Sign Language
Temas
Detalles
Sign language refers to a language form expressed in a different modality, using the hands, face, and body, in contrast to spoken language, which principally uses the vocal tract. Natural sign languages are found in communities around the world, ranging from very large Deaf community sign languages with as many as a million or more primary users to very small family or village sign languages with a few Deaf people. Sometimes referred to as “Deaf sign languages” to describe their genesis in a community with Deaf members, the term overlooks the fact that hearing people who live alongside Deaf signers also acquire the language and use it with them. They play a sizeable role in sign language persistence across generations of signers, with documentation of sign languages dating back over hundreds of years. Although rare, there exist communities of hearing people using sign language with each other, such as among Indigenous populations in Central Australia. Called auxiliary sign languages, they do not supplant spoken language but are used when silence is mandated as a form of cultural practice where there are taboos against speaking because of kinship or religious vows.
En M. C. Frank y A. Majid (Eds.), Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science.