SIGN LANGUAGE WORK - World Federation of the Deaf

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
SIGN LANGUAGE WORK
Karin Hoyer
Sign Linguist
The Finnish Association of the Deaf
Global Education Pre-Planning Project on
the Human Rights of Deaf People
Seminar
20th August 2008, Helsinki

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
My background:
• No Deaf family background but a member of a linguistic
minority. Swedish-speakers are 6 % of the population of
Finland
• Sign language interpreter degree in 1993
• MA in linguistics 1999
• PhD-student in General Linguistics at University of Helsinki
• 1998 – 2002 Finland-Swedish Sign Language research project
• 2002 Linguistic advisor –> Sign Language Work (SLW) in
Balkan (Albania and Kosovo) in two development co-operation
projects funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
and the Finnish Association of the Deaf
• The Finnish Association of the Deaf (FAD)
• Albanian National Association of the Deaf (ANAD)
• Kosovar Association of the Deaf (KAD)

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
The aim of this presentation:
• The relationship between Sign Language
Work and other development co-operation
areas
• Discuss Sign Language Work in FAD
development co-operation projects on
Balkan:
– Methods
– Challenges
–Results
–Ethics
• To comment on the Global survey (draft)
reports concerning standardisation of sign
languages and dictionary work

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• Sign language is repressed in many countries and its
use is not permitted in education. The consequence is
that Deaf people are not aware of the rights they have in
society, but live as a highly marginalised group in most
developing countries. There is usually no access to
information for Deaf people, which means that they do
not even know what is happening in their immediate
society and even less so in the world. Of the world's
Deaf people only about five percent (5%) can read and
write. This is due to the fact that Deaf people have not
been educated in sign language. Improving the status
of sign language has consequences for all areas of life
for Deaf people, it opens up possibilities for participation,
information and influence and reduction of poverty.
Quotation from Colin Allen (2008: 8) Global Survey Draft Report, WFD
Eastern Europe and Middle Asia Regional Secretariat

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
Why Sign Language Work in
development co-operation work?
• The goals are to increase opportunities
enabling Deaf people to achieve equal
human rights as hearing people; and to
become active participants of society;
and to lead an independent life by
promoting the status of the national
sign languages AlbSL and KosSL.

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
7. Priority areas for the co-operation:
The WFD recommends the following to be
given priority in co-operation work:
• Establishment/strengthening of an
organisation of the Deaf
• Sign language work
• Education
• Income generating and vocational training
• Labour market
WFD POLICY_Work Done by Member Organisations in Developing
Countries:

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
The Goals and Role of the World Federation of the
Deaf (WFD):
– To promote recognition of sign language and the right of
Deaf individuals to use sign language;
– To promote the right of Deaf children to have early and full
access to sign language;
– To promote increased support for sign language research;
– To promote better quality of teaching of sign language;
– To promote better quality of sign language interpreting;
– To promote more availability of sign language in the media.
WFD Sign Language Fact Sheet

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
Colin Allen (2008): Global Survey Draft
Reports:
• Highest priority issues all needs Sign
Language Work
– Better quality of Deaf Education
– Better Sign Language Interpreting quality
and services
– Official recognition from national
Governments of their country’s Sign
Language

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
What is Sign Language Work?
– Language documentation and basic sign language
research
– Application of the research results into dictionary work or
other kind of publications, like teaching materials
– Linguistic awareness training for the Deaf community
– Training in sign language structure and grammar for sign
language interpreter students
– Training Deaf research assistants in how to teach sign
language as a foreign language to hearing people.
Implementing the teaching together with the assistants.
– Linguistic advocacy work for legal recognition of sign
language and for improving existing legislation
– Establishing contacts to universities and promoting
research in sign language

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• In development support work the
implementation of Sign Language Work is
dependant of the wider social context, the
country’s history, the situation with sign
language, national legislation, and the
priorities made by the Deaf community
• Important to have a sign linguist involved

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
Why can Sign Language Work be seen as a
precondition for many other development cooperation
areas?
• If you do not have research in and information about
the national sign language how can you:
– Train teachers of the Deaf towards improving Deaf
education
– Train and develop a pool of high quality sign language
interpreters
– Teach Deaf people and improve their linguistic awareness
– Produce materials or lobby for its legal recognition?

