Editing Irish Sign Language (section)

==Development==
The earliest known references to signing in Ireland come from the 18th century.{{sfn|Mohr|Leeson|2023}}{{sfn|Conama|Leonard|2020}} According to [[Ethnologue]], the language has influence from both [[French Sign Language]] (LSF) and [[British Sign Language]] (BSL), as well as from [[signed French]] and [[signed English]], BSL having been introduced in Dublin in 1816.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=isg|title=Irish Sign Language|website=Ethnologue.com|access-date=15 January 2018}}</ref> The first school for deaf children in Ireland, the [[Claremont Institution]], was established in 1816 by [[Charles Orpen|Dr. Charles Orpen]]. According to admission documents between 1816 and 1822, about half of the students admitted already knew some form of signing. Conama and Leonard suggest that this points to evidence of an older, undocumented form of ISL.{{sfn|Conama|Leonard|2020|p=8}}

The Claremont Institution was a [[Protestant]] institution and given that Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom, it is no surprise that BSL (or some version of [[signed English]] based in BSL) was used for teaching and learning (Pollard 2006). St. Mary's School for Deaf Girls sent two teachers and two students to [[Caen]] in France for 6 months; the students there likely learned [[French Sign Language|LSF]], which likely influenced ISL when the students returned to Ireland.{{sfn|Mohr|Leeson|2023}} McDonnell (1979) reports that the Irish institutions - [[Roman Catholic|Catholic]] and Protestant - did not teach the children to speak and it was not until 1887 that Claremont report changing from a manual to an [[oralism|oral approach]]. For the Catholic schools, the shift to oralism came later: St. Mary's School for Deaf Girls moved to an oral approach in 1946 and St. Joseph's School for Deaf Boys shifted to oralism in 1956,{{sfn|Griffey|1994}}{{sfn|Crean|1997}} though this did not become formal state policy until 1972. Sign language use was seriously suppressed and religion was used to further stigmatise the language (e.g. children were encouraged to give up signing for [[Lent]] and sent to [[sacrament of Reconciliation|confession]] if caught signing).{{sfn|McDonnell|Saunders|1993}} The fact that the Catholic schools are segregated on the basis of gender led to the development of a gendered-generational variant of Irish Sign Language that is still evident (albeit to a lesser degree) today.{{sfn|LeMaster|1990}}{{sfn|Leeson|Grehan|2004}}{{sfn|Leeson|2005}}{{sfn|Leeson|Saeed|2012}}{{sfn|Leonard|2005}}{{sfn|Grehan|2008}}

ISL was brought by Catholic missionaries to [[Australia]], and to Scotland and England, with remnants of ISL still visible in some variants of BSL, especially in [[Glasgow]], and with some elderly [[Auslan]] Catholics still using ISL today. In South Africa, the Dominican nuns who established Catholic Schools saw a need for a school for the deaf, but due to resource constraints were not in a position to do this immediately. Instead, they wrote back to their Mother House in Cabra requesting an experienced teacher of the deaf. A deaf teacher, Bridget Lynne, responded. Remnants of gendered generational Irish Sign Language are thought to still be visible in some dialects of South African Sign Language,{{sfn|Leeson|Saeed|2012}} which can probably be traced back to Lynne.