Page 15 - Reading Success B9

Instead of using oral communication, sign language uses forms of manual
communication to convey meaning. A person using sign language is able the express
thoughts and feelings by combining hand shapes with the movement of the hands,
arms, or body and even with facial expressions. Sing language typically develops in
deaf communities, which are not always made up of only deaf people. These
communities can include interpreters, and the friends and family of deaf people as
well. Sign language is also sometimes used by people with speech impairments
which make it difficult for them to use oral communication.

Just like spoken languages, sign languages vary from region to region. Despite
this, it is usually easier for two people speaking different sign languages to
communicate than it is for two people using different spoken languages. This gives
sign languages access to an international community of signers. There are many
different sign languages in use throughout the world. Some are legally recognized,
while others have no status at all. Sign language is not universal. There are many that
are largely unintelligible.
Sign language is not strictly used for those with hearing or speaking impairments.
It can also be used as a component of a spoken language. Sometimes oral
communication is not allowed or isn’t practical. In these situations sign language is
the best or only means of communication available. Some examples of such
situations include: in cloistered religious communities, while scuba diving, in television
recording studios, in loud workplaces, in sports, or in the game Charades. In sports
referees use a small, but clearly defined set of signs to communicate their decisions
to other officials and the spectators.

Some people claim that sign language is not a real language. However,
professional linguists have found sign languages to contain all the linguistic
components necessary to be classified as true languages. Sign languages have their
own complex grammars, which allow their users to discuss any topic. Just as in oral
languages, people who use sign languages can discuss both concrete and abstract
concepts. A region’s sign language follows a path of development which is
independent from a region’s spoken language. For example, British Sign Language
and American Sign Language are mutually unintelligible, even though British and
American English are quite similar.

Main Idea

What is the main idea of this story?

a. some of the different characteristics and uses of sign language
b. the ways in which sign language is different from true languages

c. the ways in which sign language is superior to spoken languages
d. the basic rules for speaking sign language

18_Reading Success B 9