Irish Sign Language
Encyclopedia
Irish Sign Language is the sign language
of Ireland
, used primarily in the Republic of Ireland
. It is also used in Northern Ireland, though British Sign Language
(BSL) is also used. Irish Sign Language is more closely related to French Sign Language
than to British Sign Language
, which was first used in Dublin, Ireland. It has influenced sign languages in Australia and South Africa, and has little relation to either spoken Irish
or English
.
The Irish Deaf Society
says that ISL "arose from within deaf communities", "was developed by deaf people themselves" and "has been in existence for hundreds of years", but according to Ethnologue
the language originated in the period of 1846-1849. The first school for deaf children in Ireland was established in 1816 by Dr. Charles Orpen
. The Claremont Institute was a Protestant Institution and given that Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom, it is no surprise that BSL (or some version of signed English based in BSL) was used for teaching and learning (Pollard 2006). McDonnell (1979) reports that the Irish institutions - Catholic and Protestant - did not teach the children to speak and it was not until 1887 that Claremont report changing from a manual to an oral approach. For the Catholic schools, the shift to oralism came later: St. Mary's School for Deaf Girls moved to an oral approach in 1946 and St. Joseph's School for Deaf Boys shifted to oralism in 1956 (Griffey 1994, Crean 1997), though this did not become formal state policy until 1972. Sign language use was seriously suppressed and religion was used to further stigmatise the language (e.g. children were encouraged to give up signing for Lent and sent to confession if caught signing) (McDonnell and Saunders 1993). The fact that the Catholic schools were (and continue to be) segregated on the basis of gender led to the development of a gendered-generational variant of Irish Sign Language that is still evident (albeit to a lesser degree) today (LeMaster 1990, Leeson and Grehan 2004, Leonard 2005, Grehan 2008).
ISL was brought by Catholic missionaries to Australia and South Africa, and to Scotland and England, with remnants of ISL still visible in some variants of BSL, especially in Glasgow, and with some elderly Auslan
Catholics still using ISL today.
The ISO 639-3
code for Irish Sign Language is 'isg'; 'isl' is the code for Icelandic
.
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, used primarily in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. It is also used in Northern Ireland, though British Sign Language
British Sign Language
British Sign Language is the sign language used in the United Kingdom , and is the first or preferred language of some deaf people in the UK; there are 125,000 deaf adults in the UK who use BSL plus an estimated 20,000 children. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands,...
(BSL) is also used. Irish Sign Language is more closely related to French Sign Language
French Sign Language
French Sign Language is the sign language of the deaf in the nation of France. According to Ethnologue, it has 50,000 to 100,000 native signers....
than to British Sign Language
British Sign Language
British Sign Language is the sign language used in the United Kingdom , and is the first or preferred language of some deaf people in the UK; there are 125,000 deaf adults in the UK who use BSL plus an estimated 20,000 children. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands,...
, which was first used in Dublin, Ireland. It has influenced sign languages in Australia and South Africa, and has little relation to either spoken Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
or English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
The Irish Deaf Society
Irish Deaf Society
The Irish Deaf Society is the national representative organisation of the Deaf community in Ireland. It upholds the status of Irish Sign Language , which is the first and preferred language of Deaf people in Ireland...
says that ISL "arose from within deaf communities", "was developed by deaf people themselves" and "has been in existence for hundreds of years", but according to Ethnologue
Ethnologue
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...
the language originated in the period of 1846-1849. The first school for deaf children in Ireland was established in 1816 by Dr. Charles Orpen
Charles Orpen
Dr. Charles Edward Herbert Orpen was an Irish physician, writer and clergyman who founded the Claremont Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Glasnevin, Dublin.-Life:...
. The Claremont Institute was a Protestant Institution and given that Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom, it is no surprise that BSL (or some version of signed English based in BSL) was used for teaching and learning (Pollard 2006). McDonnell (1979) reports that the Irish institutions - Catholic and Protestant - did not teach the children to speak and it was not until 1887 that Claremont report changing from a manual to an oral approach. For the Catholic schools, the shift to oralism came later: St. Mary's School for Deaf Girls moved to an oral approach in 1946 and St. Joseph's School for Deaf Boys shifted to oralism in 1956 (Griffey 1994, Crean 1997), though this did not become formal state policy until 1972. Sign language use was seriously suppressed and religion was used to further stigmatise the language (e.g. children were encouraged to give up signing for Lent and sent to confession if caught signing) (McDonnell and Saunders 1993). The fact that the Catholic schools were (and continue to be) segregated on the basis of gender led to the development of a gendered-generational variant of Irish Sign Language that is still evident (albeit to a lesser degree) today (LeMaster 1990, Leeson and Grehan 2004, Leonard 2005, Grehan 2008).
ISL was brought by Catholic missionaries to Australia and South Africa, and to Scotland and England, with remnants of ISL still visible in some variants of BSL, especially in Glasgow, and with some elderly Auslan
Auslan
Auslan is the sign language of the Australian deaf community. The term Auslan is an acronym of "Australian sign language", coined by Trevor Johnston in the early 1980s, although the language itself is much older...
Catholics still using ISL today.
The ISO 639-3
ISO 639-3
ISO 639-3:2007, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages, is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages. It extends the ISO 639-2...
code for Irish Sign Language is 'isg'; 'isl' is the code for Icelandic
Icelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
.
See also
- Irish manual alphabetIrish manual alphabetThe Irish manual alphabet is the manual alphabet used in Irish Sign Language. Compared to other manual alphabets based on the Latin alphabet, it has unusual forms for the letters G, H, K, L, P, and Q.Irish manual alphabet...
- Australian Sign LanguageAuslanAuslan is the sign language of the Australian deaf community. The term Auslan is an acronym of "Australian sign language", coined by Trevor Johnston in the early 1980s, although the language itself is much older...
- Northern Ireland Sign LanguageNorthern Ireland Sign LanguageNorthern Ireland Sign language is a sign language used mainly by Deaf people in Northern Ireland.NISL is described as being related to Irish Sign Language at the syntactic level while the lexicon is based on British Sign Language and American Sign Language .A number of practitioners see Northern...
- South African Sign LanguageSouth African Sign LanguageSouth African Sign Language is the name of the sign language favoured by the South African government. SASL was formally recognised in 1995, and is still being codified...