Sign Language question?

Question

This guy I work with is mute and cannot hear and speaks in sign language.
I was thinking about this this morning.
It may seem like a really dumb question but are the signs that somone from the United States would use the exact same signs that someone who was from South America and spoke Spanish or from Germany and spke German or wherever.
Is there only 1 form of sign language or does each different language have its own form?

Answer 1

There are different forms of sign language. In general, there's no real relationship between the spoken language in an area and the sign language used there. Sign languages tend to make use of grammatical devices which aren't possible in spoken language, because of the linear nature of speech. American Sign Language is closely related to French Sign Language, because deaf educators from France originally opened the first schools for the deaf in the US. For the same reason, Israeli Sign Language is very similar to German Sign Language. British Sign Language is totally different from American Sign Language.

Something interesting about sign languages is Nicaraguan Sign Language, which is only a few decades old, and the process by which it was born, without influence from already existing sign languages (after schools for the deaf were established in Nicaragua), was documented by professional linguists, thus providing a rare glimpse into the birth of an entirely new language.

Answer 2

There are different forms of sign language for different languages.

In fact, even within English there are different signs for different words. Similar to the differences you will see in spoken English between a person from the south and a person from the coast. Like "soda" instead of "pop". Only the signs vary according to different major schools or universitites for the deaf. But they are similar enough that we can usually understand each other. And if we do not know the sign, we can always fingerspell the word.

Sign language is also a true "language". It is not just English done with signs. It has its own unique vocabular, slang expressions, and idioms. We "sign" different when we are signing between two deaf people, and when we are signing to someone who speaks English and knows some signs.

Answer 3

There are different forms of sign language. Sign Language is like any other language. There are different dialects and different signs for regions. Even people from the same area have to clarify signs. An example would be how soda is called pop in some area. Different signs are assigned to different words. There are also different alphabets. You wouldn't be able to fingerspell a word in a different language because they might use a different alphabet. It's a very fun language. Very pictural and spacial language.

Answer 4

This is not a silly question at all. The answer is no, there is no one standard form of sign language. For example Americans would use ASL - American Sign Language. Other countries would likely use other standards.

Answer 5

This is a great question.

There ARE many diffrent types of Sign
ASL is used in america
FSL is used in france
and many other

Theres also reagonal signs
This means that my deaf friend might sign something a little diffrently than your deaf friend.

I hope this clears it up for you

and next time dont use the word mute
its just as bad as saying someones a n*gger
they are deaf

Answer 6

There are several forms of sign language a web site that you might like is www.aslpro.com it will help you lean many of the signs, but remember that like in English there are slang terms and various ways to sign the same thing.

Answer 7

They are different - there are universal signs for some words, but I know the Australian and American alphabets are different from each other in sign....