Advocacy
work
- Legislation and policies
- Access to service and
information
- Promote the use of
sign language in
media
Interpreter
Training
-Tranining for students
in SL and SL grammar
- Programmes for Deaf to
become SL interpreters and
translators
Sign
Language
Work
Deaf Education
- (Sign language)
training programmes
for teachers and
teacher students
- Planning, implementing
and evaluation of
education programmes
and curricula
Organisational
development
work
- Linguistic Awareness
Training for the Deaf
community
FAD; Hoyer & Lahtinen, 2007

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
Methods in Sign Language Work:
• Balkan Sign Language Work is implemented by Deaf research
assistants + working group with representatives from the whole
Deaf community
• Precondition for success is to recruit Deaf persons with good
potential (learning abilities and good signing skills) as research
assistants
• The relation between TRAINING and RESEARCH
• Learning by doing. Basic vocabulary research done by the sign
language research assistants
• Interactive teaching methods, mistakes allowed. Learn by
practice and by teaching others (working group members)
• Concrete visual tools (sign cards, prints, and drawings on the
wall)

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• Deaf community commitment crucial. Deaf
community shall feel ownership towards the work
• Linguistic advisor present 2-6 weeks 3 times/ one
year/ each project
• Important that the linguistic skills are transferred to
the Deaf assistants and the working group members
for the work not to collapse when no advisor is
present
• Relationship between foreign advisor – local
research assistants and working group members
• Keys to successful work:
– Communication in the local sign language
– Advisor should be aware of her/his own language

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
3. Development of Co-operation between Deaf associations in
Developing and Developed Countries
• The WFD will work towards a situation whereby:
• A. Deaf Associations in developed countries are encouraged to enter
into a partnership/co-operation with counterparts in the south.
• B. The co-operation should as much as possible be based on the
principle of mutual respect for cultural, language and social economic
realities, e.g. in sign language work. The objective should not be to
export the sign language of the developed countries, but for
developing countries to research and/or develop their own sign
languages based on cultural realities.
• C. Deaf people from developing countries should be encouraged to
receive training in specific areas (e.g. sign language and
management) in developed countries. However, the training should be
tailored to enable them to work with the languages in their own
countries.
WFD POLICY_WFD Work in Developing countries

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• Colin Allen (2008: 18) Global Survey Draft Report,
WFD Interim Regional Secretariat for Western and
Central Africa:
• Six countries (Benin, Cape Verde, Chad, Senegal,
Sierra Leone and Togo) do not lobby for recognition
of their sign language due to:
– Political conflict in the country;
– Sign language does not exist in the country;
– American Sign Language is accepted and not opposed to
by the authorities;
– Philosophical conflicts about sign language within the Deaf
Community; and
– The national sign language does not have official status but
American Sign Language is used, using French concepts.

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
Keys to successful work (continue):
• Mutual respect, Flexibility, cultural sensitivity
• Language policy in the office concerning the use of
sign language. Advisor role model for hearing
people
• A conscious approach to use only Deaf language
users in the documentation work for dictionary work
• To avoid the influence from hearing non-signers
• To promote the self-esteem of the Deaf community

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• Research method: documentation of real language
use – word lists not in use
• Never 1:1 correspondence between signs and
words
• “thumbs up” – good, fine, nice, well, bravo!, ok
• Visual dictionaries (VHS, dvd or Internet) for the
publication to show how the sign language actually
look and move
• Sign language is as adequate as a spoken language
– Video reports in sign language
– No written language in common for
communication on distance – Fast Internet

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• Tools for depicting the documented signs
• Drawing from the TV or computer screen
• On the Internet there is free downloadable programmes for
depicting signs with computer
– VirtualDub for video capturing
– The graphics editor programmes GIMP and Incscape
– Lay-out programme Scribus
• Important to see both the ”big picture” of dictionary work as the
individual parts in the process
• Successful work needs good planning!
• Sign language processes are based on local co-operation (e.g.
dictionary work, or lobbying for recognition of Sign language in
the legislation)
• The work needs involvement of O = organisational work
towards the Deaf community, SLW, A= advocacy work, and
INT= interpreters

DICTIONARY
Editing video/
dvd interface
SLW ?
Work
with spoken language
equivalents
SLW
INT
Information
Deaf community
Hearing network
Book
preface, index, layout
printing
SLW
SLW INT
?
Translation of
sentences into
spoken language
SL Working group
Videotape
discussion on signs,
signs and sentences
their form and use
SLW O SLW O
Lobby University
SL research
-> SL gets
document SL use
linguistic status
SLW O SLW O/A INT
INT
FAD; Hoyer & Lahtinen, 2007

