Fourth most commonly used language in the USA?? Guess...

[Catty1]

Posted by Smokey the Elder

This may explain a lot of Gina's syntax! It's like anyone else with English as a second language.

Exactly! And why sometimes people have a hard time understanding her - and why she gets SO frustrated trying to explain things!

There is a font called Gaulladet, which you can type in English and it shows in ASL finger spelling! I can't use it in posts here or PMs, but in Word attachments no prob. Knowing the syntax helps!

[cassiesmom]

Catty, I was talking about this with my roomie from college - the one I learned finger-spelling to help - and she made a point I hadn't thought of. people like me who don't regularly interact with someone who has a hearing impairment and uses ASL, don't think of it as being a language different from English. We assume it's syntactically the same as spoken English, but it's really not. (Off topic: Can I use syntactically in a sentence? Is it even a word?)

[Catty1]

Cassisesmom - apparently it IS a real word:

Adverb: syntactically

1. With respect to syntax
"syntactically ill-formed"

See also: syntactic

Encyclopedia: Syntactically

Who knew?

[Freedom]

I always find it fascinating to watch people using ASL. (I am NOT eavesdropping, as I don't understand a word!)

Here in RI, we have a Catholic community of deaf persons. They have a priest who signs as well as an acolyte who signs. The acolyte, signing is his second language (English his first.) The priest, ASL is his first language. The priest also says the Mass aloud for the rest of us.

They do not always meet at the same church, but travel around the state and visit all the different churches. When they are at our church, everyone finds it so absorbing; and I doubt many pay attention to the service as they do on other Sundays!)

And one thing which stands out: they all sit in front! (Of course, it is obvious why.) It is a common joke in the Catholic church that we are the "horseshoe" worshipers. No one sits in the front, normally, LOL. Those pews last for YEARS!

[CountryWolf07]

I'm deaf without my cochlear implant/hearing impaired with it on; so I know ASL. I have known it since I was 3 years old.

[Catty1]

Rachel - so do you find you are bilingual, in a real sense, with the implant?

Is English stronger for you than ASL, or are they the same? They certainly are REALLY different languages!

[crow_noir]

Your post and Catty's response reminded me of this show... http://www.pbs.org/weta/throughdeafeyes/ I LOVED watching it!!! (For those with premium channels it may be re-airing near the end of the month.)

He he... the band was awesome too! Who woulda thunk? A deaf rock band. (And they sound awesome!)

I'm deaf without my cochlear implant/hearing impaired with it on; so I know ASL. I have known it since I was 3 years old.

Rachel - so do you find you are bilingual, in a real sense, with the implant?
Is English stronger for you than ASL, or are they the same? They certainly are REALLY different languages!