There are many different languages in the world today. Over seven thousand distinct languages are spoken and there are only one hundred and ninety-five countries. It means that multilingual countries are in the majority. For example, Switzerland and Singapore have four national languages and Kenya where various ethnic groups exist has more than sixty languages besides national languages. Monolingual countries like Japan are a minority and account for about thirty percent of the whole. However, whether countries are multilingual or not, every language itself is highly diverse and has a variety of aspects. Speaking of diversity of language, we may think of local dialects, written and spoken language or archaic words. Now, I’m going to write about the other side of languages which has own attractiveness and functions: Sign Language.
Do you regard Sign Language as one true language?
Surprisingly, it was in the 21st century that most countries recognized Sign Language as a true language in legislation and Japanese Sign Language gained its legal status in 2011 as well. However, when we try to trace the history of Sign Language in Japan, we can date back to the late 19th century. In 1862, The First Japanese Embassy to Europe visited schools for deaf children which spread from France to Europe after 1760. Then, sixteen years later, the first school for deaf people (京都聾唖院) was founded in Kyoto, whereas Sign Language had suffered from images of second-rate language and had not been officially recognized as a legitimate language. In the late 20th century, there was a marked turn of the environment surrounding Sign Languages. By virtue of a linguist, named William C. Stokoe, Jr., who asserted that Sign Languages are true languages and promoted a better understanding of them, its status rose in academic and educational circles. Also, in Japan, Sign Language finally appeared in public when a TV drama, which a deaf person was set as a leading character, was broadcast. This led to Sign Language being wildly recognized among hearing people. More than a hundred years have passed since the first thirty-one students enrolled in the school for the deaf and as long last, it can be said that sign language and the deaf people have been free from prejudice.
What is Sign Language in Japan like?
There are two types of Sign Language in Japan; Signed Japanese (日本語対応手話) and Japanese Sign Language (日本手話). The former is just equivalent to Japanese, so the signs are applied to it singly. It is mainly used by post-lingual deafness and hard-of-hearing people and often learned by people who belong to sign language clubs. On the other hand, the latter is a little bit different from Japanese in its grammar. It has almost the original structure and expressions of face and movements of eyes and eyebrows have grammatical meanings. It is often used by people with congenital deafness. In fact, the pidgin of these two Sign Languages also exists, but it is classified as Signed Japanese because of its similarities. Each Sign Language shows its own characteristics, so we had better treat them fairly because one is just as good as the other. The most important thing is that we use them at will to communicate each other, deaf and deaf, deaf and hearing people.
International Sign Language
Every language usually has its own Sign Language and it improves communication with each other. However, what shall we do to communicate by Sign Language with foreign deaf people and hard-of-hearing people? One of the best ways is using International Sign Language, which was announced by Commission of Unification of Signs in 1973. It is officially used when deaf people and hard-of-hearing people have international exchange. In fact, it might be hard for Sign Language signers in Africa and Asia to learn and make full of use of it because it was made by adopting much from American and European Sign Languages. Fortunately, though, it can be said that language is a living thing. International Sign Language will be even more advanced by absorbing something from various Sign Languages and become more familiar language while people use it all over the world.
Currently, not many people have learned and used International Sign Language yet. However, it will definitely be popular as the connections between people on a global scale become strong. How about remembering one simple phrase in International Sign Language to exchange greetings as a first step? I would like to continue watching over the growth of it, which has tremendous potential.
An interesting video and a website
http://is.npojass.org/about.html
References
http://www.dge.toyota-ct.ac.jp/~kamiya/syuwagaku.html
https://www.eud.eu/about-us/eud-position-paper/international-sign-guidelines/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_recognition_of_sign_languages