[ASLsparkD] English Initialization

ASLspark September 20, 2017 in ASL 1 Subscribers Subscribe

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English Initialization

The linguicist, racist, and sexist past of English initialization in ASL.

Translation:

Some people have been defending English initialization in ASL, saying that it's been in our language since the start.

This is not quite the case: When Clerc and Gallaudet founded the American School for the Deaf, a major part of the goal for the school was to help form a signing community for Deaf people. Around 1850-1860, a hearing man named Horace Mann went to visit Prussia and study their educational system. It was a strongly regimented and standardized system for both hearing and deaf -- an oral system for deaf. Mann returned to the US, publishing articles and books that had an impact on Deaf education.

The teachers started thinking that English was most important. How could they force Deaf students to have an English mind? They emphasized reading and writing first, then changed to Signed English before settling on oralism -- which had a tremendous impact to this day.

Not only that, but the United States during Mann's time was becoming more nationalistic. How could they pull together a diverse population to be more homogenized? The government put English first. This was also a time when eugenics arose, with a focus on physical standardization bringing out white supremacist thinking. Linguicism and racism (plus sexism) impacted the Deaf community.

NAD's decision to document ASL in 1913 demonstrates that influence. Educated white Deaf men were chosen for the historical record, and their signing reflected the ideology of English superiority in Deaf education. We need to decide whether or not to continue that negative influence.

Today we have so much cultural diversity in our country and our communities. It is a beautiful opportunity for us to explore ASL through those lens and allow new words to bloom. If an ASL or SL community develops a new sign language-centric word that in turn influences others, that shows good linguistic health. We need to encourage each other to continue this flowering, to cross-pollinate and promote the growth of our sign languages, especially here in the United States. Something for you all to think about.

Postscript: Clerc and Gallaudet are not completely innocent. There was already sign languages here in the United States: Indigenous/Native, two-handed fingerspelling, home sign words, and so on. Alice Cogswell herself already had language before entering ASD. The two white men, especially hearing white male Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, were beneficiaries of privilege, allowing a narrative to form of them bringing language to Deaf people. This narrative persists to this day.

#ASLcentric #SLcentric

Reference:

Edwards, R. A. R. Words made flesh: nineteenth-century deaf education and the growth of deaf culture. N.p.: New York U Press, 2012. Print.

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