The Birth of New Sign Language in Nicaragua

[yuppystick]

Humans are awesome, if we can only learn to quit manipulating in a negative fashion.

[Sinny27]

Liam Neeson...

[domn8romeo]

@Sinny27 I noticed it too. Lol. Awesome. His voice actually made it much more interesting though, unlike many documentaries where it's someone generic and emotionless.

[GataBella86]

God Bless My People......God Bless All Humans

[Russell5892]

be nice if this had captions... kinda ironic a movie about sign language and deafness is w/o captions.

[RussMoxham]

@Russell5892 I'm not sure the language has been decyphered (or maybe even developed) to the extent that anyone who's not a pupil at the school in question actually knows exactly what is being signed. The point is that the kids have essentially evolved their own language here, and a whole lot of people have had to spend a whole lot of time and effort at least trying to work out what the hell is going on. I'm not sure how rigid the syntax is, etc.--it's a work in progress and always will be.

[DeeJaySoulStep]

@RussMoxham

You have no clue about the topic, read the wikipedia article. This is the best researched pidgin-mixed language ever. And they use a proper grammatical system. Even more complex than ASL. After contact with the American Sign Language, they were able to communicate with the outside world. It's also possible to write it with signs. enDOTwikipediaDOTorgSLASHwikiS­LASHNicaraguan_Sign_Language

[RussMoxham]

@DeeJaySoulStep I don't doubt that ISN has a complex grammar but it's only existed for about 30 years; I presume it's still evolving. The main point is: nobody had a clue what was going on until Kegl went in and I doubt that even Kegl (the window for native-speaker language acquisition having long since closed for her) understood every sign, point of grammar, etc. And I don't know what stage the research had reached by the time this documentary footage was made.

[RussMoxham]

@DeeJaySoulStep Also, there's a difference between cataloguing the details of a language and having complete understanding of it or competence in it. I doubt there were many people around when this documentary was made who could've told an outsider with any authority what all the signs meant (individually or in sequence). Wouldn't they have had to be native in ISN and also able to speak a spoken language (Spanish, say)? I'm betting if I call my local translation agency, they won't do ISN :D

[Russell5892]

@RussMoxham You misunderstand. I was talking specifically about the English. I can only lipread so much. This video excludes a large population of people who would be personally interested in sign languages and their formal recognition.

I could understand some of the ISN since it has a lot in common with ASL. I'd love to learn more of it!

[RussMoxham]

@Russell5892 Woah--very good point! It didn't even occur to me!

[Sacchari]

@Russell5892 I know it's been a while, but would you like me to transcribe it for you?

[Russell5892]

@Sacchari, Sure. I think it'd help out a ton for a lot of people!

[Tookyfes]

This is absolutely fascinating...