RECOGNITION OF
NATIONAL SIGN LANGUAGE IN LEGISLATION
Deaf give training
to Deaf community
-> tools for lobbying
to hearing network
SLW O/A INT
Applied research
dictionaries,
information material
SLW O INT
Advocacy and lobbying
Deaf community members lobby locally,
Deaf organisation lobby government
-> change in legislation
SLW O/A INT
Advisors train Deaf trainers
Linguistic rights, SL grammar
legislation structure, pedagogy
SLW O/A
INT
Lobby University
-> SL gets
SL research
linguistic status
document SL
SLW O SLW O/A INT
FAD; Hoyer & Lahtinen, 2007

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
Challenges in Sign Language Work:
• Realistic planning!!
• Time management
– 3 years is a short time for Sign Language Work
– Learning totally new concepts takes time
– There is a limit to what you can learn at one time
• Balance between focusing on sign level (=dictionary work) and
grammar of sign language, since one of the most common
misconceptions about sign languages is that the signs are
articulated according to the word order of the surrounding
spoken language
• Cultural differences
• How to commit the working group members to a long-term
work on voluntary basis

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
Results in or as a consequence of Sign Language
Work:
• Overt:
– Dictionaries, other materials about, and in, sign language
– In Albania: National news bulletin translated into AlbSL by
Deaf translators
• Covert:
– Skills in sign linguistics
– Risen linguistic awareness (Deaf, family members,
interpreters, teachers, hearing network)
– Sign language skills (teachers, interpreters)

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
Ethics in Sign Language Work:
• Consent for video filming
• Research methods
– Democratic and transparent
– Community based – gender, age and
regional balance

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• Quotation from Evaluation Report (2008) of FAD
project in Kosovo for the successes of SLW:
8.1.2. Effective Deaf community
involvement/ownership
• A previous exercise to develop a book of Kosovar
Signs in 2002 met with great resistance, antagonism
and rejection from many members of the Deaf
community. (This work had been led by individuals
with no training in sign linguistics and is regarded as
unscientific) To ensure consensus on the work of
the present sign language research team, the
volunteer working group, from different geographical
and social backgrounds and of varying ages and
gender will collectively be responsible for producing
the DVD and booklet in 2009.

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
The external evaluator observed a training session for two of the Deaf
working group volunteers and was impressed by the careful
explanations of the need for ethical consistency, consent and
technical information. It is commendable to see that this group of
volunteers demonstrates considerable commitment, often having to
travel long and difficult distances to attend training meetings.
The Working Group is also active in disseminating information about the
sign language work to other members of the Deaf community:
‘I was always told by hearing people that I couldn’t do things – that they
were smarter. Now I understand that it is a language issue’
‘Knowing it is a real language gives me confidence’
This has had an impact on the self-esteem of Deaf people in Kosovo.
Said one hearing observer:
‘We never saw people signing before the War – now they are confident to
use it. (Sign language)’

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
Language planning and language standardization
work for sign languages:
• Colin Allen (2008: 23) Global Survey Draft Report, WFD Regional
Secretariat for Asia and the Pacific:
• Common areas of concern: ---
Sign Language
• Deaf people have no sign language skills.
• Government does not recognise the sign language.
• Sign language materials and courses should be provided for
Deaf people who have not learned their own language.
• The promotion of Human Rights through Sign Languages
needs to be strengthened.
• Need to standardise the national sign language.

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• Colin Allen (2008: 22) Global Survey Draft Report,
WFD Interim Regional Secretariat for Western and
Central Africa
• Common areas of concern: ---
Sign Language
• Government does not recognise the
sign language.
• Standardised sign language.

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• Unification – Standardization
• see WFD POLICY_ WFD Statement on the Unification
of Sign Languages
)
• WFD opposes all attempts to unify several sign
languages to a single sign language
• WFD also opposes purification of the language from
outside the community – it is a natural process that
languages change over time and that new signs gets
adopted into the languages
• “The control of the development of any Sign Language
must be left to any social group where the particular
Sign Language is exercised.”

