American Sign Language
All over the world we have an abundance of culture and language that make up human society. Each and every one of these traits of society is unique and special in their own way. Perhaps one of the most interesting phenomenon of society is language, how we speak and communicate, but to those who do not hear spoken language have no use. These groups of people have developed their own language, one that uses hand signs and body gestures to communicate. This form of communication is called Sign Language. No one really knows where and when sign languages began but it is known to have developed over time from many people and is almost as diverse as spoken language. It is an amazing part of society and to those who helped develop it we owe them our gratitude because if not for them we might have never been able to bridge the gap between the hearing and the non hearing. It might be noted here that sign language also has a complex grammar structure and those who don't have a passion to learn it will not get it. In the United States the most common signing is the American Sign Language (ASL) which is used the most. It is very complex and very visual. Nonetheless it is a complete linguistical natural language used by thousands of people.
One of the first people known to use sign language to teach was Pedro Ponce de Leon of Spain. There were also records of sign language in the Hebrew Talmud and in some recording of Aristotle's and Plato's work. By the year 1863 a total of twenty two schools had been established throughout the United States. Shortly afterwards schools for the deaf started to appear. In 1755 about 40 students attended the "Institution Nationales des sourds-muets de Paris" which translates to the National Deaf-Dumb Institute of Paris. At age 27 he traveled to Europe to learn Sign language in Paris. It is certainly a wonderful gift because it branches different worlds together, a world so different yet so alike. In 1817 Gaullaudet founded the United States' first school for the deaf people in Hartford, Connecticut and Clerc became America's first deaf sign language instructor. During the 1600's another Spaniard, Juan Pablo Bonet, taught a deaf boy and wrote a book about teaching and also included a manual alphabet. Unlike spoken languages where there is just one serial stream of phonemes, sign language can have multiple things happening at the same time. The first free school for the deaf was established by Abbe Charles de I'Pee of Paris. However the similarity to spoken language may be the fact that there is no one single sign language for everyone in the world. But, without the help of many individuals who were brave enough or curious enough to pioneer their way into our lives we might not know if there would be sign languages. One day he would receive orders to teach two deaf sons of a Nobleman and showed them the alphabet and the system of signs that they used. Each of these countries knew there were deaf people and knew that they used sign language but there were no school for them.
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