Sign language
About ten thousand people in the Netherlands speak a completely different language than most of us are used to: sign language. Almost everyone knows it from TV, because some programs are translated by a sign language interpreter.
Sign language, as the word implies, uses gestures to communicate with each other. A word is made up of sounds and syllables. This also applies to gestures: they are built up from separate parts. Not only the hand shape and hand movement is important. The facial expression and posture also determine the meaning of a gesture.
One gesture for many words
There is a gesture for almost every concept, but not every word has a gesture. In other words, it is never a one-on-one relationship. For example, there is one gesture for ‘someone who is very incompetent’ and one gesture for ‘someone who keeps refusing to listen’.
Where in sign language only one gesture is needed for an expression, in spoken language sometimes several words are needed. The other way around also happens.
Proverbs and sayings
Sign languages also have proverbs and sayings. Sign language uses sayings that are a translation of a saying from spoken language. There are a few sayings that are translated slightly differently. For example, ‘In one ear, out the other’ becomes ‘In one eye, out the other’. This is because the spoken proverb means nothing to the deaf; after all, they can’t hear anything! Moreover, deaf people are very visually oriented. There are also expressions in sign language that do not exist in spoken form.
New gestures
If a gesture does not yet exist for a word or concept, a new gesture is devised. Sometimes the manual alphabet is used. This is a collection of gestures that represent letters of an alphabet. New gestures arise from the need to communicate with each other about a certain subject.
According to experts, the creation of a new gesture often involves more logic than the creation of a new word. Some new gestures are standardized by the Netherlands Sign Center. This is similar to entering a word in the dictionary.
Music interpreting
Anyone who thinks that sign language is only used for practical purposes is wrong. According to experts, music interpretation is very popular. For example, Idols candidate Hind has been interpreted many times. Theater and other cultural expressions are also increasingly being interpreted.
However, experts believe that more interpretation is needed. Parents could already use a sign language interpreter for young deaf children. This is simply funded by the government. In any case, more TV programs could use interpreters.
Forbidden
It has been illegal to use sign language in schools for the deaf for a while. This is because it was thought that gestures would be bad for the development of deaf children. Those who did not comply were sometimes even punished by corporal punishment. It was not until 1979 at a convention that sign language was allowed to be used again.
Not universal
Each country has its own sign language. In addition, there may also be regional variants, similar to the spoken dialects. Examples of national sign languages are NGT (Dutch Sign Language) and ASL (American Sign Language). We call these national sign languages standardized languages. Despite the fact that gestures have been used since time immemorial, the gestures have only recently become standardized.
There is no universal sign language that is used and understood by every deaf person. Attempts to develop such a language are, according to experts, doomed to failure. Sign language is a living language that develops, influenced by culture. A universal language would become very artificial and therefore rarely used.
Abroad
Sign languages, like spoken languages, can differ from country to country, both in sign (vocabulary) and grammar. It is true that the similarity between the national sign languages is greater than between the corresponding spoken languages. This is due to the fact that certain signs are iconic. For example, the gesture for ‘eat’, which everyone in the world will recognize, hearing or deaf. Gestures are also often visually logical, which makes them recognizable. This is not to say that sign language users from different countries can simply ‘understand’ each other!
ASL is often used for international contacts. This is because there are relatively many ASL users in the world. This is similar to English; a lot of people speak at least a few words of English. However, the deaf do not learn ASL in addition to their ‘mother tongue’ by default. They can choose to study ASL before going abroad.
Sign language on the internet
If you want to learn sign language, you don’t have to look far. Various sites with gestures from the NGT can be found on the internet. It’s a nice site www.vitaal.denhaag.org. On this site you can learn to spell your name in the Dutch manual alphabet. You can also propose a new gesture!