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• Native sign language users use different form of
language in different situations
• Compare e.g. the language used in private
conversations to the language used in seminar
presentations
When is a standard variety of sign language used?
• Public, “official” purposes, like TV news,
Government information on the web
• When producing teaching materials there might be
an conscious effort to use a standard variety
• In dictionary work the aim might be to describe
standard language instead of regional dialects

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• Standardization work is usually associated with writing and
literacy – the “right” way to write the language according to
grammars and dictionaries
• Signed languages are often compared to written languages
that are more standardized than spoken languages
• It is within the nature of a language that does not have a
written form to have a big amount of variation
• Making a dictionary is standardization work in the way that not
all the signs of the language is included in the dictionary
• The chosen sign might in the future be considered more “right”
than other signs, since they are recorded in the dictionary
• The dictionary makers of AlbSL wanted to show variation in the
language by including variants of the same concept (see e.g.
signs 34, 35, 37, 38 for ‘brother’). The AlbSL dictionary was
descriptive and not prescriptive

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• “Need to standardize the national sign language.” Whose
need?
• A standard variety of a language is usually promoted in
education and in the media. Existence of a standard form might
be used as a condition for official recognition of the language
or for its use as a language of instruction
• It seems that the impetus to standardize sign languages
usually come from the desire of hearing persons, not Deaf
persons, e.g. in their learning process.
• Teachers and interpreters might think that there should only be
one sign for each word. This opinion reveals ignorance about
sign languages
• The standardization desire is focused on individual signs
• Usually Deaf signers have no problem understanding each
other, even if they use different signs.

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• There is never a one-to-one relationship between
languages. A word can have many sign equivalents
and a sign can have many word equivalents
• Each language is tied to a specific culture, sign
languages reflect Deaf culture. There is a lot of
signs that do not have an one word equivalent, but
must be translated by using a longer expression
• The decision of whether to standardize a sign
language or not, is to be made by the language
users themselves
• Variation is a natural part of language

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• Questionnaire question: 7.7.2 Does your country
have a sign language dictionary?
• Why is a dictionary important?
– For giving status to the language – it exists -> you can get
legal recognition of the language.
• Ulrike Mosel (2006: 68): In community language
work among indigenous people of spoken
languages a dictionary ranks highest on their list of
priorities
• SL dictionaries:
– Who have been involved compiling it?
– Does it give a fair picture of the SL?
– How is the visual language presented? In still drawings or
pictures? In live form?
– Who is it made for?

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• Wishes for the future for developing Sign
Language Work:
• Language Policy Programme (WFD Statement on
the Unification of Sign Languages – Good!)
• Handbook on Sign Language Work with guidelines,
for not everybody to having to re-invent the wheel

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
• That burning urge to find out formed the basis of my first
interest in Sign Language. As I read and asked questions
about the language, I came to realize that the Deaf were
perhaps the most misunderstood language minority anywhere
in the world. This realization changed my interest from mere
curiosity to a sense of mission. Hearing people often talk about
the rehabilitation of the Deaf. Now, it seems to me, what one
ought to talk about is not the rehabilitation, but the liberation of
the Deaf.
• I believe the science of linguistics has a significant role to play
in that liberation struggle.
• Okoth Okombo (1990: 59)

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
Some references:
• Allen, Colin (2008) Global Survey Draft Report, WFD Eastern Europe and
Middle Asia Regional Secretariat
• Allen, Colin (2008) Global Survey Draft Report, WFD Interim Regional
Secretariat for Western and Central Africa
• Allen, Colin (2008) Global Survey Draft Report, WFD Regional Secretariat for
Asia and the Pacific
• Dotter, Franz, 'Soft' standardization of sign languages?
• Gibson, Liz Scott & Nexhat Shatri (2008) Report from the Evaluation of the
Organisational Training and Sign Language Development Projects in Kosovo.
• Mosel, Ulrike (2006). Fieldwork and community language work. In Essentials of
Language Documentation, edited by Gippert, Himmelmann & Mosel
• Okombo, Okoth (1990) Linguistics and the Liberation of the Kenyan Deaf:
Some Research Agenda for Sign Language Developers. In East African Sign
Language Seminar 20–26.8.1990 Report
• WFD Sign Language Fact Sheet
• WFD POLICY_WFD Work in Developing countries
• WFD POLICY _Work Done by Member Organisations in Developing Countries
• WFD POLICY_ WFD Statement on the Unification of Sign Languages