Editing Sign language (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of sign language}}
[[Image:Arte para enseñar a hablar a los mudos.jpg|thumb|upright|Juan Pablo Bonet, {{lang|es|Reducción de las letras y arte para enseñar a hablar a los mudos}} ("Reduction of letters and art for teaching mute people to speak") (Madrid, 1620)]]

Groups of deaf people have used sign languages throughout history. One of the earliest written records of 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}}</ref> Most of what is known about pre-19th-century sign languages is limited to the manual alphabets (fingerspelling systems) that were invented to facilitate the transfer of words from a spoken language to a sign language, rather than documentation of the language itself.

Debate around European [[monastic sign languages]] developed in the Middle Ages has come to regard them as gestural systems rather than true sign languages.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/26203846 Stokoe, William C. "Approaching Monastic Sign Language". Sign Language Studies 58 (1988): 37–47] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127123810/https://www.jstor.org/stable/26203846 |date=2023-01-27 }}; Sayers, Edna Edith [Lois Bragg]. "Visual-Kinetic Communication in Europe Before 1600: A Survey of Sign Lexicons and Finger Alphabets Prior to the Rise of Deaf Education". Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 2 (1997): 1–25;  [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/silence-and-sign-language-in-medieval-monasticism/24F1883B33891602C2DAFF8F40B4272B Bruce, Scott G. Silence and Sign Language in Medieval Monasticism: The Cluniac Tradition, C.900–1200. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127123256/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/silence-and-sign-language-in-medieval-monasticism/24F1883B33891602C2DAFF8F40B4272B |date=2023-01-27 }}; [https://www.academia.edu/60144627/_Deafness_and_Nonspeaking_in_Late_Medieval_Iceland_1200_1550_Viator_51_1_2020_311_344 Tirosh, Yoav. "Deafness and Nonspeaking in Late Medieval Iceland (1200–1550)," Viator 51.1 (2020): 311-344] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127122031/https://www.academia.edu/60144627/_Deafness_and_Nonspeaking_in_Late_Medieval_Iceland_1200_1550_Viator_51_1_2020_311_344 |date=2023-01-27 }}</ref> Monastic sign languages were the basis for the first known manual alphabet used in deaf schools, developed by [[Pedro Ponce de León]].<ref name="Nielsen 2012">{{Cite book |last=Nielsen |first=Kim |author-link=Kim E. Nielsen |title=A Disability History of the United States |publisher=Beacon Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-080702204-7 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |pages=}}</ref>
[[File:Alphabets - Ghanaian Sign Language.webm|thumb|Ghanaian Sign Language alphabet]]

The earliest records of contact between Europeans and Indigenous peoples of the Gulf Coast region in what is now Texas and northern Mexico note a fully formed sign language already in use by the time of the Europeans' arrival there.<ref name="Wurtzburg and Campbell">Wurtzburg, Susan, and Campbell, Lyle. "North American Indian Sign Language: Evidence for its Existence before European Contact," ''International Journal of American Linguistics,'' Vol. 61, No. 2 (Apr., 1995), pp. 153-167.</ref> These records include the accounts of [[Cabeza de Vaca]] in 1527 and [[Francisco Vásquez de Coronado|Coronado]] in 1541.

In 1620, [[Juan Pablo Bonet]] published {{lang|es|Reducción de las letras y arte para enseñar a hablar a los mudos}} ('Reduction of letters and art for teaching mute people to speak') in Madrid.<ref>Pablo Bonet, J. de (1620) ''Reduction de las letras y Arte para enseñar á ablar los Mudos''. Ed. Abarca de Angulo, Madrid, ejemplar facsímil accesible en la {{cite web|title=Reduction de las letras y arte para enseñar a ablar los mudos|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/reduccion-de-las-letras-y-arte-para-ensenar-a-hablar-a-los-mudos--0/html/ff9182e0-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004150037/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com:80/obra-visor/reduccion-de-las-letras-y-arte-para-ensenar-a-hablar-a-los-mudos--0/html/|archive-date=2021-10-04|access-date=2021-10-17|website=[[Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library]]}}, online (Spanish) scan of book.</ref> It is considered the first modern treatise of sign language phonetics, setting out a method of oral education for deaf people and a manual alphabet.

