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Martha's Vineyard Sign Language

by tbodt on 11/23/24, 6:29 AM with 9 comments

• by NelsonMinar on 11/27/24, 7:14 PM

  There's been a lot written about MVSL. Oliver Sacks' book "Seeing Voices" is a good introduction, it has a chapter or maybe a whole section about it.

• by vunderba on 11/27/24, 10:09 PM

  When I lived in Russia, a friend of mine spoke Russian sign language and I asked how they managed to communicate in the cold winter months outdoors. They told me using a lot of facial expressions, body language, and that you can sign a surprising amount even wearing gloves.

  Mittens apparently are the equivalent of gagging somebody though.

• by throw0101a on 11/27/24, 8:34 PM

  A list of the ones that are being used in different regions/countries:

  * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sign_languages

  * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sign_languages_by_numb...

  Also, for the very young:

  * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_sign_language

  Wonder if it'd be easier to create a 'universal' sign language than a universal spoken one (e.g., Esperanto, or an old lingua franca like Latin).

• by egberts1 on 11/23/24, 4:23 PM

  This is a prime example of isolationism's contribution toward structured communication needed to function adequately in an agrarian society.