Do we have a challenge ahead of us to avoid becoming Hearing?

I think it's a shame that Latin is no longer commonly taught in high school. I studied it for just one year, and then switched to Spanish (for 3 years), but that 1 year of Latin was a great foundation for studying Spanish, later Portuguese and even Serbo-Croatian. Serbo-Croatian grammar has case endings similar to the way Latin is organized, so it was very helpful to me to have had that background.
 
Beach girl said:
Yes and no. There is a manuscript dating back to the time of the Roman expansion throughout Europe that complains of the "poor Latin" spoken in Gaul. That "poor Latin" is now French. Same with Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian. All those languages were once just "poor Latin."

English has thousands of words with Latin roots.

Even pure Latin is still studied as an academic discipline.

So I wouldn't say Latin has died out so much as been transformed, and has mutated into several different regional variations of what was once the mother tongue of the Roman Empire.
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I think what deaf skeptic was tying to get across is that its no longer a dominant language. That is what a "dead" language is... one that is no longer used as a dominant language. (I appologize if that isn't what you ment). Just as the language of the mesopotamians is no longer spoken, but is studied.
Languages do have to evolve to survive, to have new words added, words changed, meanings altered. Even removed from the every day usage. It is a sign of a thriving language, and a thriving culture
 
Beach girl said:
Yes and no. There is a manuscript dating back to the time of the Roman expansion throughout Europe that complains of the "poor Latin" spoken in Gaul. That "poor Latin" is now French. Same with Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian. All those languages were once just "poor Latin."

English has thousands of words with Latin roots.

Even pure Latin is still studied as an academic discipline.

So I wouldn't say Latin has died out so much as been transformed, and has mutated into several different regional variations of what was once the mother tongue of the Roman Empire.
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Latin is still a dead language because there are no Latin speakers left.

I won't disagree that other language have borrowed from Latin.
I'm sure that I can name at least five English words with Latin roots off my head.

Scientific words seem to have either Latin or Greek words in them.
 
ash345 said:
I think what deaf skeptic was tying to get across is that its no longer a dominant language. That is what a "dead" language is... one that is no longer used as a dominant language. (I appologize if that isn't what you ment). Just as the language of the mesopotamians is no longer spoken, but is studied.
Languages do have to evolve to survive, to have new words added, words changed, meanings altered. Even removed from the every day usage. It is a sign of a thriving language, and a thriving culture
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That is what I was saying. :ty:
 
Sure, I agree.

I was just expanding on the idea of how languages change over time. Latin changed so much and in different ways in the different regions of Europe that it actually became several different languages, plus contributed a lot of vocabulary to the Anglo-Saxon language that became English.

I don't know if ASL has changed that much, but it's interesting that it DOES change. Others here commented a while ago that there were regional differences in ASL, too.

Of all types of languages, you would think that a sign language could most easily become a universal language, because you don't have the problem of accents and pronounciations. It's interesting to me that that has not happened, that ASL exists along with British SL, New Zealand/Australian sign language, French SL, etc.
 
oh but my understanding was there are accents and pronounciations in ASL and other sign languages - just like any other language.
 
dogmom said:
oh but my understanding was there are accents and pronounciations in ASL and other sign languages - just like any other language.
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Yes like regional differences? We recently had a discussion of different signs for "dog" around the US.
 
yes, like that....was that discussion here....I guess I missed something - or am just too tired..... oops

and also things like differences between ASL used in States by African-Americans and that used by whites -

Southern accents in ASL...and so on
 
Not sure about nowadays but at one time you could tell the school a Deaf person attended because of the way they signed.

One of the things that has always amazed me is that Deaf people who attended Deaf schools always had such wonderful memories of their school years. Something I think everyone should have.

Unfortunately most hearing people have bad memories of school, even those who largely enjoyed it.

I know I wish I could come up with at least one decent memory from school, but I can't.
 
