Informative Speech

I. Introduction

A. Attention Statement

As they sat in the restaurant conversing and laughing, the hustle and bustle of the lunch
crowd in the background was quite distracting. However to them, the noonday sun, which
reflected off windows was much, more of a distraction than any amount of noise could have
been. Their conversation continued over the loud clamor yet not a word was spoken, the words
were on their hands.

B. Subject Statement

American Sign Language (ASL) is the language used by Deaf people throughout USA and
Canada.

C. Significance of Subject

This once frowned upon language, thought to be nothing more than a system of
gestures has withstood the test of time, proving to be nothing short of an adequate, true
language.

D. Point Preview

Today we will look at American Sign Language, starting with a brief history of the
language including one movement to abolish it from society, then we will talk about it's
discovery as an actual language and finaly the current views held by Deaf people concerning
ASL.

II. Main Point I

A. Subject Statement

The history of American Sign Language is one filled with discovery, oppression and finally
triumph.

B. Documentation

According to the book Language Files, "The origin of ASL dates back to 1815 when
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was commissioned to investigate methods being employed in Europe
to educate deaf children."

C. Illustration (Visual aide-Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc)

While in Paris, Gallaudet visited the school for the deaf where he met Laurent Clerc.
These are pictures of both Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc. These two men eventually
made their way to the United States. The French Sign Language brought to America by Clerc
served as a base for American Sign Language. Once the French version assimilated with signs in
use by deaf Americans, ASL emerged. In 1817 the two established the first school for the deaf
where ASL flourished.

D. Signpost

While the use of ASL spread throughout the US and Canada, it's glory was short-lived.
E. Documentation

In Carol Padden and Tom Humphries book Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture, they
tell of the fateful 1880 World Conference for the Deaf in Milan, Italy where "the banning in
schools throughout Europe of signed languages as a means for educating deaf children, and a
new fervor directed toward the oral method began."

F. Illustration

This complete ban of ASL did not take effect here in America, yet the support for the
oral method caught on. In an attempt to so-can "fix" the deaf children oral schools were
established by the dozens where deaf students were forced to speak and lip-read. Students who
attended these schools will never forget the experience of watching their classmates be
punished for their inability to speak and for the use of sign language. Faces being dunked in
bowls of water and hands being beaten with rulers are not the worst of stories told.

G. Signpost

The popularity of oralism was not permanent and even during its peak; it could not
prevent students from using their natural language of ASL.

H. Documentation

In a 1994 article in Time magazine, Harlan Lane was quoted as saying, 'Try as they
might, they were unable to stamp out sign language."

I. Illustration

In 1913, in an attempt to preserve sign language on film, former president of the

National Association of the Deaf George Veditz gave a lecture on film. In his lecture he paints a
picture of the situation faced by many deaf Europeans whose language had been taken from
them he tells of the horrors of the oral method and convinces Deaf Americans to protect their
sign language.

J. Summary Statement

American Sign Language had a very tumultuous beginning, however the passion deaf
people felt about their language would carry on it's legacy.

K. Transition Statement

Once ASL made it through the oppression of the late I 800's and early 1900's, it would
still be decades before it was recognized with pride as a something beyond gestures.

III. Main Point II

A. Subject Statement

ASL made a comeback in the lives of many deaf people however it was still believed to
be nothing more than pictures in the air with no linguistic structure. It was not until the 1960's
that research would begin to prove the significance of this language.

B. Documentation
In Laurent Clerc's journal found in Harlan Lane's book When the Mind Hears, he wrote, "Indeed, if
sign language were very pictorial it would be immediately understood and easy to learn; it is
not."

C. Illustration

He goes on to explain the error of confusing sign language with pantomime. In

pantomime, there are no ungrammatical errors, only unsuccessful ones. A person not fluent in
sign language can easily make errors while at the same time getting across a clear message.

D. Signpost

Clerc's statements were way ahead of their time seeing as how it would be over a century before
actual proof was given to these statements.

