via them. Perhaps then you will be able to figure out how on the earth where they know when to explain who is doing what and why!
As a linguist I find this very fascinating! I think that cultural context plays an important role. What kind of phrases are they using? Do they use different phrases for the W’s? How about sign order? Does one type of W come at the beginning, and another type come at the end?
I think that you should give it some time before you start introducing new signs. Learn more SSL, talk with the older adults, ask them questions, and mentally note how they answer you. Compare different situations. Try signing any “W” in a couple different ways and see how they answer you.
Oh, I’ve got a great study in mind already. I wish I could be over there already with a videocamera filming it all so I could go over it later. :)
Adam,
Hold on a second - I do not care how “amazing” this sounds. Do you realize the implications of you attempting to influence another language after making some guesses and getting feedback from only three people before deciding that you have the right approach in mind?
What you are attempting to do is use the children as guinea pigs for your theories which is absolutely not ethical. In fact, I am floundering on what to say as of this moment.
You hit it on the nail in the very beginning. “It’s their language, not mine. I would just have to make do.” Exactly. Make do. As I understand it, you are there as a volunteer. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Mind you, Scott happens to be a Trekkie. :) Still, the Prime Directive should be etched into black & white somewhere.. (and don’t tell me which country needs it the most!)
I think that Adam already understands that “contextual” language is not always easily translatable- especially from English to other non-Romance languages. I am also pretty confident that much of what we are saying here has already crossed his mind at one point or another.
What I am uncomfortable with is how all of us seem to be admonishing you for what we, the readers, still don’t fully understand. Even if we proclaim ourselves to be on “their side”. There’s a huge perspective missing here, and that should come from the students.
I read this early this morning and I’ve been mulling over how I wanted to reply all day. I haven’t quite satisfactorily formulated my reply, but here goes…
1. Adam, I recognize that your intentions are honorable, and I commend you for recognizing that this is not something you should foist upon a community without checking. You’re checking with others, being careful, and all that. That’s terrific and thank you for your caution! However, back off. (said in the nicest possible way) Nobody has any right to go somewhere else and say, “Y’know, this is what you’re missing.” This is exactly what hearing people did to ASL - “You don’t have is, are, and am? Scandalous! Here are some signs!” We didn’t NEED “to be” verbs - our language has other means of performing that function. To do that to any other linguistic group is to participate in and perpetuate colonialism.
2. Have you or anyone else considered the fact that since the Sinhala signs for what wh-q signs they have are the same as the BSL signs, they dropped the others for a reason? Just conjecture here, but maybe they don’t need it. Yes, you mentioned that the spoken language has those terms, but sign languages often evolve independently of spoken languages in the same geographic area.
Furthermore, if a language-using community finds a need for a term, the term will appear on its own without interference. For example, ASL has signs for the concepts microwave, computer, and pager because the language-using community found these concepts came up frequently enough that we needed signs. But we don’t have signs for, say, Mesopotamia, nor for the space shuttle, because we don’t have a strong enough need to sign these concepts. A corollary to this principle is - if the terms aren’t there, they have not been important enough or they have other ways to express these concepts.
3. Please trust the experts in the language. For example, Samatha. She clearly understood what you were saying - there were concepts you wanted to express and she knew what they were. How did she learn them? Ask her. Ask her how she communicates those concepts. Ask her how she TEACHES those concepts without corresponding signs. Trust her and other deaf Sri Lankans. Learn from them and respect their language and culture.
Take advantage of her experience and design your lessons based on their language rather than on some outsider’s perspective of what is necessary.
Scott said it perfectly above - you are there as a volunteer. Nothing more. Nothing less. You aren’t there to play God with their language and culture.
Echoing the sentiments here too. I applaud you for your volunteering mission in Sri Lanka. I appreciate how you took the time to explain your linguistic dilemma to us.
As a student of linguistics, I would advise you not to introduce any foreign signs to the students just because the Sinhala Sign Language, from your perspective of a native English speaker and a fluent ASL signer, lacks distinguishable signs for some Wh-questions. That is expected of anyone who encounters a foreign language far removed from the properties of their native language. In the past, old-school linguists found some Indian (Native-American) languages to be “deficient” in certain areas, e.g. prepositions, because they did not manifest similar characteristic traits with European languages and did not meet biased expectations.
