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Dominican signing at it’s finest
By Anton | October 9, 2008
So many people are under the conception that here in the Dominican we use ASL (American Sign Language). This is partially true since as a whole, Jehovah’s Witnesses us ASL all over the island in our preaching and meetings. What many don’t realize though is that there is a clear and distinct “Dominican Sign Language” that is evolving under our very noses.
If you know ASL or are a part of the Deaf community in the United States, you already know that sign language tends to evolve slowly over time. The difference here is that it is evolving so rapidly that it is hard to keep up with. The reason for this rapid evolution is mostly response to the next generation of deaf kids (ages 8 – 18) who are dying to communicate and find the language that is being taught in the school to be deficient.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been teaching the deaf here in the DR for over 15 years and have molded the local sign language to be very similar to the ASL that we are familiar with in the US, the difference though is that since most of the people that have come here to teach the deaf didn’t have a very firm grasp on the language (or even the culture for that matter) themselves, the deaf were still left needing a more comprehensive language to be able to express themselves in. This, mixed with the few deaf that have been to the US and the misunderstandings between hearing and deaf, as well as a lack of awareness to deaf culture in the schools has been the burning catalyst that has been spurring on this evolutionary process.
It is interesting to see what the kids in the school here in Santiago come up with since the culture is still not very tight and for the most part, the ones who have the tightest grasp on their language are all under 18. Many signs are just recycled ASL whereas others are different all together.
Here is a sample video that we did on the spot with An Unbaptized Publisher named Jessica and a student of hers named Claritza. They are both 14 and have been in the deaf school since they were young. (Jessica is quite a bit more communicative since she spends so much time with us)
If you just had a hard time understanding that, don’t worry! We were recently at another students house with Jessica who is in the same class. Before we started the Bible study, Jessica was chatting with the other girl and about 2 minutes in, Jac and I both looked at each other and asked “do you have any idea what they are talking about???” It is just a simple fact that the language in this country is changing whether we like it or not and this is going to affect more than just us and the Bible education work we do, it may well affect the entire deaf community.
The only downside to this is that where ASL has had many MANY decades to evolve and grow with great coaxing and care, mostly from ‘closed to hearing’ deaf groups, the language here is still very young and has a lot of outside meddling and playing that is done by well meaning hearing people that still don’t fully understand the detrimental affect their inventing of signs has on the deaf community.
It is interesting being in the thick of it all and realizing just what it means to be part of the deaf community in any country and to see why the deaf community I’ve come to know in Michigan, New York and Florida are so weary about letting hearing people in to romp through their beautifully arranged and delicately balanced language.
I guess we will just have to see what the future holds but for the moment, we are just trying to strike that balance between the ASL we teach with and the ‘DSL’ (hehe “DSL”) that is popping up all around us.
Topics: Claritza, Deaf culture, From the Dominican Republic, From the Ministry, Jessica | 1 Comment »
One Response to “Dominican signing at it’s finest”
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October 10th, 2008 at 8:29 am
hi guys! its so cool to see you guys throwing out you’re ASL nets and getting so many good fishies!
So happy to see all the progress and to know you guys are happy. Yay! Jessica is doing so well! wow, look at her all dressed up for a study. awesome. Miss you guys and think of you often.
gotta go break up the fight between my puppy and my mother-in-law’s dog! ahh!
Take care!
xoxo Tia(and Jeremiah)