Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!nntp.sei.cmu.edu!news.psc.edu!hudson.lm.com!netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!news.uoregon.edu!calliope.wln.com!news.scn.org!scn.org!lwmson
From: lwmson@scn.org (SCN User)
Subject: Re: Hard Languages
Message-ID: <DGrzBz.FHx@scn.org>
Sender: news@scn.org
Organization: Seattle Community Network
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 1995 01:40:46 GMT
Lines: 32


It's worthwhile to consider American Sign Language also in the
discussion of what is and is not "hard" to learn.  It appears
that it is no more "difficult" to learn as a native language than
any other - assuming that the child has models who are native
language users.  (Unfortuneately, this is often not the case, as
most deaf children are born to hearing parents, who do not know
how to sign, and even assuming they ever learn to sign at all,
usually end up signing a "pidgin" form of the language, combining
some ASL sign forms with the grammer of their native English (I'm
talking within the U.S.)).

In my experience, when people who have a different first language
(be it spoken or signed) learn ASL, they make many many mistakes.
Although many people who can hear claim to have "learned to sign,"
the reality is that very very very few actually ever reach native-
like fluency.  (That is, a native signer would virtually always
be able to spot the non-native signer within a very short time.)
For people who can hear, the greatest difficulty seems to be in 
getting their minds around the whole concept of using space, of
having several things happening at once, rather than working in
a linear order (I wonder if people who use non-linear spoken
languages - ie Navaho or Chinese - would have this same difficulty?)

For signers from other parts of the world, who are fluent in the
sign language from their home area, the main difficulty in leaning
ASL seems to be in using different handshapes and/or body locations
than are typical or usual or acceptable in their native language.
Also, words borrowed from English pose some difficulty, usually.

I think it is interesting to think about, so wanted to add these
thoughts to the discussion...
