CARDONA THOMAS RUSSO, VIRGINIA VOLTERRA, sign languages \u200b\u200b, Roma, Carocci
, 2007, pp. 153, € 15.50.
The teacher is a woman, is very careful to keep his hands behind his back and
speak as overly
and stopping movements of the mouth very "successful".
Students read lips. It is
Now that I understand the extent of the disaster (...)
This woman does not use either hand or her body to teach, which means
through his behavior the prohibition of using a language other than
word it seemed like a provocation. (...)
But the others watch and listen carefully and I did not dare stop.
I try to understand what is being said. Nothing.
You see well, I do not even know what a lesson it is.
E. Laborit, The cry of gulls or
In Treatise on Painting Leonardo da Vinci recommended to learn from
dumb, or by the deaf, the proper use of gestures and body movements, "Do not
rinfacciatemi I propose that a teacher who does not speak, because he will teach
better with the facts, that all other teachers through the words. The good painter has to paint
two main things: man and his mind. The first is
easy, the second is difficult because you have to bear with gestures and movements of limbs
, and this has to be learned by those who make them better than any other
sort of men. " We are at the end of '400 and the affirmation of Leonardo such as forward-looking
alien to the mentality of the time. In the history of our culture
the philosophical question of what kind of mind and character could have
an individual without the word soon assumed the characteristics of a real
fury. It is difficult to explain otherwise contained in this precept
Leviticus (19:14) which advised not to "despise" the deaf and includes these
last among those who must be protected from injustice and the arrogance of power
.
must be said that in the classical era to the point of view of the deaf has not
dark tones that then we have used the philosophers, doctors and lawyers. Plato,
for example, visual-gestural channel identifies one of the possibilities through
which can be articulated linguistic practice (Cratylus, 422e1-423b10) while
Aristostele tackles the problem from a biological point of view to say
essentially that the voice is a necessary but not sufficient condition for
have a language which is "linguisticizzata voice", ie voice "articulated"
by hearing (Historia Animalium, IV, 9, 536th). In other words,
for Aristotle was not clear what clearly seemed to be
generations of intellectuals who have succeeded him, that is, that the dumb have not because they lack language
'naturally'
intelligence but simply because they are deprived of hearing.
At the same time, it is important to highlight that, despite the fact that
Plato had suggested the possibility of the existence of a language other than
verbal and that Aristotle had addressed the issue of deafness in
neutral terms, a human made like all humans, but without the language, culturally
has created many problems. The deaf offspring is uncomfortable,
difficult to place. It is a biped, is conceived and given birth to and raised by humans
among humans. Yet he does not speak, can not find a way to show his humanity. The
his voice is not regulated and not regulated. It is 'monstrous', you scream, screech
.
the deaf is an 'inside' that stands out strongly, is a member of the company that ontologically
escape the machine specification language
socially shared: do not listen. Can not do it. The front door, hearing,
is closed. There can be accessed in any way. No voice can reach,
even that of God
not guess how deep the reasons that led, almost ancestral
whole societies to ban deaf people from society? How can we not imagine what must have aroused suspicion
people totally disregarding the sound of a bell
(which is both community and church), rather than a
request for help, a hazard that comes back, or other expressions
social life? How can we forget that the word, because without voice and not
as made of some other material, but for our civilization is the only one worthy of
'embody' the language? How can we not realize that the social devalued
of the deaf has to do with the status of embodiment in language and
in knowledge?
