The Birth of New Sign Language in Nicaragua

From the documentary "Evolution", the episode "The Mind's Big Bang", it shows how Nicaraguan deaf children developed an entire sign language on their own.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• language
• Nicaragua
• sign
• evolution

[Russell5892]

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

[Tookyfes]

This is absolutely fascinating...

[yuppystick]

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

[Russell5892]

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

[Sacchari]

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

[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.

[Sinny27]

Liam Neeson...

[RussMoxham]

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

[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]

@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

[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.

[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