Stammering Children, Laughing Clinton, and Nonsigning Cops
By Julie Hochgesang on Wed 3 Oct 2007 |
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“Stammering Children, Laughing Clinton, and Nonsigning Cops”
Isn’t that a lovely title? I bet you clicked on this just to see if there could possibly be a connection between all of them. And yes, there is.
The connection is this: I can’t believe how stupid people can be. Now you may be shaking your head and thinking, “whoa, slow down a bit there, Julie, aren’t you getting a bit too worked up over the stupidity of the world of which we have no control over and never will?” Yes, I know you, O wise one, are right. But still!!!
Okay, so you ask in a placating manner, “tell me, Julie, what’s with the indignation against stupidity? Let’s start with the stammering children.” Okay well… I got this email from a friend who got this email from an acquaintance who got this email from some random travel encounter’s sister. (There’s got to be a word for that… “random travel encounter.” You know when you’re standing before that time schedule in a train stop in some country and you’re trying to decipher the way from here to there and this person standing next to you has the exact same dilemma, so you smile gingerly at one another and then you start talking and marvel at how you’re going to the same place and why not sit in the same train compartment and you have hours and hours of scintillating conversation so you vow, upon departure, to never lose contact and to meet up again should you be in the same place. What’s the word for that?) This person who sent the email wanted to do a thesis on stammering children and/or children who use sign language in Kenya. She felt the need to explore the development of a sign language for Kiswahili (the spoken language in Kenya). First of all, you can’t “and/or” stammering children and children who use sign language. That just gets a stunned gaping look from me. How can you possibly say the two groups are the same? Second of all, “the development of sign language for Kiswahili”? First off, sign languages aren’t based on (or aren’t supposed to be based on) spoken languages. Second off, there’s a perfectly healthy signed language already in use by the deaf people of Kenya and has been for over fifty years. If this person would have already visited Kenya and met a few deaf people, she would know this. But no, she relies on her own good intentions (and not a lot of knowledge) to save the stammering children and/or signing children.
Now to, quite a big transition I know but bear with me, Laughing Clinton. This past Sunday, I retrieved my New York Times Sunday edition from the porch, thanking whoever there’s to thank that it wasn’t stolen once again. I sat down with a cup of steaming coffee and opened the newspaper. On page something or other, there’s this article about Hillary Clinton’s laughter. Pausing for your astonishment. Yes. It’s about her laugh. Apparently she’s too sarcastic for the general public’s good (the woman’s from Chicago after all! We Chicago girls know our sarcasm). Basically, it’s a serious article examining the hows and whys of her laugh. Now, I ask you, would any self-respecting journalist write the same about a male political candidate? I really doubt so. She laughs! You laugh! He laughs! We all laugh! How the heck can that be a valid piece of evidence towards whether she’d be a good President for America or not?
Finally, nonsigning cops. Now that’s not really stupid in itself. Who said that cops in Washington DC, the home to the world’s only liberal arts college for the deaf, should know any functional sign language? But when it becomes stupid is when there’s a bomb threat at Gallaudet and no cop guarding the gates can tell people why they can’t come in or out. Instead the cops are reduced to pointing, very effective communication for pacifying an increasingly growing crowd who’s anxious to know what’s happening and what’s being done about it.
See the thread of stupidity in all this? Yeah… me too.
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46 Comments
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Are the deaf Kenyan children fluent in Kiswahili? That’s what I wonder since it mirrors our own issues with fluency in English in the deaf community.
Were these campus cops or police cops? If it was the police, at the very least, someone should have been sent from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Liaison Unit from the Metropolitan Police in response to any event at Gallaudet University that may necessitate an emergency such as a suspected bomb.
Noelle,
Deaf Kenyans are usually not fluent in either written Kiswahili or English (both the official languages of Kenya). But that wasn’t the point I made. The point was that the person assumed there was no sign language in Kenya and furthermore when there was to be one, that it should be based on the spoken language. A silly notion all around.
For the cops, they were from the city. And yes, a liaison should have been sent. Or at the very least, interpreters called from GIS.
What is it that’s silly about assuming that a sign language should be based on the country’s official language (i.e. kiswahili or english)?
Silly in that people assume signed languages have to have spoken languages in order to develop linguistically.
Don’t believe me? Read Talking Hands by Margarit Fox or any other ASL linguistics books available in Gallaudet U. Press. Read and learn :).
For instance, there are two sign languages used in predominately English countries, like Britian and America. The sign language here is ASL, and in Britain BSL. Each sign language has its own grammar, syntax, and is distinctly different from English.
