I had this question in one of my comments which has me curious, too. Since I’m not a fluent much less native signer, I don’t know the answer:
Ooh, you know what I’m wondering about now — what are accents like in sign languages, from one to the other? You know how spoken languages have a musical unity to them, like the melodic nature of Spanish, the precise choppiness of Japanese, the lilting nature of Welsh …They also are all interpreted differently depending on who’s listening — triskelion_sun once remarked on how pretty and musical she found a Punjabi accent in a meeting once, and she was surprised to learn that a Japanese colleague thought it harsh and rather gutteral.
What does an accent in a sign language look like visually, maybe artistically? Is there a general look and feel to a sign language? Like some languages have a rolled “r” and some don’t. The half-swallowed “r” and the nasality of French somehow seem to go together to make a whole.
Do ASL speakers tend to use a lot of two handed signs where each hand is mirroring the other? Do ISN speakers tend to make circular shaped signs more often? And how does this all look to the eye of a native signer of the other language? What is the “feel” of a foreign sign language?
I do know that there are regional variations to some words within this country, but I would also love to know how other sign languages appear as a whole to native ASL signers…
i can answer that question from the perspective of british sign language… and tell you how ASL looks to me. Although i know the ASL alphabet, when i watch deaf people fluent in ASL, their hands move with lightening speed and there’s absolutely no way that i could ever hope to follow. ASL as a whole seems to be faster than BSL… much of that is to do with the alphabet and some of the core signs, which are one handed (BSL’s alphabet is two handed).
accents/regionality in BSL is common, with the same sign being used for two (or three) completely different meanings in different parts of the country. Numbers is a big one for being able to identify where you’re from, particularly the teens.
unfortunately i’m just not fluent enough in sign language (I’m extremely rusty, as i don’t really mix with deaf people in my life - and prefer it that way) to be able to identify where someone is from based on their sign, but it wouldn’t surprise me if more fluent users are able to do so. I think too, that in the UK at least, where the person went to school will make a huge difference (as many children are sent away to special schools - and they develop their own signs for many things). i don’t know if the USA is similar in that respect.
BSL is fairly well documented on the web, with some videos on YouTube (wouldn’t surprise me if a programme called “See Hear” got shown, which is produced by the BBC, a weekly deaf magazine programme) so that might be worth looking out so you can see for yourself.
keth
xx
Yes, sign languages all over the world each have their own regional “accents”–or–emphasis–or–styles–or–variants. I have been enthralled with the elegance of French sign and thought it interesting that Italian sign was emotionally expressive.
Once I asked a department chairman of sign language studies at Gallaudet about “accents” and was blasted for using the word. Very rudely, I was told that “accent” was a word belonging to hearing and voice users and had no place in the deaf community!
I would think that sign is identifiable by locality; so if the word “accent” is not applicable, what word is? One sees yellow accents in room decor, some paintings have a greenish accent in their representations of water, and one can say food has accents of garlic and cumin. One can tell a Canadian from an American by their sign. So, accented sign languages are definitely visual and interesting in the information it gives about the person.
Would any linguists like to comment?
Dianrez
http://www.xanga.com/dianrez
I’ve done some studying — “accent” is like “dialect.” It means a very specific, precise thing in the world of linguistics, but is often used in a pejorative manner outside of it. The simple fact of the matter is that that dept chairman was probably reacting to what the word didn’t mean. Either that, or he’s just a narrow creep. It’s not like ANY university is short on those.
In linguistic terms, “dialect” means only the exact variant on a language spoken by a certain group of people. People do not speak “languages,” they speak local variations on languages, called dialects. A language is a theoretical thing, an average across a group of mutually intelligible dialects, sometimes defined geographically, sometimes politically. No one, for example, speaks English; that’s a language and is a theoretical construct. People speak certain types of English; I speak a dialect of English called Midlands. Queen Elizabeth speaks a dialect of english called RP (Received Pronunciation; dunno where the name came from). Black Vernacular English is just one more dialect of English.
The problem is that when non-linguists use the word “dialect,” they mean “uneducated slang talk that indicates low class status or intelligence.” They’d never say that Queen Elizabeth speaks a dialect; they’d say that she speaks English, and that what Snoop Dog speaks is “only a dialect.” This is quite incorrect. No one speaks a language; people ONLY speak dialects, specific versions of languages that vary depending on class, geography, political affiliation, etc.
It’s possible that that dept chair was thinking to himself that “accent” is like “dialect,” a word that hearies use to insult one another, and that Deaf people were above all that. If that’s the case, he never studied spoken language linguistics in his life.
Well I don’t know what word to use other than accent or dialect so I guess that professor wouldn’t like me either, Dianrez.
Ah I don’t recall our Brit friend’s name so forgive me since I cannot view other “chocolates” while typing this out. Yeah, as an ASL user, BSL appears slow and somewhat forced to my eyes. This does not mean BSL is inferior or ASL is better, no way at all. It’s like when I read about how hearies would find certain languages unpleasant to listen while others are nice to hear. Remember that movie, “A Fish Named Wanda” and how the female character would get so turned on whenever she heard Italian or Russian language being spoken? I suppose it’s the same thing.
I also spent 3 months in Kenya and during the entire time I refused to use ASL and instead I learned KSL. I often felt limited while communicating in KSL but I blame my poor mastery of that sign language instead of that particular language’s structure or whatever.
Anyway in USA, there are definitely dialects (or accents or whatever) in ASL. I can sometimes tell if someone’s from Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, or California because there are concepts that are signed differently particular to those regions. Being from East Coast and living in California sometimes people would go “What?” because sometimes I’d use a sign that an Easterner would be familiar with but not a Westerner.
Bottom of the line - all of this is good because it’s an evidence that ASL is a living language - always changing and adapting to its speakers (signers?)’ needs and wants.
So maybe BSL is like a slow southern drawl then
I’m fascinated by that as well, there’s a Son of a Preacher Man video out on youtube that’s in BSL and I haven’t a clue what he’s saying — whoa!
But then some other clips such as the French Support for GUFSSA back in October — wow, very similar. Although the thought of trying to finger spell anything in French sends my hands whimpering for cover…
Ignoring the differences in signs, yes I think there are accents in sign language too.
I met a former classmate at a party full of ASL signers. He and I were mainstreamed with SEE but he had far more ASL skill than me due to having transferred out to a residential school for the deaf for his high school years. We were talking with each other and I noticed several of the other partygoers were looking at us.. one chuckled & remarked that “they(us) sign so similarily!”. I assume that was also with the implication we signed “different” from them. It did feel like a group of New Yorkers giggling upon overhearing two Texans talking.
I think Karen Nakamaura(sp? Google will find you her site- she maintains an sign language links site) IIRC has said that native Japanese signers do have accents when using ASL. I don’t remember if she had cited anything more specific than that though.