How has our knowledge expanded & been limited by gestural communication?Kacey Kuchenbecker

Personal Experiences, why topic chosen.

Is sign language the same in other countries?

NO Not one form of sign language is universal.

Different countries and regions have developed different forms of sign language

Some terms may be very similar, however it is not cut and dry the same in every country

How has ASL came to be?

What is American Sign Language? “American Sign Language (ASL) is a complete, complex language

that employs signs made by moving the hands combined with facial expressions and postures of the body. It is the primary language of many North Americans who are deaf and is one of several communication options used by people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.”

Quoted by the National Institute on deafness and other communication disorders

History

Using gestures to communicate…. Better?

Help express with more emphasis on what we are trying to get across how we perceive and interpret gestural communication. How emotions are incorporated in sign language and gestures (shape of our face, facial

expressions, eyes, lips, etc). Has made a huge impact on the non hearing society

Interpreting Sign Language…What is going on?

What is the relationship of what gestures hearing and non hearing people use for certain words?

Benefits to sign language

Gestures play a huge role in our everyday communication. Communicating from far distances/places where talking is not allowed or there is a

barrier prohibiting verbal communication Emotion Emphasis

Limits to sign language

people interpret things differently inappropriate signs (middle finger) complex sentences-using sounds to describe Not all gestures are universal not all sign

languages are universal

How do complex sentences get incorporated into gestural communication?

In spoken language, words are produced by using the mouth and voice to make sounds. But for people who are deaf (particularly those who are profoundly deaf), the sounds of speech are often not heard

Certain configurations of facial expression and head and body posture were shown to co-occur with particular sentence and clause types

Topics are marked by raised brows and head slightly back in ASL, and negatives by a headshake

Gestures connected with Cultures

Looking into cultures: Italian hand gestures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW91Ec4DYkU

In conclusion

Gestural communication has evolved over our entire world history scientifically (dealing with the non hearing) and culturally.

Cultural implications of gestural communication It is a language that is still changing and being developed by groups of cultures all over the world

Example: Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL), a sign language used over the past 75 years by both hearing and nonhearing people in an isolated Bedouin village in Israel.

was developed among a small group of people with little to no outside influence and no direct linguistic input, ABSL offers researchers the opportunity to document a new language as it develops and evolves. It can also be used to model the essential elements and organization of natural language.

Ted Talk: Sign Language

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcm3AMzo1nI