Editing History of sign language (section)

== History of known sign languages ==

[[Image:Arte para enseñar a hablar a los mudos.jpg|thumb|Juan Pablo Bonet, ''Reduccion de las letras y arte para enseñar a hablar a los mudos'' (Madrid, 1620).]]
One of the earliest written references to a sign language is from the fifth century BC, in [[Plato]]'s [[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]], where [[Socrates]] says: "If we hadn't a voice or a tongue, and wanted to express things to one another, wouldn't we try to make signs by moving our hands, head, and the rest of our body, just as dumb people do at present?"<ref name="bauman2008">{{cite book | first=Dirksen | last=Bauman | year=2008 | title=Open your eyes: Deaf studies talking | publisher=University of Minnesota Press | isbn=978-0-8166-4619-7}}{{pn|date=January 2023}}</ref>

In the Middle Ages, [[monastic sign languages]] were used by a number of religious orders in Europe since at least the 10th century. These are not true "sign languages", however, but well-developed systems of gestural communication.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stokoe |first1=William C. |title=Approaching Monastic Sign Language |journal=Sign Language Studies |date=1988 |volume=1058 |issue=58 |pages=37–47 |doi=10.1353/sls.1988.0005 |jstor=26203846 |s2cid=144705137 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bragg |first1=L. |title=Visual-Kinetic Communication in Europe Before 1600: A Survey of Sign Lexicons and Finger Alphabets Prior to the Rise of Deaf Education |journal=Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education |date=1997 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=1–25 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.deafed.a014306 |pmid=15579832 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511496417 |title=Silence and Sign Language in Medieval Monasticism |date=2007 |last1=Bruce |first1=Scott G. |isbn=978-0-521-86080-2 }}{{pn|date=January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tirosh |first1=Yoav |title=Deafness and Nonspeaking in Late Medieval Iceland (1200–1550) |journal=Viator |date=January 2020 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=311–344 |doi=10.1484/J.VIATOR.5.127050 |s2cid=245187538 }}</ref>

In Native American communities prior to 1492, it seems that [[Plains Indian Sign Language]] existed as an extensive [[lingua franca]] used for trade and possibly ceremonies, story-telling and also daily communication by deaf people.<ref name="Nielsen 2012">{{Cite book |last=Nielsen |first=Kim |url=  |title=A Disability History of the United States |publisher=Beacon Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-8070-2204-7 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |pages=  |author-link=Kim E. Nielsen}}{{pn|date=January 2023}}</ref> Accounts of such signing indicate these languages were fairly complex, as ethnographers such as [[Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca|Cabeza de Vaca]] described detailed communications between them and Native Americans that were conducted in sign. In the 1500s, de Vaca observed natives in the western part of modern-day [[Florida]] using signs,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bonvillian |first1=John D. |last2=Ingram |first2=Vicky L. |last3=McCleary |first3=Brendan M. |title=Observations on the Use of Manual Signs and Gestures in the Communicative Interactions between Native Americans and Spanish Explorers of North America: The Accounts of Bernal Díaz del Castillo and Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca |journal=Sign Language Studies |date=2009 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=132–165 |id={{Project MUSE|259439}} {{ProQuest|222696273}} |doi=10.1353/sls.0.0013 |jstor=26190668 |s2cid=144794381 }}</ref> and in the mid-16th century [[Francisco de Coronado|Coronado]] mentioned that communication with the [[Tonkawa]] using signs was possible without a translator.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

The earliest concrete reference to sign language in Britain is from the wedding of a deaf man named Thomas Tillseye in 1575.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/DeafStudiesTeaching/bslsoc/Sessions/s9.htm|title = Session 9}}</ref> Descendants of British Sign Language have been used by deaf communities (or at least in classrooms) in former British colonies India, Australia, New Zealand, Uganda and South Africa, as well as the republics and provinces of the former Yugoslavia, Indonesia, Norway, and Germany.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

Between 1500 and 1700, it seems that members of the Turkish Ottoman court were using a form of signed communication.<ref name="Miles, M. 2000">{{cite journal |last1=Miles |first1=M. |title=Signing in the Seraglio: Mutes, dwarfs and jesters at the Ottoman Court 1500-1700 |journal=Disability & Society |date=January 2000 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=115–134 |doi=10.1080/09687590025801 |s2cid=145331019 }}</ref> Many sought-after servants were deaf, as, some argue, they were seen as more quiet and trustworthy. Many diplomats and other hearing members of the court, however, also learned and communicated amongst one another through this signing system, which was passed down through the deaf members of the court.<ref name="Miles, M. 2000"/>

In the 18th century, Paris was home to a small deaf community that signed among themselves in [[Old French Sign Language]]. This was referenced by [[Abbé de l'Épée|l'Abbé Charles Michel de l'Épée]] who created the first school for the deaf in Paris in the 18th century. He defined his own manual alphabet and synthesized signs with French grammar. With consistent use among the community these two sources evolved into the French Sign Language.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Judéaux |first1=Alice |title=French Sign Language: a language in its own right |url=https://www.tradonline.fr/en/blog/french-sign-language-a-language-in-its-own-right/ |work=Tradonline |date=3 November 2015 }}</ref> American Sign Language is heavily based on French Sign Language due to the presence of teachers from France in the first American schools for the deaf.

Some sign languages are known to have developed spontaneously in small communities with a high number of deaf members. Martha's Vineyard, an island in Massachusetts, USA was settled by people carrying a gene causing deafness in the late 17th century. Limited outside contact and high inter-marriage on the island led to a high density of deaf individuals on the island, peaking around 1840.<ref name="Groce"/> This environment proved ideal for the development of what is today known as [[Martha's Vineyard Sign Language]], which was used by hearing and deaf islanders alike until increased  mixing with the outside world reduced the incidence of deafness on the island. They created a sign language that had specific signs relevant to that area, such as native types of fish and berries.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Groce |first1=Nora Ellen |title=Deafness on Martha's Vineyard |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/deafness-on-Marthas-Vineyard |encyclopedia=Britannica |date=24 November 2016 }}</ref>  Almost all of the school-aged population became students at ASD, which led to mutual influence of American Sign Language and Martha's Vineyard Sign Language on each other.