It would be like trying to say that English and Spanish are the same. They aren’t. ASL is as different from English in that aspect.
Hmm. I don’t know about you but my ability to convey ideas/messages in ASL would be terrible if my knowledge of the English language was limited. I sign ASL but think a combination of ASL/English. There are a lot of English words that do not have a sign and which we fingerspell - how would you do that if your knowledge of the English language was rudimentary?
Ah, there you go. You still have two programs in your mind at the same time. If you were to practice using ONE program (English or ASL) you will develop fluency in either one of them and will develop skills in expressing yourself with vocabulary that pertains to each :).
Are you saying that your ability to form abstract concepts and thoughts has come from English first? Ok, I have a limited knowledge of Spanish, but I definitely don’t think my ability to verbalize complex concepts in English is terrible.
See how silly your reasoning sounds?
Well, I guess it isn’t so silly at first glance. But if you think about it, a language develops naturally within a group of users. In this case, Deaf Kenyans don’t have access to the spoken languages for obvious reasons, so they started developing their own language (and when I say “develop”, I don’t mean a conscious attempt to create new signs for their communication, it’s just a way of referring to the natural growth of a language). This is why it’s not based on the spoken language, they don’t have access to it. Usually with sign systems that are based on spoken languages like Signed Exact English, it is a concerted effort by those in education. That make it clearer?
Oh, the spoken language - I must have missed that word. But, wouldn’t you agree that any sign language must be based on some form of other language (i.e. english, kiswahili) - otherwise it’d be a little primitive?
That’s why I recommend Talking Hands. Yeah, they are primitve relative to spoken languages only because specific signed languages at present developed full-blown in last few centuries. However, it doesn’t mean they can express ideas any less, just less linguistics baggage than spoken languages.
I think the bone of contention here is the word “based”. Signed languages can exist on their own and become very developed. Remember that signed languages are just like spoken languages.
The problem that you’re talking about is an inability to express certain concepts that may not be easily expressed in another language. Hence, the frustration.
The way that language users get around this is that they borrow from other languages. The unique linguistic situation of Deaf people means that they often borrow from the dominant local language. In America, English.
Note that this same argument could be used for a spoken language, such as Kiswahili. How do you say photosynthesis in Kiswahili? Well, most Kenyans would say “photosynthesis”. They would borrow it. That’s normal and natural.
What does it mean to “base” one language on another? Well, to me, it sounds like an overt attempt to create a new language using a similar vocabulary and language pattern that the original language uses.
Does that help?
Thank you, thank you Kevin! You said it just right! Same idea with English users borrowing tortilla, lasagna, etc and the list goes on!
Have you ever read any russian literature? It was quite common in russia to use French, English, German and Russian to complete a thought. It was very often dependent on what the thought was — personal, sexual or romantic thoughts were considered best spoken in French. That russian was too course.
In English we use Latin terms for medicine. And the English language itself is really a mix of French, Anglo-Saxon and German.
In Japanese, most of their “swear words” are transliterations of Dutch words. As they learned those words from the Dutch sailors. Their medical terminology is transliteration of German words — as they learned medicine from the Germans. Even what they call their legislative body: the Diet — is a Russian word as that is where they took their concept of a legislature. This doesn’t count the fact that they use three alphabets: Chinese characters, Japanese letters and English letters. English words are found throughout their culture and in their advertising. (Sometimes to comical effect.)
Our languages borrow from each other. Their are signs that make use of letterforms — as these ASL words are based on written English.
I think it would have been more helpful to tell your traveling friend that she may be off base, but that perhaps their is something to her exploration. Perhaps there is a need for tribal children in Kenya to use a sign language based on something that is closer to what is spoken in their villages — I don’t know, but I do know that language evolves and doesn’t form in a vacuum. Ever.
Actually, language can evolve in a vacuum—how else do you think human languages first got started? There wasn’t this degree of linguistic interchanges back then due to the geological isolation of small groups.
The reason why we have this present form of ‘linguistic swapping’ today is due to globalization and the interconnectedness of the human species through mass transit.
The French, as far as I know, seem to be the only nation that’s fighting against any linguistic interchange in order to keep their language “pure.”
Has Gallaudet or one of the student body representatives from the university, registered a complaint with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Liaison Unit?
Good suggestion. Let’s hope so.
I also hope that Gallaudet has prepared a emergency preparedness program to coordinate activities with the campus police and the city police as well as the federal government in case of national emergencies.