The story of the deaf is not a good story. It is not for them.
it is not a culture that has been proven, and often still showing
intolerant and bitter towards these souls 'mute'. Recently, however,
they are trying to write a different page and get ready to found a city
. To tell us about Tommaso Russo Cardona, late friend and co-author
(along with Virginia Volterra) of the book presented here. It is
of a city designed for "all those who use sign language,"
in this case American Sign Language (ASL). It is a city of deaf
is a city of signers, a city where "the deaf with hearing people live together,
facilitated by an environment designed especially for them" (p. 15). In this city, which is called
Laurent (named after Laurent Clerc, the brilliant teacher for the deaf
moved from France to America to christen the first school for deaf
and, therefore, the teaching of language signs), "in stores
must be committed who know sign language, the telephones and mobile
will be replaced by video and video phones and social services, from hospitals
to me, will be designed in such a way as to enable those who
use this visual language and sign to access it with ease. Children also receive a formal education
bilingual in English and in ASL "(p. 15).
We are in the northern United States, South Dakota, a few kilometers from the city of Salem
techniques and the of this project, this real city
that there is a prelinguistic deaf. His name is Marvin T. Miller and if it
to realize how far the proposed action, the United States will, after
the only university in the world for the deaf (Gallaudet University), also the first city in the world
embracing a way of life for bilingual its inhabitants and visitors,
a city in which deaf and hearing people can find themselves without feeling
two variants of the same gender. In human history the city was founded
for several reasons: to commemorate a loved one, the exploits of an emperor, the
origin of its first inhabitants, a battle. I have never been founded to establish a need
so strongly that the cultural and existential
opportunity to learn to speak a language and practice it. In fact, the construction of
this city (more than one hundred years by the Congress of Milan) is a compensation
the materialization of utopia and a great bet.
Just follow the text to find out why these three things could embody
combined. The first chapter is devoted to a brief historical reconstruction
legal status and socio-cultural view that in the past were kept
the deaf. This is where we are reminded that the Corpus Juris Civilis
promoted in 531 by Justinian (in 529 that had closed the philosophical schools of Athens
) without some fundamental rights of the deaf: those "doing
testament to contract, to bear witness" (p. 18). A contribution
in this direction is due to the most important thinkers of the patristic
, Augustine, who in Contra Iulianum "emphasizes that deafness is a
bad because it can lead to a lack of faith" (p. 19) and this despite the fact that in
Quantitative De Animae had written that he saw "a deaf-mute
able to fully express themselves through sign language "(p. 19).
It is known that there is some sporadic stance in favor of
opportunity to "learn the gospel through signs" (St. Jerome). However,
Tommaso Russo Cardona rightly points out that "the awareness of the existence of a
gestural communication in signs" remains very uncommon.
the contrary, "it seems that in the Middle Ages the prevailing attitude is to consider the deaf
the same way as many other figures within the limits of the world
office, as the chronically ill, the needy, but also the limits of what
of faith, such as jugglers and strolling players engaged in pantomime. "
This means that we can definitely state that in the Corpus Juris Civilis and
Renaissance, the condition of the deaf and the inclusion of sign language
remains substantially unchanged. It is only when the "close contact" (p. 20) between
medicine, neo-Platonic philosophy and alchemy make sure that you back "
to reflect on the role of the senses of knowledge" that finally suggests that the view
could "remedy the deficiencies of hearing, even in deaf since birth"
(p. 20). It must be said, however, that at this very early stage of discussion on deafness
not yet thought to the possibility that the deaf could
have their own language 'liberated' from the hearing. It was thought, for the most
to provide a deaf individual the ability to access the rudiments of writing and reading
and the use of some simple words. In this regard,
need to take into account that in many cases these interventions were designed to
sons of aristocratic families with which the presence of a deaf
threatened to terminate the estate since the time were still
force rules that excluded deaf people from the "right to inherit or make a will"
(p. 21). It is from this that explains why the history of education
'special' for the deaf is characterized by
educational techniques designed to induce the production of speech sounds, namely
linguistic behavior that could be approved by the deaf and logocentric culture which we were
and we are deeply imbued. It's so much to Juan Pablo Bonet in Spain as
for Conrad Amman, authors respectively of the two most important works of reference
nascent oral: Reducción de las letras y arte para enseñanza
a Hablar a los mudos (1620) and Surdus loquens. It will be so long
several times. And so today, had cochlear implants, fragorosomente defined
'bionic ear'.