Right, that was what I said above, that there was a discussion about the regional differences in ASL. (2nd paragraph in my post above.)

It's fascinating to me, from a linguistic point of view, how that happens.
 
Berry said:
Not sure about nowadays but at one time you could tell the school a Deaf person attended because of the way they signed.

One of the things that has always amazed me is that Deaf people who attended Deaf schools always had such wonderful memories of their school years. Something I think everyone should have.

Unfortunately most hearing people have bad memories of school, even those who largely enjoyed it.

I know I wish I could come up with at least one decent memory from school, but I can't.
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Seriously? Wow, that's too bad.

I mostly have very good memories of school. We had a great high school in my town, and my class in particular was quite close. Many of my old h.s. friends are now Facebook friends.
 
Beach girl said:
Right, that was what I said above, that there was a discussion about the regional differences in ASL. (2nd paragraph in my post above.)

It's fascinating to me, from a linguistic point of view, how that happens.
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Sorry. I didn't see it. Hard to see to read for me and you write very long posts! :lol:
 
Berry said:
Not sure about nowadays but at one time you could tell the school a Deaf person attended because of the way they signed.

One of the things that has always amazed me is that Deaf people who attended Deaf schools always had such wonderful memories of their school years. Something I think everyone should have.

Unfortunately most hearing people have bad memories of school, even those who largely enjoyed it.

I know I wish I could come up with at least one decent memory from school, but I can't.
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Well, one of the first signs that I learned was the sign for birthday. It was done at VSDB this way: you brushed the B handshape up and down against your check. I have never seen this sign anywhere else.

Ditto for the ASL sign mean that I learned at VSDB. It was done by curling up your fingers around one side of your chin and then twisting your fingers to the other side.

Nowadays I sign it this way: two hands with fingers curled up and then striking my left hand in a down motion.
 
Beach girl said:
Seriously? Wow, that's too bad.

I mostly have very good memories of school. We had a great high school in my town, and my class in particular was quite close. Many of my old h.s. friends are now Facebook friends.
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Never went. I beat the high school drop out rate by never going in the first place.
 
Beach girl said:
Right, that was what I said above, that there was a discussion about the regional differences in ASL. (2nd paragraph in my post above.)

It's fascinating to me, from a linguistic point of view, how that happens.
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I think the differences in the schools signing was more than regional. It was distinct from the region the school was in. And I think they were proud of the school, not the region.

I'm told Spanglish is this way now. I'm told different schools have invented different versions and that many of those who speak it can speak no Spanish at all.

Not sure where that might take us.
 
deafskeptic said:
Well, one of the first signs that I learned was the sign for birthday. It was done at VSDB this way: you brushed the B handshape up and down against your check. I have never seen this sign anywhere else.

Ditto for the ASL sign mean that I learned at VSDB. It was done by curling up your fingers around one side of your chin and then twisting your fingers to the other side.

Nowadays I sign it this way: two hands with fingers curled up and then striking my left hand in a down motion.
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Here birthday is signed starting like "favorite" with feeling finger on chin then touching chest.
 
I use several different signs for birthday.

When my SO was in his last ASL class, his teacher told him there are 24 known different signs for birthday.
 
AlleyCat said:
I use several different signs for birthday.

When my SO was in his last ASL class, his teacher told him there are 24 known different signs for birthday.
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Wooo hoooo.

Okay. I don't need to know them all. :giggle:

:ty:
 
I posted over here...

http://www.alldeaf.com/general-chat/92075-grammar-4.html#post1862949

and it struck me that preserving the Deaf attitude toward communication is definitely a part of not becoming hearing.

We used to have a grammar Nazi at work.

My personal attitude toward grammar is that it is great to fall back on when you get confused and communication breaks down. Stop, put it in grammatical. "How do I say this..."

But as long as communication is working... People are understanding each other, there is no need to worry about grammar.

Also, sometimes English grammar just gets in the way.

Like don't start a sentence with "like" and don't split infinitives.
 
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