subject: The Origin Of Sign Language [print this page] There are many different stories as to where it was first originated. There are many people who believe that American sign language came from French sign language. But there are others who claim that American sign language came before the French sign language.
It is said that in 1817 a French teacher by the name of Laurent Clerc came to the United States and opened the first school for the deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. And when he opened this school most of the children and students already had their own form of communication and sign language. There is no form of sign language that is universal. Each countries sign language will vary significantly from another countries. This is why it makes it hard to determine where American sign language really originated from.
Another story of where sign language originated is that in the 16th century when an Italian Physician by the name of Geronimo Cardano was teaching deaf students by writing combinations of symbols and associating them with different objects. And then the sign language was greatly improved in 1755 when a French priest named Abbe Charles Michel de L 'Epee came and founded a school for the deaf in Paris, France. He was able to form a means of communication by using a system of gestures, hand signs, and finger spellings. He was then able to improve his system by studying existing signs used by his students to develop a finger spelling system from there.
Around this same time in 1778 in Germany a man named Samuel Hienickie was trying to develop a system to teach deaf people the science of Lip Reading. These are oral patterns where deaf people could learn words through studying others and reading their lips to understand words. No matter where sign language came from it is a great way for people who are unable to hear to be able to communicate and allow people to know when they have needs. Without sign language people who are hard of hearing would live in a very lonely world. People who are able to speak and are trying to communicate with someone who are unable to speak needs to keep in mind that when you are talking to someone who is deaf they are unable to hear you. It will be like talking to a wall. That is why it is always a good thing to learn even the very basics in so that you will be able to communicate with everyone.