There was a moment, however, that what ever the deaf were able to simply say
was said and done by the protagonist of
what may be called the first great revolution in history teaching: Abbot Charles-
Michel de l'épée. We are in pre-revolutionary Paris, the Paris of the great
Enlightenment philosophers, philosophers made from books banned from the Sorbonne in Paris where the
pluricensurato (and closed several times in the Bastille) Denis Diderot
had devoted a philosophical blindness (Letter to the blind use of those who see
, 1746) and a to deafness (Letter to the use of deaf people hear and speak
, 1751). It is in this climate that the épée, already unpopular with the Church
for his sympathy for the Jansenists, he runs into two young twins
deaf until then entrusted to his brother. This is an opportunity
after which he begins to look more
extensive education of the deaf. It can be installed practically in his home with his family
earliest students and public lectures and free.
must say that his lectures attracted not only the deaf, but virtually all of Europe.
From the épée goes Joseph II, emperor of Germany, the Pope's nuncio,
numerous tutors, philosophers and intellectuals. For the first time in history
someone had just 'heard' the deaf: "L'épée
had begun to develop his method in the late fifties when he became
tutor of two deaf girls, two sisters which had developed themselves
a complex form of gestural communication. De l'épée
was struck by the possibilities of communication and rapid learning of these two small girls
and had begun to think that the signs
naturally developed by deaf people could be helpful in education. (...) The intuition of
épée is the fact that the deaf child should be given an access
natural content of communication that allows him to first
isolation and to develop their knowledge " (pp. 25-26).
segnismo and the result is the first school for the deaf in which the same Louis XVI
assigns a home and financial aid (1785) and whose future will
directly to the House of Representatives of the Paris declaring
"National Institute" (1791) not without the épée was mentioned
among deserving citizens of their country and humanity.
political and cultural successes of the épée and his school do not save
deaf and their language by a new and more ferocious wave of standardization.
in 1880, the International Congress which brings together the great schools for the deaf, announces
sign language from all levels of education and establishes the prohibition of
use outside of schools. Major sponsors of the conference
three Italians (Giulio Tarra, Serafino Balestra and Tommaso Pendola) which motivated
their battle to prevent marks with the "difficulty of catechize
deaf people" (p. 28) and found the obsession of Influential figures such as Alexander Bell
according to which the use of a sign language
favored the emergence of a "deaf race of mankind", the land supports the deployment
their point of view in the United States where, for a moment,
seemed that "the turning point for oral could be" partially offset "(p. 29).
is important to remember that at this point that highlights
Tommaso Russo Cardona: "Reading in a 'race' of the opposition between oral and manual
is only the most obvious manifestation of the profound confusion about the
role of the deaf community, its status
intermediate condition between biological and socio-cultural dimension and reveals, once
time, fears that have always provided this 'diversity' inspires in supporters
established order "(p. 29).
The story of the deaf since rebuilt briefly explains some of the internal
of sign languages \u200b\u200bwhich, despite the fury of which
have been addressed, continued to live and now amount to 114.
Some are small worlds, are in use for a
language communities whose number of signers is extremely small. This is the case dell'Adomorobe
Sign Language, a sign language spoken in a village in Ghana alone
native scored 300. Unlike the case of American Sign Language, used
by about 500,000 people (p. 33). Like any survivor, sign languages \u200b\u200b
they carry the mark of the difficult conditions in which they had to make room.
remains extremely difficult today to identify their
genealogical relationships. One certainty: "the relations between the varieties are marked
completely independent from those between the languages \u200b\u200bspoken in the relevant countries"
(p. 33). Moving from diachrony to synchrony, it must be stressed that the languages \u200b\u200bof
signs remain today weakly standardized. One explanation for this phenomenon lies in
"lack of form writing "(p. 33), but also in
that they have never become a vehicle or partial information.