[[File:Jbulwer.jpg|upright|thumb|Chirogram from ''Chirologia'', 1644]]
In Britain, manual alphabets were also in use for a number of purposes, such as secret communication,<ref>Wilkins, John (1641). ''Mercury, the Swift and Silent Messenger''. The book is a work on cryptography, and fingerspelling was referred to as one method of "secret discoursing, by signes and gestures".  Wilkins gave an example of such a system: "Let the tops of the fingers signifie the five vowels; the middle parts, the first five consonants; the bottomes of them, the five next consonants; the spaces betwixt the fingers the foure next.  One finger laid on the side of the hand may signifie T.  Two fingers V the consonant; Three W.  The little finger crossed X.  The wrist Y.  The middle of the hand Z." (1641:116–117)</ref> public speaking, or communication by or with deaf people.<ref>John Bulwer's "Chirologia: or the natural language of the hand.", published in 1644, London, mentions that alphabets are in use by deaf people, although Bulwer presents a different system which is focused on public speaking.</ref> In 1648, [[John Bulwer]] described "Master Babington", a deaf man proficient in the use of a manual alphabet, "{{Not a typo|contryved}} on the {{Not a typo|joynts}} of his fingers", whose wife could converse with him easily, even in the dark through the use of [[tactile signing]].<ref>Bulwer, J. (1648) ''Philocopus, or the Deaf and Dumbe Mans Friend'', London: Humphrey and Moseley.</ref>

In 1680, [[George Dalgarno]] published ''Didascalocophus, or, The deaf and dumb mans tutor'',<ref>Dalgarno, George. ''Didascalocophus, or, The deaf and dumb mans tutor''. Oxford: Halton, 1680.</ref> in which he presented his own method of deaf education, including an "arthrological" alphabet, where letters are indicated by pointing to different joints of the fingers and palm of the left hand. Arthrological systems had been in use by hearing people for some time;<ref>See Wilkins (1641) above. Wilkins was aware that the systems he describes are old, and refers to Bede's account of Roman and Greek finger alphabets.</ref> some have speculated that they can be traced to early [[Ogham]] manual alphabets.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/DeafStudiesTeaching/bslsoc/Sessions/s9.htm |title=Session 9 |publisher=Bris.ac.uk |date=2000-11-07 |access-date=2010-09-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602102335/http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/DeafStudiesTeaching/bslsoc/Sessions/s9.htm |archive-date=2010-06-02 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Montgomery, G.|title=The Ancient Origins of Sign Handshapes|journal=Sign Language Studies|volume=2|issue=3|year=2002|pages=322–334|doi=10.1353/sls.2002.0010|jstor=26204860|s2cid=144243540|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26204860.pdf|access-date=2021-04-15|archive-date=2023-01-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104091153/https://www.jstor.org/stable/26204860|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[vowel]]s of this alphabet have survived in the modern alphabets used in [[British Sign Language]], [[Auslan]] and [[New Zealand Sign Language]]. The earliest known printed pictures of consonants of the modern [[two-handed alphabet]] appeared in 1698 with {{Lang|la|Digiti Lingua}} (Latin for ''Language'' [or ''Tongue''] ''of the Finger''), a pamphlet by an anonymous author who was himself unable to speak.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Moser|first1=Henry M.|last2=O'Neill|first2=John J.|last3=Oyer|first3=Herbert J.|last4=Wolfe|first4=Susan M.|last5=Abernathy|first5=Edward A.|last6=Schowe|first6=Ben M.|title=Historical Aspects of Manual Communication|journal=Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders|volume=25|issue=2|year=1960|pages=145–151|doi=10.1044/jshd.2502.145|pmid=14424535}}</ref><ref>Hay, A. and Lee, R. (2004) ''A Pictorial History of the evolution of the British Manual Alphabet''. British Deaf History Society Publications: Middlesex</ref> He suggested that the manual alphabet could also be used by mutes, for silence and secrecy, or purely for entertainment. Nine of its letters can be traced to earlier alphabets, and 17 letters of the modern two-handed alphabet can be found among the two sets of 26 handshapes depicted.