I’ve included the excerpt from the Metropolitan Police Department about the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Unit here in case anyone here wants to register a complaint:
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Liaison Unit
The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Liaison Unit was officially established in April 2002 by the Metropolitan Police Department. Our goal is to provide the best service possible to meet the unique needs of individuals of the deaf and hard of hearing community. Officer Myra Jordan has been selected as a coordinator of DHHU. Three interns from Gallaudet University have been working with Officer Myra Jordan. Officer Myra Jordan is fluent in American Sign Language. She has the ability of mediating between deaf community and the MPD.
The DHHU encourages you to contact Officer Jordan with questions and concerns; she is available twenty four hours. Her pager address is: 8886436284@archwireless.net and her office phone number is: (202) 671-3350 (V), or (202) 671-2864 (TTY). The MPDC also has 30 sign language interpreters contracted and available 24-hours, 7 days a week.
I agree with Julie that a liaison or an interpreter should have accompanied the cops at the very minimum. I’m wondering if Dr. Davila would begin requiring that in the future for ease of misunderstandings among deaf students, faculty, and the like who attempt to enter the campus.
In this time and age, there is no excuse whatsoever for not having them there.
Julie - In ghettos including slums of N.E. Washington, D.C. the turnover rate in human services is exceedingly high. Stability is necessary in order for a worker to learn anything beyond what is required in the norm of a job description. If a worker is expected to learn functional sign language people of other languages spoken in the ghetto will take note and expect the same. Intentions can be good but it’s always tough to please everyone.
The job description should demand at the least, little or basic understanding of sign language, with the advanced knowledge of requiring to take classes to upgrade said understanding to proficient. Notice, I didn’t say ASL. Sign language. If I was working at Telemundo, I would need to learn Spanish on the quick in order to do my job effectively.
I don’t understand this part of your comment: “If a worker is expected to learn functional sign language people of other languages spoken in the ghetto will take note and expect the same.” Care to elaborate on this for those who may be in the ghettos/slums that do not comprehend?
Plain and simple. There are many that speaks foreign languages in the same density population as of deaf in D.C. Heck, there are many aliens who are deaf and don’t use ASL. Cops will need to learn more than ASL.
Oh I see. I was talking about the campus cops at Gallaudet, who unfortunately are the first line of defense, and that defense is extremely shaky right now due to lack of clear communication issues. Finger pointing can only say so much.
I HOPE HILLARY WILL WIN FOR OUR FIRST TIME WOMAN BECAME PRESDENT HISTORY FOR 2008 GIVE CHANCE HILLARY CLINTON WILL BE GREATEST PRESDENT AND BEFORE I WISH ASK CLINTON WILL YOU SUPPORT DEAF ADA LAWS AND DEAF NEEDS ??? MAKE SURE WE CAN VOTE FOR CLINTON PRESDENT CAUSE FIRST LADY WILL BE HISTORY SAME AS GALLAUDET U IS HISTORY FOR DEAF PRESENDENT LIKE JORDAN AND NOW DR DAVILLA WILL BE BESTEST PRESDENT SHOW US WHAT EDUCATION WILL HAVE THERE AND FEEDBACK VEIDO AND COMMET WILL BE WONDERFUL BETTER SYSTEM THAN PAST AND IF HILLARY CLINTON I WISH GALLAUDET U WILL GIVE TO HILLARY FOR OJO VRS OR SORENESS VRS SO WE CAN TALK ABOUT LAWS FEEDBACK WOULD BE NICE GOOD IDEA FOR FOR DEAF GOVERMENT WORK WITH PRESENDENT ???? WHY NOT GOOD LAUGHING FOR OUR CHILDRENS SMILE THINK ABOUT GOOD SERIVCE BESTEST SERVICE WORK WITH PRESENDENT MY OFFER IDEA WORK AS WASHINGTON D.C LIKE DR DAVILLA PRESENDENT AND HILLARY CLINTON WHY NOT ?
“Soreness VRS” ???
Are you implying that Sorenson’s interpreters are in constant pain from overuse syndrome?
ALAN, PLEASE QUIT YOUR HOT AND TORRID LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE “CAPS” LOCK ON THE KEYBOARD, MMMKAY???
IN ASLSPEAK: PLEASE STOP KEEP KEEP CAPS LOCKS ALL TIMES.
Good one, Vikki!
To present a joke here:
He’s deaf, he can’t hear how loud those CAPS LOCK are!