Moreover, Tommaso Russo Cardona points out that processes of homogenization
were made where, for example, there are television
in sign language or cultural institutions and training in which it is used for teaching and
Thus, for exchanges and for the normal development of the life
(p. 33). This is what happened in the United States
thanks to Gallaudet University, which explains why "the degree of homogenization
language is different in sign languages, from country to country "(p. 33).
From this point of view, an important factor to consider is the "composition
internal language of deaf community" (p. 34), and the conditions in which
kicks off learning a sign language . It is to be
take into account the fact that they are composed of individuals who have language skills
very different and that for the most
of them (more than 90%) sign language acquisition is delayed
and certainly subsequent to the earliest years of life. Very few are the deaf children of deaf
and, therefore, very few deaf people who come into contact with the language of signs
as with any language (p. 34).
However, new sign languages \u200b\u200bemerge wherever there is the possibility
to form a "speech community large enough because the language becomes a vehicle of communication
shared" (p. 34), or in any part of
world deaf children and adults can socialize together and find themselves "(p.
35). How to properly rebuild Tommaso Russo Cardona, the "complex
phenomenon of emerging languages signs depends on two conditions
different: the degree of involvement of the Deaf community and the form in which the
deaf community encourages the development of the Community marks (p. 35).
He describes three cases considered paradigmatic: the case of Nicaraguan Sign Language
(NSL), that the Al Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) and that of
Linguas de Sinais Primárias (LSP) of the deaf in Brazil. Extremely interesting
are the circumstances in which it was born Al Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) and
its "integrated community signer" (p. 37). We are faced with the case of a
language used within a community in which specific biological and historical conditions
have meant that the number of deaf people
exceeds the average of other Western countries (4.28% versus 0.01%) . This fact has come to
lead (thanks to intermarriage) dissemination
language marked among the deaf which, in turn, becoming a constituent part of the community
signer, have contributed to the standardization process and
linguistic homogenization.
Opposed to this, but equally significant is the situation in which they emerged
LINGUAS de Sinais Primárias (LSP) which show that if a small number of deaf
is in a position of having to communicate with a
community of deaf people, those developing "autonomous grammatical structures and readjusting
complex materials that gestural communication
share with hearing people and changing their forms of communication "(p. 37). The
Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL) has, instead, a story explained from the 'advantages'
special education for the deaf. How long, in fact, have existed
schools specifically devoted to the deaf, there have been places where the deaf did not live
blocks. This meant that, even during the period in which these institutions aimed
learning of spoken language, "the children used their gestures to create
competence of language forms" (p. 35). Originally
"influenced by the gestures of the hearing and the grammatical features of English
read lips" (pp. 35-36), over time they
contributed to the emergence of "a Nicaraguan sign language shared by a
rather large number of signers "(p. 36) in which" the lexical and grammatical
created by the first generation of signers have evolved and stabilized
in new ways, reaching an equilibrium within a couple of generations "
(ibid.). Interesting in this respect the conclusion which
the author: "I seem to be deaf, then, be able to develop a vocabulary of signs and
even rudimentary forms and more and more complex syntax based on a process
conventionalization and adaptation of all materials commonly
available to them. In particular, once you develop a vocabulary
large enough, the first forms of grammar and syntax emerge spontaneously. This
process arises from the communicative needs and is expressed when the deaf
are in contact with each other and hearing people. The interplay between biological predispositions
communication and social dimension is thus revealed
fundamental and, above all, dynamic, or changeable depending on the type of interactions and
in relation to what is communicated "(p. 38).
