18 Irish Sign Language (ISL)

Leeson, Lorraine; Saeed, John; Grehan, Carmel

doi:10.1515/9781614518174-024

Cited by 11 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…While the origins of ISL are often linked to the establishment of the first school for Deaf children in Ireland in the early nineteenth century, several commentators (McDonnell 1992;Leeson and Saeed 2012) note there is sufficient evidence that signing existed in Ireland in the eighteenth century, and there is further piecemeal evidence that it existed before this time. In fact, as sign languages are natural languages, they have been shown to exist in one form or another wherever there are Deaf communities living (Bauman 2008).…”

Section: Irish Sign Language and The Context Of Irelandmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On a similar census question, Scotland and New Zealand reported 12,533 and 20,817 sign language users respectively. Unlike its New Zealand and Scottish counterparts, the current status of ISL is not officially recognised in the Republic of Ireland (Leeson and Saeed 2012;Mullane et al 2011). …”

Section: Irish Sign Language and The Context Of Irelandmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dominance of spoken languages in Ireland is illustrated by the prevalent practices of teaching in and of the dominant national languages in educational institutions for Deaf children (Crean 1997;Leeson and Saeed 2012). These practices are also seen in past and present educational policies in North America and Europe in general (Reagan 2006(Reagan , 2010.…”

Section: Evidence Of Linguistic Imperialism In the Treatment Of Islmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many ISL users who experienced oral education report that they were prohibited from using sign language (see, for example, Crean 1997;Conama and Grehan 2002;Leeson and Saeed 2012;Mullane et al 2011; The Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Equality 2016). More seriously, many within this group are regarded as very vulnerable, and face a life time of struggles (Mathews 2015).…”

Section: Evidence Of Linguistic Imperialism In the Treatment Of Islmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, those who experienced oralism, may sign September as an 'S' and convey the word in full by mouthing the word. Despite recent trends that aim to establish sign languages as legitimate mediums of education, these oralist practices are still pervasive in other sectors of Irish society, exemplified by the fact that parents of newly identified Deaf children are still often advised not to learn sign language by medical and teaching professionals (Crean 1997;Leeson and Saeed 2012; The Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Equality 2016). Evidence of this continued practice in Ireland can be found on the Sound Advice (2016) organization website (discussed further below), which explicitly advises parents of Deaf children with cochlear implants against the learning of sign language in favour of English language development.…”

Section: Evidence Of Linguistic Imperialism In the Treatment Of Islmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Linguistic imperialism: still a valid construct in relation to language policy for Irish Sign Language

Rose

Conama

2017

Lang Policy

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Linguistic imperialism-a term used to conceptualize the dominance of one language over others-has been debated in language policy for more than two decades. Spolsky (Language policy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004), for example, has questioned whether the spread of English was a result of language planning, or was incidental to colonialism and globalization. Phillipson (Lang Policy 6(3):377-383, 2007) contests this view, arguing that linguistic imperialism is not based on 'conspiracy', and is underpinned by evidence of explicit or implicit language policy that aims to intentionally advantage some languages at the expense of others. This paper analyses Irish Sign Language policy, or lack thereof, in terms of linguistic imperialism. It does this by presenting evidence within a conceptual framework of linguistic imperialism to explore how discrimination and inequality occurs in relation to Irish Sign Language users in Ireland. The findings highlight many policies and practices that fit the linguistic imperialism paradigm including linguicism, audism, and the denial of linguistic rights. The paper, therefore, challenges some views in language policy that linguistic imperialism lacks credibility by highlighting a current case of minority language (ISL) users under imperialistic-like control of policy geared towards a dominant language (English).

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Section: Irish Sign Language and The Context Of Irelandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Irish Sign Language and The Context Of Irelandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evidence Of Linguistic Imperialism In the Treatment Of Islmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evidence Of Linguistic Imperialism In the Treatment Of Islmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evidence Of Linguistic Imperialism In the Treatment Of Islmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Linguistic imperialism: still a valid construct in relation to language policy for Irish Sign Language

Rose

Conama

2017

Lang Policy

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finishvariation and grammaticalization in a signed language: How far down this well-trodden pathway is Auslan (Australian Sign Language)?

et al. 2015

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Language variation is often symptomatic of ongoing historical change, including grammaticalization. Signed languages lack detailed historical records and a written literature, so tracking grammaticalization in these languages is problematic. Grammaticalization can, however, also be observed synchronically through the comparison of data on variant word forms and multiword constructions in particular contexts and in different dialects and registers. In this paper, we report an investigation of language change and variation in Auslan (Australian Sign Language). Signs glossed as FINISH were tagged for function (e.g., verb, noun, adverb, auxiliary, conjunction), variation in production (number of hands used, duration, mouthing), position relative to the main verb (pre-or postmodifying), and event types of the clauses in which they appear (states, activities, achievements, accomplishments). The data suggest ongoing grammaticalization may be part of the explanation of the variation-variants correlate with different uses in different linguistic contexts, rather than social and individual factors.Even though variation is present in all languages, Auslan and other signed languages (SLs) appear to have considerable variation in lexicon and grammar. Some of this variation can be attributed to the sociolinguistic characteristics of SL-using communities-relating to the size of these communities, the

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Irish Sign Language: Ireland’s Third Language

Mohr,

Leeson

2023

The Oxford Handbook of Irish English

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Irish Sign Language (ISL) is the third official language of the Republic of Ireland and was formally recognized in 2017. In Ireland, there are about 5,000 users of ISL, including deaf, hard-of-hearing people, and their family and friends. This chapter elaborates on the history of ISL, its typological affiliation, and some structural features, as well as contact with one of the surrounding spoken languages, i.e. Irish English (IrE), and lack thereof with the other ambient spoken language, i.e. Irish. In doing so, the chapter discusses salient language contact phenomena, such as mouthings, and touches upon language attitudes and ideologies towards ISL and related modes of communication. Ultimately, the chapter presents a portrait of language variation and change of ISL in its sociocultural context.

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18 Irish Sign Language (ISL)

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Linguistic imperialism: still a valid construct in relation to language policy for Irish Sign Language

Linguistic imperialism: still a valid construct in relation to language policy for Irish Sign Language

finishvariation and grammaticalization in a signed language: How far down this well-trodden pathway is Auslan (Australian Sign Language)?

Irish Sign Language: Ireland’s Third Language

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