Whoahhhhh….Please turn off your CAPS as it is considered “shouting” in blogging circles. Would it also trouble you to check your spelling and grammar as I am having a bit of trouble following what you are talking about as it doesn’t follow the points that Julie has made within her blog.
It would also be less embarrassing to Dr. Davila if you could at least spell his name correctly, I would think.
Anyone agree here?
Hillary - the new, old Al Gore. Despite the cackle, I like her anyway.
Hey, I like her too. She’s a sarcastic Chicago gal, what’s not to like?? What I didn’t like was the analysis of her laughter.
Me thinks media has too much time on their hands, err..butts when they write these kinds of ridiculous analyses of political candidates! One would think they have better things to write about, right? ;)
Ha I remember articles scrutinizing to death Gore’s sighs during a debate with Dubya. So I’m not sure if it’s just because Clinton’s a woman. Newspapers and magazines are full of literary masturbation- writers writing about nothing to get paid.
But I do wonder from time to time how a female leader’d be perceived differently if she was a male. For example, JKF. When trying to explain the protest, she said there’s an expectation that women be warm and nurturing. That’s an interesting point that we can’t dismiss just because she’s JKF. Well, IKJ and Davila are both gregarious men. When we have an icy, aloof male president- with lukewarm past accomplishments, no less- that is widely embraced by the Gallaudet community, she’ll have proved her point beyond doubt. :)
Clinton’s laugh certainly didn’t deserve all the scrutiny or publicity the press gave it. Like most people I just thought why are they even talking about this? Why did she sign on to the Lieberman-Kyl disguised AUMF against Iran? Why does she want to leave troops in Iraq and what about the bases there? Why does she refuse to apologize for her war vote when it was very clear that the administration was spinning WMDs from out of its ass? Why did she not bother to read the intelligence report that discussed WMDs prior to voting as Sen. Graham wanted everyone to? Why has she played such an undistinguished Senate career?
Why is the press so shallow? Why are they trying to make something out of nothing? Next we’ll see headlines like…”Clinton Laugh Improvement Over Bush Smirk”…WTF!
Clinton’s laugh is nothing more than a rehearsed pause so she can gather her thoughts and give out a politically safe answer.
The Beltway insiders may be having a coronation moment, but I know firsthand that the Beltway bobbleheads have collectively their heads up their asses.
Time to quit playing nice with the Beltway Bobbleheads. I think Obama represents change, and just look at the numbers of Democrats who disapprove of the “Democrat controlled” congress. People of ALL political stripes think we need a lot of change, and we need it YESTERDAY.
And Clinton ain’t it.
HILARY CLINTON VERY FUNNY WOMAN HAHAHA LAUGHING BUT SHE IN OFFICE SHE BE VERY SERIOUS FUNNY ZERO
Pondering, what do you mean by primitive? If you think that any sign language user (by this I mean ASL speaker, BSL speaker, HKSL speaker, etc) can’t discuss any topic, then you’re sorely mistaken. This has been a misconception about sign languages for far too long. The misconception being that signs are “pictures in the air” and unable to capture more abstract thought.
Re: Hillary Clinton’s laugh… you ask a great question: Would journalists have dared to write that about a male politician?
There was research on how female politicians and leaders were portrayed in photographs as compared to their male counterparts. All I could say back then was Whoa! Basically, from a statistically signficant sample, the article measured face-to-photograph ratios and found that females were shown farther away or with their shoulders while the males would be shown with their faces more tightly cropped, and when the researchers then did qualitative analyses, they found that respndents usually correlated importance with the face-to-photo ratio. Strike one for females, thanks to the media.
that’s interesting
Nkrumah you are good point but to wrong. I remembers you were talk with women for media and no sex, calls absinthe or abstinence, not rember english. I will wok fry you.
And your point is?
Don’t forget that Hillary Rodham Clinton, perceived by some as a supporter of the Deaf community, is also warm with Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf.
So what?
i second peter. witch hunts for any association with agbad or CI-related organizations are stupid. im sure all candidates don’t know enough about deafness to take any strong stand.
Who said this is a witch-hunt on my part? I didn’t say that Hillary Rodham Clinton is backstabbing. I’m recognizing her inclusiveness.
Yo - a bit late coming into this, but check this out - seems that Clinton isn’t the only one - they’re analysing Yulia Tymoshenko’s hairdo
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7025980.stm
[…] can’t get enough of Hillary Clinton either. Julie Hochgesang noted the media’s ridiculous obsession with petty details such as her laughter and Liz Stone […]