Abstract:

Recent research has shown that a distinct variety of American Sign Language, known as Black ASL, developed in the segregated schools for deaf African Americans in the US South during the pre-civil rights era. Research has also shown that in some respects Black ASL is closer than most white varieties to the standard taught in ASL classes and found in ASL dictionaries. This article explores the circumstances that resulted in the creation of a distinct ASL variety, with attention to the role of language in education policy in both the white and Black Southern schools for the deaf. Archival research shows that while white deaf students were long subjected to oral instruction and forbidden to sign in class, Black students, although their severely underfunded schools provided only basic vocational education, continued to receive their education in ASL, with classes often taught by deaf teachers. The differences in language education policy explain the difficulties Black students experienced in understanding their teachers and white classmates after integration occurred, despite great resistance, in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the fact that Black signers from the South, particularly older Black signers, are more likely than their white counterparts to use traditional features.*

摘要：

最近的研究表明，在民权运动之前的时代，美国南部聋哑非裔美国人的隔离学校中发展出了一种独特的美国手语，即黑人美国手语。研究还表明，在某些方面，黑人 ASL 比大多数白人品种更接近 ASL 课程中教授的标准以及 ASL 词典中的标准。本文探讨了导致独特的 ASL 品种产生的情况，重点关注语言在南方白人和黑人聋人学校教育政策中的作用。档案研究表明，白人聋哑学生长期接受口头教学并禁止在课堂上签名，而黑人学生尽管资金严重不足，学校只提供基础职业教育，但仍继续接受美国手语教育，课程通常由聋人老师授课。语言教育政策的差异解释了黑人学生在 20 世纪 60 年代和 1970 年代尽管遇到很大阻力，但在融入社会后仍难以理解他们的老师和白人同学，以及来自南方的黑人手语者，特别是年长的黑人手语者，比白人更有可能使用传统特征。*