E. Documentation

A 1994 article published by Discover magazine tells of a groundbreaking conclusion reached by

new-oscientist Ursula Bellugi in which she states, 'vMe surface form of sign is terribly different ... but the
basic stuff, the underlying organization is the same as for spoken language."

F. Illustration (Visual aide-hemispheres of the brain)

At the Salk Institute, Bellugi has studied ASL since 1968. Once it was discovered that ASL has a
grammar and sentence structure of it's own, she began researching how it is processed in the brain.
Fascinated by the fact that the two halves of the brain are specialized for different purposes, the left side
dominating speech, while the right side perceives spatial relationships, she was determined to see how a
visual/spatial language was processed. The conclusion, that sign language is predominately processed in
the left side of the brain like spoken language, left no doubt as to whether or not ASL is an actual
language.

G. Summary Statement

By the 1980's American Sign Language had found it's place among numerous languages,
standing on it's own; separate from the belief that it is only a broken form of English.

H. Transition Statement

American Sign Language had gone through a series of attitudes since it's beginning. It
was now time to see how ASL would grow in a society where it was no longer seen as shameful
and inferior.

IV. Main Point III

A. Subject Statement

Today, there is still controversy surrounding American Sign Language. There are those
who take pride in their language and culture while others still look down upon it.

B. Documentation

'Me previously mentioned Time magazine article, Beyond the Sound Barrier, tells of the
currently divided community. "Culturally, activists began distinguishing between "deaf' (with a
small W to describe the disabilty) and "Deaf' (with a capital 'D' to represent the language
group)-"
C. Illustration (Visual aide- Deaf art)

To be Deaf with a capital 'D' is to be culturally Deaf. To use ASL as your primary mode
of communication and to accept the fact that you are Deaf Today, supporters of ASL try to
promote it's use through art. Here are some paintings by Deaf artist Chuck Baird. Each picture
incorporates the ASL sign with a picture of it's meaning. For example, the sign color is located
on the chin as seen here
where the woman has her fingers painted.

D. Signpost

Along with its supporters, there are those who still feel ASL is not an adequate language
and choose to use other modes of communication.

E. Documentation

According to a 1989 article in U.S. News and World Report, "Mere is a fear on the part
of many hearing educators and parents that ASL will condemn their children to silence, isolating
them forever from the hearing world."

F. Illustration

Some people still take the biological view of deaf people. That the only way for a deaf
person to survive in today's fast paced world is to learn to speak and lip-read. There is a feeling
of limitation by learning and using ASL.

G. Summary Statement

While some have found pride in a language completely separate from English, capable of
conveying abstract thoughts and ideas, others still feel constrained by the language and choose
to communicate differently.

V. Conclusion

A. Summary Statement

There has always been controversy surrounding the use of ASL by Deaf Americans and
though having changed through the years, the controversy has not dissipated.

B. Post Point Review

Today we have looked at the early impact of ASL on Deaf people in America, it's
discovery as a language and the controversy surrounding American Sign Language today.

C. Significance

American Sign Language will continue to grow and change as do any other languages,
but Deaf people have proven that their language will not be taken away from them. As stated
by George Veditz 1913 lecture, " As long as we have deaf people on earth, we will have signs."

D. Wrap Around
 The next time you see two people conversing in sign language at a restaurant, you can
remember that their signs carry words of power, beyond that of pictures in the air. Whether on
the mouth or the hands, a voice can be heard from all of us.
Works Cited

Brownies, Shannon. "The Signs of Silence." U.S. News & World Report 16 Oct. 1989.

Cipollone, Nick, Steven Hartman Keiser, and Shraven Vasishth, eds. Language Files . Ohio: Ohio
State UP, 1998.

Lane, Harlan. When the Mind Hears: A History of the Deaf New York: Vintage Books, 1984.

Padden, Carol, and Tom Humphries. Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture. Cambridge: Harvard
UP, 1988.

"Sign Language offers a Window on the Brain." Discoyer Aug. 1994.

Van Biema, David. 'Beyond the Sound Barrier." Time 3 Oct. 1994.