Sign Language - Universal?

[RocketManJames]

Ok, this is just interesting to me. So, is there a reason why they are different in different parts of the world? I guess I can understand why language would be different. Maybe sign language is as old as language. I suppose the impairments that would make sign language quite useful have been around since the beginning.

Thanks for the answers. My assumption that sign language was similar everywhere was pretty off, I guess.

-RMJ

[jedi]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, this is just interesting to me. So, is there a reason why they are different in different parts of the world? I guess I can understand why language would be different. Maybe sign language is as old as language. I suppose the impairments that would make sign language quite useful have been around since the beginning.

Thanks for the answers. My assumption that sign language was similar everywhere was pretty off, I guess.

-RMJ

[/ QUOTE ]

They were developed in different places, just like spoken languages. In fact, American Sign Language is an offshoot of French Sign Language, because the first schools for the Deaf in the U.S. had teachers from France, especially brought over to teach some students. When they got here, they found that the local Deaf communities already had their own language, and as a result, the modern ASL you see today is mostly based off of FSL + the local signs they had then.

It's a full fledged language, only difference is that it's manual instead of auditory.

If you study the history of signed languages you'll find interesting stories of pockets of deaf people wher they formed their own sign language like at Martha's Vineyard or in parts of Nicaragua.