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Re: Nicaraguan Sign Language
Gerold Firl (geroldf@sdd.hp.com)
2 Jan 1997 20:41:55 GMT
In article <32C71A3B.3160@mindspring.com>, John Carroll <pp001356@mindspring.com> writes:
|> According to a 1994 issue of Discover (August, I believe), deaf children
|> with no history of using any form of sign language other than the
|> gestures each used at home to communicate with relatives, were brought
|> together following the 1979 revolution in their own school, where all
|> the children were deaf. Apparently they managed to develop their own
|> sign language that eventually became very sophisticated. The article
|> treats this as the birth of a new language. Sounds fascinating, but so
|> far I haven't been able to find out anything more about it. Anybody know
|> of any references? Internet would be great, but I'll settle for
|> anything.
You might take a look at _the language instinct_ by steven pinker. The
interesting thing about this incident was the fact that when deaf
children exclusively speak sign language with other signing-only
children (well, *exclusively* is probably an overstatement - when sign
language is used as the primary language, let's say) then within one
generation the children will develop grammatical constructions in
common with natural spoken languages. It's a great example of how the
innate language hardware in the brain shapes the form of the
linguistic software.
--
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Disclaimer claims dat de claims claimed in dis are de claims of meself,
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=---- Gerold Firl @ ..hplabs!hp-sdd!geroldf
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