Phonology of a Soundless Language: Phonological Structure of the American Sign Language

Abstract

Dedicated to the hope that Sign Language is universally accepted as the primary language of the deaf.You never forget that frightening experience.. .You were le f t out of the dinner table conversation.I t is called mental isolation.While everyone is talking or laughing, you are as far away as a lone Arab on a desert that stretches along every horizon.Everyone and everything are a mirage; you see them but you cannot touch or become a part of them.You th irs t for connection.You suffocate inside but you can not t e ll anyone of this horrible feeling.You do not know how to.You get the impression nobody understands or cares ,,=You are not granted even the illusion of participation.You are expected to spend 15 years in the straightjacket of speech training and lipreading.You learn not how to com municate, only how to parrot words, never to speak your own.Meantime your parents never bother to put in an hour a day to learn the sign language.. .Instead, the most natural form of expression for you is dismissed as vulgar.I t has never occurred to them that communication is more than method or ta lk .That i t is a sense of belonging, an exchange of understanding, a mutual respect for the other's humanity.

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