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Rude gestures
I just got this in the weekly World Wide Words language newsletter I subscribe to.
RUDE GESTURES
As every deaf person knows, signing is not just a shorthand to aid comprehension, but a series of fully developed languages with their own grammars, dialects and slangs, and which evolve over time. In a development that echoes debate in the USA over the nature of some signs, it has been reported this week that Vee-TV, a programme for deaf people made by the British TV station Channel 4, has banned certain signs because they might be thought racist or homophobic. The Daily Telegraph said that: "The abandoned signs include 'Jewish', in which a hand mimes a hooked nose; the sign for 'gay', a flick of a limp wrist; and 'Chinese', in which the index fingertips pull the eyes into a slant. Another dropped sign is that for 'Indian', which is a finger pointing to an imaginary spot in the middle of a forehead." These signs have been replaced with others considered inoffensive. Some critics are said to feel that the ban is a form of discrimination against the culture of deaf people.
Any comments from the only expert on BSL I know--
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spacefall? I'd like to know what they've been replaced with.
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Why does it seem worse though?
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IIRC Chinese is now right index finger jabbing chest in a straight at about nipple height from right to left.
Gay was
Left hand horizontal with palm upward, right hand in fist format placed on the palm of left hand with thumb up (like the Roman sign for kill him) then wiggled around.
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Jewish: hands with open and slightly curved fingers, held like an open book with palms towards you, then sweeping up to form the shape of the menorah.
Gay: 'thumbs up' sitting on palm of opposite hand, tipped repeatedly from left to right.
Chinese: Index finger points to right side of chest then slides to the left, before finally moving a short way down the chest.
Indian: flattened hands or index fingers begin held apart at around eye level then come together like the sides of an inverted triangle. With the flattened hands version the palms end up pressed together.
or
Asian: one hand strokes in circles on the back of the other.
To be honest, I don't see this as much different from the kind of language censorship which goes on all across TV. Most hearing daytime TV presenters wouldn't refer to gay men as poofs, so I don't see why restricting the language on Vee-TV should be seen as particular discrimination. The race stuff is more borderline, but I can understand why they'd want to use language that's acceptable to a wide range of people.
Whether certain signs (eg 'chinese' with the index fingers by the eyes) are offensive is a matter of debate. As noted in 'the linguistics of British Sign Language', visually motivated signs are a natural part of the language, and often don't carry the offensive overtones that they would in English. I know people with sign names which translate as (big) shirt, pointy hair, etc. Deaf Chinese visitors to the UK reportedly said they had no problem with the traditional sign for chinese, and said that their own sign for european referred to the round eyes of many european people. Unlike 'poof' these aren't signs which have been use in a particularly insulting way -- it's just the etymology which is seen as non-PC. Luckily this isn't a problem for many country signs, as signers from various places have exchanged signs and often use a country's own sign for itself (eg USA.)
I suppose it's a matter of culture. Not all Deaf people are happy with the old signs, whereas some really hate the modern PC equivalents. I tend to sign the PC ones because that's how I was taught -- an attempt by my tutors to influence our use of language no doubt :-) As far as language goes, these PC words are already a part of BSL, and though some dislike them they're still valid. FWIW, Vee-TV is on at 12:00 in the afternoon on Saturday and is targeted at a, so it doesn't surprise me
PS: I saw this news report a few days ago and went around going 'ooh, Vee-TV is in the international news. Cool :-)
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The sign for China supposedly has its roots in clothing, which some people dislike.. Asian? No idea. There are loads of possible origins, but they're lost in the mists of time. It's the same as some dialects' version of 'blue', which is almost certainly irrelevant. I think. :-D
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And I think the gay, lesbian and bisexual ones make a very logical group.
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Possibly not in Russian, where "blue" is code for "gay"....
I hope the sign my brother-in-law taught me for Prince Charles (two enormous ears) has not gone! Surely you're allowed to be offensive to him.
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BSL was only recognised as a language a year ago? I'm stunned!
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Do you know any New Zealand sign language, btw? It shares linguistic roots with modern BSL, so I'd be interested to see some examples.
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It must be hard for users of NZSL when there are so few who know it. Is it similar to Australian SL?
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The emergence of Nicaraguan SL is really interesting. It's been amazing to see how rapidly humans can develop language, and supports theories about the development of SL in other countries. BSL and LSF(French) are far too old for their emergence to be studied -- I think it wasn't until the 17th century that BSL signs began to be recorded, and even then people were using the same signs as are in use today*.
The events in Nicaragua also underline the importance of deaf schools to many Deaf cultures. In the UK, deaf schools are being closed, and deaf children have no legal right to education in sign language. Contrastingly, the Finnish government ruled that all deaf children and native signers (deaf or hearing) have a right to be educated in their first language. Many Finnish deaf children are multi-lingual in spoken and signed languages, which rather squashes the argument that letting kids sign will harm their spoken language development. *thwaps anti-sign folk hard with a ruler*
* from the limited vocabulary available for study, in any case. Unfortunately there was no full BSL dictionary in the 18th century. ;-)
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