Sign Language in Action

Abstract

Sign language in action is a term that we have coined to encompass how sign languages are used in everyday life. In Chapter 2, we framed the notion of sign language in action against the backdrop of the fields of Deaf Studies and applied linguistics and by introducing the concept of applied sign linguistics. In this chapter, we will discuss the concept of sign language in action in depth, exploring sign language identity, attitudes and policy. Initially, we will explore the notion of sign language and identity to highlight the relationship between deaf people as a linguistic and cultural minority group and the wider majority of non-deaf people. By describing attitudes towards sign languages, we can then provide a context for considering how sign language policy and planning is shaped by attitudes towards deaf people from within and outside the deaf community.

‘Harry Potter does not know who he is. He arrives at Hogwarts to find that he is a hero in the wizard world, after living as a “nobody” in the muggle world. This parallels the different status given to people depending on the “center” (hearing, deaf, wizard, and muggle) … Another parallel is the tendency that wizards (and perhaps all humans) have to establish binary relationships as in “us and them.” The urge to create taxonomies that define the world as either wizard or muggle reflects a common outlook that many minorities use to define their own world. This compartmentalization of everything as either Deaf or hearing, Black or White, gay or straight, and so forth demonstrates the power of identity especially as it applies to the worldview of minorities.’ (Czubek & Greenwald, 2005)