- Joined
- Jul 26, 2009
- Messages
- 19,035
- Reaction score
- 8
This really burns me. Deaf people DO own ASL; it is their language! People who speak English do get agitated when people botch the English language (foreigners, for example). Think about Grammar Nazis. Think about how many comedy routines revolve around fake accents with botched English pronunciation. People are very proud of their respective languages; remember it is the language through which you learn about the world, your life, your culture, even yourself. Your own thoughts are communicated via your language.
English is a bad analogy, because it has truly become the language of the Internet and a lingua franca. So many people know English that we can't really stake a claim on it. I would think a better, more effective analogy might be the Native American languages that are and have been dying out. As someone of Native American ancestry, I know that only a few people really know the language. I would be offended and appalled if someone came in, learned a few choice words and decided that they would publish a book on that.
Remember that the Deaf world has often been oppressed. The language of ASL was often the only thing Deaf people really had a say over on their lives; it was and still is their language. I still feel that as a hearing person, I am not allowed to create signs. I can engage in dialogue regarding signs and specific sign choices and what could be more appropriate in a specific situation, but at the end of the day, I match my Deaf consumer and honor and respect them enough to be guardians and creators of the language. It's their language!!!!
Ziva botches English every week on NCIS..... Never heard anyone complain about it.
And Native American languages....yeah nobody ever botches those, Kimosabe. Hau!