[[Charles de La Fin]] published a book in 1692 describing an alphabetic system where pointing to a body part represented the first letter of the part (e.g. Brow=B), and vowels were located on the fingertips as with the other British systems.<ref>Charles de La Fin (1692). ''Sermo mirabilis, or, The silent language whereby one may learn ... how to impart his mind to his friend, in any language ... being a wonderful art kept secret for several ages in Padua, and now published only to the wise and prudent ...'' London, Printed for Tho. Salusbury... and sold by Randal Taylor... 1692. {{OCLC|27245872}}</ref> He described such codes for both English and Latin.

By 1720, the British manual alphabet had found more or less its present form.<ref>Daniel Defoe (1720). "The Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell"</ref> Descendants of this alphabet have been used by deaf communities, at least in education, in the former British colonies India, Australia, New Zealand, Uganda and South Africa, as well as the republics and provinces of the former Yugoslavia, Grand Cayman Island in the Caribbean, Indonesia, Norway, Germany and the United States.

During the [[Polygar war|Polygar Wars]] against the British, [[Veeran Sundaralingam]] communicated with [[Veerapandiya Kattabomman]]'s mute younger brother, [[Oomaithurai]], by using their own sign language.{{Clarify|reason=grammar needs work|date=August 2021}}

Frenchman [[Abbé de l'Épée|Charles-Michel de l'Épée]] published his manual alphabet in the 18th century, which has survived largely unchanged in France and North America until the present time. In 1755, Abbé de l'Épée founded the first school for deaf children in Paris; [[Laurent Clerc]] was arguably its most famous graduate. Clerc went to the United States with [[Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet]] to found the [[American School for the Deaf]] in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817.<ref>Canlas, Loida (2006). [https://web.archive.org/web/20060903131510/http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/Literacy/MSSDLRC/clerc/ "Laurent Clerc: Apostle to the Deaf People of the New World"]. The Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, Gallaudet University.</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2014-02-06 |title=How Sign Language Works |url=https://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/sign-language-works.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181102153517/https://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/sign-language-works.htm |archive-date=2018-11-02 |access-date=2019-03-26 |website=[[Stuff You Should Know]] |language=en}}</ref> Gallaudet's son, [[Edward Miner Gallaudet]], founded a school for the deaf in 1857 in Washington, D.C., which in 1864 became the National Deaf-Mute College. Now called [[Gallaudet University]], it is still the only liberal arts university for deaf people in the world.

[[International Sign]], formerly known as Gestuno, is used mainly at international deaf events such as the [[Deaflympics]] and meetings of the [[World Federation of the Deaf]]. While recent studies claim that International Sign is a kind of a [[pidgin]], they conclude that it is more complex than a typical pidgin and indeed is more like a full sign language.<ref>Cf. Supalla, Ted & Rebecca Webb (1995). "The grammar of international sign: A new look at pidgin languages." In: [[Karen Emmorey|Emmorey, Karen]] & Judy Reilly (eds). ''Language, gesture, and space.'' (International Conference on Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research) Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, pp. 333–352</ref><ref name=kee/> While the more commonly used term is International Sign, it is sometimes referred to as '''Gestuno''',<ref>Rubino, F., Hayhurst, A., and Guejlman, J. (1975). ''Gestuno. International sign language of the deaf.'' Carlisle: British Deaf Association.</ref> '''International Sign Pidgin'''<ref name="kee">{{cite journal|last1=McKee|first1=Rachel|last2=Napier|first2=Jemina|title=Interpreting into International Sign Pidgin|journal=Sign Language & Linguistics|volume=5|issue=1|year=2002|pages=27–54|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233659867|doi=10.1075/sll.5.1.04mck|access-date=2021-04-15|archive-date=2024-05-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526073548/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233659867_Interpreting_into_International_Sign_Pidgin_An_analysis|url-status=live}}</ref> or '''International Gesture''' (IG).<ref>Bar-Tzur, David (2002). ''International gesture: Principles and gestures'' [http://www.theinterpretersfriend.com/indj/ig.html website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111191723/http://www.theinterpretersfriend.com/indj/ig.html |date=2017-11-11 }}<br />Moody, W. (1987).''International gesture.'' In J. V. Van Cleve (ed.), "Gallaudet encyclopedia of deaf people and deafness", Vol 3 S-Z, Index. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc.</ref> International Sign is a term used by the [[World Federation of the Deaf]] and other international organisations.