SPOKEN VS. SIGN LANGUAGES - WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

ABSTRACT

Sign languages have become an increasingly discussed scientific topic given the rising awareness as to the Deaf Community, their language and their culture. Access to information and services is a matter of human rights and therefore sign language recognition and the development of sign language interpreting as a profession have become a matter of interest and research for many countries. This article seeks to emphasize some aspects that differentiate sign languages from spoken languages from several points of view: language structure, language use, language acquisition and interpreting. The aim is to offer some insight into this fairly new domain, based on a comparative approach. In the attempt to demystify sign language and sign language interpreting we offer clear examples that we hope will be useful for those interested in this challenging domain.

KEYWORDS: sign language structure, language acquisition, sign language interpreting, simultaneous, consecutive

PAGES: 251-265