Silence

Sign language: the silent language of deaf people

Deaf, but not mute: how deaf people communicate in a loud world – and what hearing people hardly know about it.
By Leonie Dulle

^{Photos: Antonia Teichert, Marius Zweifel, Tetyana Chernyavska}

People have signed for as long as there have been languages. In the past, it was not only deaf people who used signs to communicate, but monks too. In the 18th century, the cleric Abbé de l’Épée founded the first school for deaf people in France where sign language was taught. Germany followed shortly afterwards with a similar institution. During the Industrial Revolution, however, the language was pushed back, because society assumed that deaf people could not do the same work as hearing people. As a result, sign language was discriminated against. It was not until the 1980s that Siegmund Prillwitz – a linguist and ‘inventor’ of German Sign Language (DGS) – helped to make signing seem more normal. In 2002 the time finally came: DGS was recognised in law.

Sign language is used above all by deaf and hard-of-hearing people. It is a natural language and, for many, their mother tongue. Although only around 83,000 people in Germany are deaf, DGS is used by almost 250,000 people, according to the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association. Besides deaf people, hard-of-hearing people, interpreters and relatives also use sign language.

For deaf people to understand others without difficulty, it is important to be able to see the other person clearly. Signing is done not only with the hands; according to sign language interpreter Christina Weide, facial expressions and mouth patterns are also an important part of the language. ‘That way, emotions of every kind and even irony can be expressed,’ the interpreter explains.

The finger alphabet helps to spell out all sorts of names and unfamiliar words and is firmly anchored in sign language. At the beginning of a speech, for example, the speaker’s name is spelt out and a recognisable feature is added. As an example, the interpreter mentions her own name, ‘Weide’ (willow), and the sign that goes with it: ‘tree’. Once a person has been assigned a sign, only that sign is used in conversation – which saves you constantly spelling out names.

The grammar differs greatly from spoken language. DGS builds sentences more or less the other way round. An example: ‘The bird sits on the tree.’ In DGS the sentence is: ‘Bird tree sits on.’ According to Weide, with every sentence you build yourself a stage. Just as sign language differs from country to country, each German state has its own dialect. You can imagine it like Bavarian or Saxon, Weide explains. Some signs are different. This happens especially often with abstract words such as the days of the week, which, for example, have three different signs across Germany. ‘Sign language is particularly different in Bavaria and Hamburg compared with, say, East Westphalia-Lippe,’ the interpreter explains. Still, people can communicate across the country without major problems.

So that deaf people can enjoy TV programmes too, there is an option to watch programmes with an interpreter who translates what is said into DGS at the same time. This way you can watch the Eurovision Song Contest final, various fairy tales and much more.

According to the Federal Accessibility Agency, subtitles, on the other hand, are of little use to deaf people. Because the grammar of DGS is so different from spoken German, the written language is like a foreign language. This means that deaf people first have to learn the spoken language in order to cope with subtitles. Even then, subtitles do not contain all the content and are patchy. Weide believes DGS should also be offered as a language in schools to make everyday life easier for deaf people. If you are interested in learning DGS yourself, you can do so at many adult education centres. Interested people can also find out more online and teach themselves the language.