This explains why when trying to establish on what grounds
is possible (and indeed even necessary) to talk about "ownership
than one person at the deaf community" (p. 39), provided that "The first
tool for identifying persons who are deaf is sign language (p. 41), has the same
obliged to anchor one end to the biological fact of being
deaf and the other to the "distance from the hearing world." Tommaso Russo Cardona
defined this distance in terms of "habits, customs and traditions that unite
deaf to each other" and of "real difficulties in using the services
social and economic integration" (p. 39). As it is, sign language,
born of a 'trick' that the source code had seen a sign 'incarnate'
in a grammar for verbal language, logging it naturalizes and becomes
a language itself. And the language, as the author reminds us, has extraordinary
this: It is tough, through time and space
knowing that to remain always itself must be able to mix with everything
"A language In particular, it differs from other communication systems not
language, such as pantomime or traffic signals, for its high degree of systematic
and its openness to change over time, in space and in relation
communication needs of speakers. In addition, each language
is a form of communication and action, pervasive that touches the lives of everyone,
at all times and in all social activities that characterize us "(p. 49).
The careful student of linguistics who was Tommaso Russo Cardona
reminds us that sign languages \u200b\u200b- like all verbal languages \u200b\u200b- are characterized by systematic
, variability, arbitrariness, iconicity and double articulation
(pp . 53-65). Free writing, they remain poorly standardized and homogenized
and become the place of the proliferation of varieties and dialects marked "
(Pp. 54-55). Interesting are the observations regarding the role dell'iconicità
which "is not opposed, but living with the systematic nature
language" (p. 75). In this regard, appropriate relief
put that in the discursive structures of the typical signs, the iconic can emerge in
"forms that are often 'productive' and are dynamically linked to the processes
of understanding" (p. 81) . Thus we find that buildings marked with
of iconic discourse have a significant presence in the poetic text
(53.4% \u200b\u200bof buildings marked) reduced in practice narratives (43%) and limited
in formal variety used at conferences (pp. 81-82).
Given the visual-gestural language of signs, the relationship between iconicity and arbitrariness
are "different from those found in the languages \u200b\u200bspoken"
(p. 92). In particular, Tommaso Russo Cardona, after stressing
this feature depends on the "internal structure of the language system"
and its people (pp. 92-93), has a particular interest in the hypothesis that
the pervasiveness of iconic features in the sign language is also due
its neuropsychological basis. In fact, recent studies on the biological foundations of language
showed that the signers use
Broca area in the same way it is used by speakers, ie to produce
that special type of voluntary movements which are Signs of a language.
At the same time, Tommaso Russo Cardona draws attention to the fact that
during the signers of their linguistic performance "
seem to indicate a greater involvement of the right hemisphere and show special skills
for all tasks related to visual perception "(p. 93). At the same
these refers to studies on mirror neurons, which - as you know - you
activated (in primates and humans) when it is done or observed
behavior, in this case a motor act, intentional. They are activated
that is, when a monkey grasps or looks like one of his grasp a
object with a certain end (manipulate, move, eat, etc.).
rather that when someone observes a human perform or perform acts of similar, including the production of
signs in its spoken and scored.
is interesting to note that at this point the emphasis is placed on
fact that mirror neurons characterize the activity of those brain areas that
humans will specialize in language services but whose work addresses
production and, therefore, "the visual perception of actions Manipulation
(p. 93). When looking more specifically, Tommaso Russo Cardona
reiterates that they are in action "not only in the production and perception of
hand actions with meaning, but also in the case of lip movements" (p.
94). The strong interest shown so far by the latter for the series of studies we
neuroscienfici mentioned, is also explained by the fact that
he was very keen to contribute to a linguistic "incarnate," a study of
language in which you are able to take into account the "different sensory
access to reality" and diversity of the "means of expression." He kept very
also recall that the study of sign languages \u200b\u200bcan contribute humiliated
to revive the evocative idea of \u200b\u200bLeroi-Gourhan, according to which there is a link between
"origin of language and manipulative activities and instrumental" (p . 94)
and, therefore, between evolution and practice. From this point of view, the sign languages \u200b\u200b
can rightly be regarded as "a communication system
inscribed in our genetic code, a vestige of the earliest forms of communication,
which is realized as 'first' language, today only in deaf people "(p. 94).
