Signing with pride
October 3, 2022 8:01 AM Subscribe
Deaf Korean members of the LGBT community are working to change Korean Sign Language. From official signs for "lesbian" and "gay" which evoke sexual acts rather than identities, to the lack of distinction in the vocabulary between HIV and AIDS, to established-but-unofficial negative facial expressions associated with queer vocabulary, KSL has some aspects which are being called out as problematic, and a network of activists has been working since 2019 to build and propose alternative vocabulary. Found via Language Log.
The non manual features mentioned in those articles of those signs might be the real problem (posture, facial expression). Yes iconic (literal) signs can be a problem, but facial expression suggest the interpretation of the speaker, the same way someone stating the word 'gay' as an insult, rather than as a fact or non loaded part of commonly used language.
I remember asking my first sign language teacher the sign for circumcision and she showed discomfort telling me it, but in my experience it's a feature of SASL (South African Sign Language) that some concepts are explicit, my Deaf students will easily describe their diarrhea without embarrassment if they've taken a bit long on a toilet break. That's just the way it's signed. Similar for child birth, both the signs I know are pretty explicit but used without unease.
But understandably signs which have been loaded for too long need to be re-thought. A new sign might help turn the corner on socially loaded concepts, allowing neutral and useful discussion.
PS: when we were developing the sign name for the architect Frank Gehry, the most common visual reference we had was this. And my Design students were quite keen on the middle finger as his sign name. We eventually settled on F RUDE.
posted by BrStekker at 10:29 AM on October 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
I remember asking my first sign language teacher the sign for circumcision and she showed discomfort telling me it, but in my experience it's a feature of SASL (South African Sign Language) that some concepts are explicit, my Deaf students will easily describe their diarrhea without embarrassment if they've taken a bit long on a toilet break. That's just the way it's signed. Similar for child birth, both the signs I know are pretty explicit but used without unease.
But understandably signs which have been loaded for too long need to be re-thought. A new sign might help turn the corner on socially loaded concepts, allowing neutral and useful discussion.
PS: when we were developing the sign name for the architect Frank Gehry, the most common visual reference we had was this. And my Design students were quite keen on the middle finger as his sign name. We eventually settled on F RUDE.
posted by BrStekker at 10:29 AM on October 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
I love seeing communities going 'hey, this sucks!' and changing things for the better.
> On the other hand, the standardization of KSL at the time failed to recognize sign language as an independent language and was rather based on an artificial translation of spoken Korean, without sufficient reflection of the deaf culture.
Great that KSL got recognized as an equal language, horrible that it was done from an ignorant ableist perspective. Attempts by outsiders of sign languages to lock down definitions & usage are doomed to clumsiness.
posted by kkar at 11:13 AM on October 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
> On the other hand, the standardization of KSL at the time failed to recognize sign language as an independent language and was rather based on an artificial translation of spoken Korean, without sufficient reflection of the deaf culture.
Great that KSL got recognized as an equal language, horrible that it was done from an ignorant ableist perspective. Attempts by outsiders of sign languages to lock down definitions & usage are doomed to clumsiness.
posted by kkar at 11:13 AM on October 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
This isn't the first sign language to have problematic signs. Until a few years ago, the sign for Judaism in some other sign language (possibly American or British) was an imitation of a hooked nose. (IIRC, it's now a menorah or some other religious artefact.) I wouldn't be surprised if there were other signs based on slurs and unflattering stereotypes.
posted by acb at 2:49 PM on October 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by acb at 2:49 PM on October 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
ACB, looks like it was Flemish. To not spread nasty rumors, Jewish in ASL and BSL both depict a beard.
For fun, Nyle DiMarco and Chella Man have a video on queer signs in ASL.
posted by Toddles at 8:48 PM on October 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
For fun, Nyle DiMarco and Chella Man have a video on queer signs in ASL.
posted by Toddles at 8:48 PM on October 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I wouldn't be surprised if there were other signs based on slurs and unflattering stereotypes.
Absolutely, however the etymology of signs is as complex as words in non signed languages and the iconic nature of sign language is often over emphasised.
Like all natural languages, sign languages incorporate a greater degree of abstract signs than iconic signs ie signs that have a literal interpretation.
Literalness can occur, as mentioned in the comments, when sign language is developed by non native signers. It can also occur when signs are developed for a specific purpose eg the pidgin International Sign Language, which has been developed more for pragmatic purposes than for sophisticated expression eg a sign for toilet that all can understand.
Literalness can also occur when the sign language needs to incorporate concepts foreign to native speakers eg when my Deaf students have to grapple with decontextualised and Eurocentric concepts*. These signs are then unlikely to develop without a great deal of non sign language input (in my case, reading English) and can end up as a pragmatic means to an end ie a way to assist with passing exams rather than as authentic sign language.
However even these literal non natural language signs can evolve, and erode to the point of true integration. Languages develop that way, taking complex routes that are not always logical**.
Although some signs can be traced back to obvious origins, as those mentioned in the article on KSL, in practice signs have a less obvious etymology, an important aspect of sign languages' definition as true languages.
*Like the concept 'Deconstructionism'. Here at the tip of Africa many of my learners are from isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Malay or other Southern African countries, where the chances of the concept naturally falling into everyday speech and a sign occurring without external input is highly unlikely.
** My personal experience of this is sharing signs developed by my students with a teacher at another school 100kms away. Visiting some months later I found that the signs had, broken telephone style, changed substantially.
posted by BrStekker at 3:12 AM on October 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
Absolutely, however the etymology of signs is as complex as words in non signed languages and the iconic nature of sign language is often over emphasised.
Like all natural languages, sign languages incorporate a greater degree of abstract signs than iconic signs ie signs that have a literal interpretation.
Literalness can occur, as mentioned in the comments, when sign language is developed by non native signers. It can also occur when signs are developed for a specific purpose eg the pidgin International Sign Language, which has been developed more for pragmatic purposes than for sophisticated expression eg a sign for toilet that all can understand.
Literalness can also occur when the sign language needs to incorporate concepts foreign to native speakers eg when my Deaf students have to grapple with decontextualised and Eurocentric concepts*. These signs are then unlikely to develop without a great deal of non sign language input (in my case, reading English) and can end up as a pragmatic means to an end ie a way to assist with passing exams rather than as authentic sign language.
However even these literal non natural language signs can evolve, and erode to the point of true integration. Languages develop that way, taking complex routes that are not always logical**.
Although some signs can be traced back to obvious origins, as those mentioned in the article on KSL, in practice signs have a less obvious etymology, an important aspect of sign languages' definition as true languages.
*Like the concept 'Deconstructionism'. Here at the tip of Africa many of my learners are from isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Malay or other Southern African countries, where the chances of the concept naturally falling into everyday speech and a sign occurring without external input is highly unlikely.
** My personal experience of this is sharing signs developed by my students with a teacher at another school 100kms away. Visiting some months later I found that the signs had, broken telephone style, changed substantially.
posted by BrStekker at 3:12 AM on October 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
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posted by ishmael at 9:49 AM on October 3, 2022