Only a handful of the human population is trained in linguistics. Most people cannot explain the implicit rules of their native language, although they have access to its grammar, because making the rules explicit is surprisingly difficult. In short, grammatical knowledge of a native language is subconscious and largely inaccessible by introspection. It’s not the same kind of knowledge you absorb by learning to ride a bicycle or tying your shoelaces. It just naturally happens.
Here are a few simple English sentences:
A. Abbott ate a cookie and then Costello ate a cookie too.
B. Abbott ate a cookie and then he ate some cake too.
C. *Abbott ate a cookie and then Costello ate some cake too.
Native English speakers will identify sentences A and B as grammatical and sentence C as ungrammatical. But they usually will not be able to explain WHY. Perhaps Samantha does not know how to explain the rules of Wh-questions in SSL. If she’s not a native signer, then she’s not exactly a reliable source for accessing the grammar of SSL.
There is already a legacy of linguistic imperialism in countries where deaf people have introduced ASL that resulted in the corruption and replacement of local sign languages. Do you wish to contribute to the existing legacy, an extension of U.S. arrogance abundant in the world, and send a condescending message to the locals, or do you wish to be a real teacher for the deaf?
Good luck Adam.
Addendum:
Instead of searching high and low for the signs to fill in the Wh-question blanks, why not investigate how SSL signers differentiate humans (who) from non-humans (what) in a _non-interrogative_ context first. And how do they conceptualize manners (pertaining to the how question)? Wh-questions play a central role in spoken English and ASL discourse for the purpose of extracting information. Do you know what is the role of Wh-questions in SSL?
I agree that it is important to not betray any of the confidences entrusted to you as a volunteer. So, if you are asked to not make any outright attempts to change the status quo, don’t do it. However, I believe it is perfectly acceptable to even unconsciously allow your rudimentary SSL to have elements of ASL. You are, after all, trying to communicate and exchange thoughts. Why restrict clarity?
Well, I’m not sure I’m going to add anything new here (after all, Rob did beat me to the punch with his allusion to the Prime Directive… dang!), but if you’re familiar with my favorite thing, postcolonial theory, you’ll probably be able to predict the tone of what I’m gonna say: Bad, bad, bad!
Okay, not necessarily that bad. Your intent, after all, is to teach SSL users (written?) English. Introducing British signs to convey English written words doesn’t seem too bad on the surface, but considering that this is a country that is relatively newly decolonized, and that you’re not using the rest of BSL to teach English, there are some ethical concerns there. And you also want your students to achieve some sort of self-determination in learning English. Imposing BSL signs on them isn’t gonna do that.
I’m not an expert in pedagogy, so I don’t really have good suggestions, sorry. What do ESOL teachers do? That’s an iffy question in itself because your issue isn’t just one of different languages but also different modalities (I assume you’re struggling with talking in class while referring to written English). Good luck, whatever you decide to do.
And thanks for a fascinating post. Am having fun deciding which one you are, a Sinhala Laurel or a Sinhala Hardy.
You’re blessed with the comments/feedbacks you are receiving from DeafDC. I do not have much to say except for this one: carpe diem!
I agree with WAD and Ms. Incredulous Eyes. Be careful where you step, and enjoy Sri Lanka. Let us know what happens later! :)
~ Deaf Pundit
I stumbled across this discussion by accident and found it fascinating. My own experience abroad is rather limited (11 weeks in Costa Rica a few years ago). I, too, know the challenge of trying to learn a new signed language. I didn’t find LESCO (Lengua de Senas de Costa Rica) to be at all limited — only my knowledge of it was.
For another range of thoughts and comments, you might want to consider joining the deafintl email-based discussion group. Deafintl has more than 200 deaf and hearing subscribers in more than 30 developing and developed countries around the world. It focuses on issues of concern to deaf people in developing countries. Many of the subscribers are from rich countries, but it does include some deaf people in developing countries, so it might be worth trying to get their perspectives on this issue as well. It’s a very quiet list (alas, far quieter than this board), but when people respond it can be interesting.
See http://patriot.net/~ashettle/deafintl for more info on deafintl and how to join.
You might also want to make contact with Global Deaf Connection
http://www.deafconnection.org
This is an organization that works to improve deaf education in Kenya, Jamaica, and DR Congo (and they want to eventually expand to other countries as well). Their workers have probably faced similar challenges so they may have some useful thoughts for you as well.
Also check out the sign language linguistics listserv hosted by a community college… we have international signers on there who may be able to provide more information for you.
http://majordomo.valenciacc.edu/