A dense text and passionate as the one that Tommaso Russo Cardona is
managed to leave (along with two others currently not published) before the
his journey in the life and philosophy of language was interrupted by illness,
could not arrive at the poem. After all, how could a language
'oral' as that of the signs do not have his rhapsodies? How could a
language that was probably the original language of mankind
not even rhythm, harmony? More specifically, Tommaso Russo Cardona
looks fine watch, a poem in Italian Sign Language consists of
Rosaria Giuranna deaf Sicilian poet. The theme is the time dimension which
that influences and restricts the relationships between people. It is a theme that has "very
to do with the deaf culture" as the "temporality is seen in relation
the possibility of sharing the social dimension, in a fragmented community
where the meetings and the scope of the report are limited "(p. 105). If you look back
patiently rebuilt as we learn many things.
learn that "the poetic expression in sign language" endeavor "procedures
language comparable to those typical of languages \u200b\u200bspoken, such as meter, rhyme,
the versification, though the specific form of this type of communication
visual-gestural "(p. 96) and that" the forms created by the hands up
harmoniously as a dance "(p. 103). We learn also that in the poetic compositions
scored the role played in the languages \u200b\u200bspoken by intonation,
dall'iperarticolazione of words, accent and vowel quantity is
done from space, the ratio between the hands and non-manual articulators from
symmetry between the two hands and the internal relationship between the movement and the other
formational parameters. We learn, above all, that "there is a common root
signs and words" (p. 116) and through the filter of sign languages \u200b\u200bis
can "reflect on the universal features of poetic language" (p. 96).
Virginia Volterra, which closes the book with an interesting chapter
dedicated to learning sign language, does not fail to devote just a reflection
specific to the role played in the origin of the gesture and learning
of verbal language. She points out that leading scholars have argued,
even recently, that "the primary form of communication, the protolanguage,
was basically made up of parts manuals accompanied by facial expressions
" which later would be added, not replaced The
production and articulation of speech sounds. The syntax, in turn, would
created "by and with their actions" and then it moved into the language spoken "
(pp. 118-119). Going from the phylogeny all'ontogenesi, Virginia Volterra
recalls that when "the child begins to use the first
words, about a year old, already in some way knows how to communicate through gestures and behaviors
(... ) that voice "and that" elements of the first sign
communicative repertoire of children are far more comprehensible than
and voice "(p. 120). More specifically, in an initial phase of communication
the normally hearing children exposed to spoken language seem
prefer the gestural mode and is only around two years "mode
voice prevails over the sign" (p. 125).
In short, both the ontogeny as phylogeny suggest that nothing
impossible for deaf children to learn right away and with the same results and pace of their peers
a deaf sign language. Yet we know that is not
state and this is not the approach normally followed. Generations
of prelinguistic deaf were obliged to force their biological limits
and 'mimic' sounds that were not able to listen to and who were never
could give life to an act of words. It is the era of special schools in which teachers and assistants
showed mostly proud of "do not use the signs
with children" and said they were convinced that "just talking" they would
"induced ( ...) to use your voice "(p. 127). Since these conditions,
apparently worsened by the emergence of special classes in mainstream schools and
inauguration of the so-called system of support (p. 131), such as sign language
have ever survived is almost a mystery. The fact is that in
last fifteen years the situation seems, at least in part, changed: a
Act of 1992 (L. 104) allows you to request an assistant communication
for anyone (from nursery to high school) knows and uses the LIS (p .
133). Some schools have experimented with models of bilingual education
Italian-LIS whose purpose is to ensure that deaf and hearing children to learn "together in an environment
bilingual and bicultural" (p. 136). Very interesting, finally,
experiences of teaching signs to hearing children
which show that these "easily learn sign language as
second language "(p. 138) and that his learning could help (...)
development of skills such as attention and visual memory" (p. 139).
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