Sign languages are often overlooked in endangered-language revitalization, but some determined individuals are working to change that – an article in The Tyee. Excerpt:
Max and Marsha Ireland live near London, Ont. They are Haudenosaunee Shawnee of the Six Nations Iroquois, which include the Oneida Nation.
Marsha is a deaf member of the Turtle Clan and will turn 60 in December. Max is 59 and a Bear Clan member. Together they have five children. Four are totally deaf, and one can hear with a hearing aid. They have nine grandchildren. Seven are deaf and only two can speak and hear.
With the help of Elder Olive Elm, the couple has come up with 250 signs, a 13-letter alphabet (just like spoken Oneida) and signs that let people count up to 100. They are determined to create an Oneida Sign Language based on Plain Indigenous Sign Language once widely used by Indigenous people, not ASL.
“It is a combination of reviving and expanding. A connection with the spoken-word Oneida. So we are developing signs that go with that. We have also included some earlier Plain Sign Language to be incorporated with that as well,” said Max Ireland.
Due to their work, the Irelands have met Indigenous people from Ontario, Quebec and B.C. Some remembered their Elders using sign language.
“They say, ‘Oh, I remember my grandmother talking like that. I remember my grandfather talking like that.’ It’s been around,” said Max Ireland.
“Like our own spoken language, it is not being promoted and used the way it should be.”
Indigenous Sign Language provides deaf First Nation individuals with a chance to participate in the community and connect with their Indigenous spoken language, he said.
Fighting to Save Indigenous Sign Languages | The Tyee
Published
sleepliving 