Linguistics

[the-ascended.livejournal.com]

Daniel is rather bouncy as he gives his lecture on the evolution of the Egyptian language.

"Your homework is to chose any language, and tell me how that has evolved," he says, smiling around at the class.

I'm also reminding you about my attendance and homework rules... basically, three strikes and it's detention. Unless you've got a really good reason.

That's it, guys. See you Tuesday."

Comments

Roll call

[the-ascended.livejournal.com]

Here

Re: Roll call

[wraithbaitjohn.livejournal.com]

Kaiser, onion, baguette...


... damn, now I'm thinking about a nice turkey sandwich.

Re: Roll call

[egyptianlove.livejournal.com]

Evelyn signs in and takes a seat.

Class work

[the-ascended.livejournal.com]

Here

Re: Class work

[egyptianlove.livejournal.com]

Evelyn is taking very detailed notes on the lecture. A few time she frowns and makes a notation on the margins of her notes to come back to later.

Homework

[the-ascended.livejournal.com]

Here

Re: Homework

[wraithbaitjohn.livejournal.com]

Because he can do this one without having to actually do research, Shep fires off an email to Dr. J that reads:


American Sign Language has evolved significantly over the last several hundred years. Brought over from France by Gallaudet, ASL uses a one handed alphabet (as oposed to the two handed alphabet used by the British) and a series of basic signs that are used to communicate basic ideas.

However, home signs or regional signs tend to crop up whenever a new thing or concept is introduced to the world. For example, there are something like 17 regional signs for 'hot dog' and at least three commonly used signs for 'computer' and 'internet'. All of which are very different from the French signs, since both were invented after ASL took hold in America's Deaf population.

When a deaf child of hearing parents grows up with little contact with mainstream deaf culture, many home-signs are invented to be used instead of spelling out things or investigating whether or not a formal sign exists. This can lead to regionalisms that are not as easily translated from region to region as spoken accents or regional spoken vocabulary are (such as 'soda', 'pop' and 'coke' all referring to something that you drink that is carbonated.)

Because new signs often use the hand shape of the first letter of the word, the sign invented in the US, where English is spoken, can be very different than the sign used in France. Even though ASL is a direct off-shoot of Gallaudet's French sign system.

Re: Homework

[egyptianlove.livejournal.com]

Evelyn writes a paper on the evolution of the Coptic language and how it branched off into Arabic and Hebrew later in it's life.