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Essay on Sign Language: Oralism Vs Manualism
Throughout the world, deaf people have developed visual language. The language used by deaf people is a blend of signs brought from France early in the 19th century. Some signs were already in use in various countries. With no formal sign language in existence here at that time, home, local, and French signs blended together to become a new sign language called American Sign Language, now considered to be one of the most refined and complete sign systems in the world.
The two basic ongoing controversies are often referred to as "oralism" and "manualism". The oral approach argues that since deaf people live in hearing communities they should learn to speak orally and to understand speech through the use of residual hearing and speech reading (Martin, 1981). Manualism opposes this position by taking the stand that Sign Language as the natural language of deaf people should be used to teach them. Although the education situation of deaf people parallels other disability groups - institutionalization in residential schools - European missionaries brought a tradition of oralism.
In manualism signs follow a certain order, just as words do in spoken English. However, in manualism one sign can express meaning that would necessitate the use of several words in speech. For example, the words in the statement “I stared at it for a long time” each contain a unit of meaning. In manualism, this same sentence would be expressed as a single sign (Fant, 1994). The signer forms “look at” by making a V under the eyes with the first and middle fingers of the right hand. The hand moves out toward the object being looked at, repeatedly tracing an oval to indicate “over a long time.” To express the adverb “intently” the person ‘squints’ the eyes and purses the lips. Although the English words used to describe the manualism signs are written out in order.....
