At prese… And in this way, over time, children drive the way a language develops. This is not to say, however, that other independent community-based sign languages never existed. The development of Nicaraguan Sign Language via the language acquisition process. Because anything a child can't learn, can't stay in a language — or at least not for very long.”. They supported special education in public schools, including provision for deaf children. Molly Flaherty: So, what we see in Nicaragua is that older signers, they sign larger than do younger signers. When children learn a language, they don’t just passively absorb words. They had spent lots of time with the older kids, and been exposed to those gestures and signs that the older group was using. It's got internal consistency,” Shepard-Kegl said. The story you just read is freely available and accessible to everyone because readers like you support The World financially.Â, Thank you all for helping us reach our goal of 1,000 donors. One such initiative was opening the first public school for deaf education, the Melania Morales Special Education Center, in Managua’s Barrio San Judas. A new sign language created over the last 30 years by deaf children in Nicaragua has given experts a unique insight into how languages evolve. In 1986, Dr. Judy Shepard-Kegl, a sign language linguist trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was invited by the Ministry of Education to furnish consulting services at the Deaf schools established by the Nicaraguan government in Barrios San Judas and Villa Libertad in Managua. But in the mid-1980s, linguists were just learning of NSL's existence. Molly Flaherty: To think about the fact that this integral product that we all use every day, all day, may really be shaped by the youngest minds, and by the youngest people in our world, is, I don't know, I like that idea, that we're all using this, this creation of children all the time, and we don't necessarily realize it. Because larger signs would be easier to see. Idioma de Signos Nicaragüense, or Nicaraguan Sign Language, is a sign language that was spontaneously invented by deaf schoolchildren in Nicaragua in the 1970s and 1980s. They were gesturing with each other, using the signs they’d used at home with their families. Arbitrating when to say ref, ump, or judge. In the decades since Judy’s first trips to Nicaragua, many other scholars have traveled there to study the new language, too. Â. She uses motion-tracking technology to follow the position of people’s wrists in space, to measures the physical size of the signs. They now are based in the USA but run Nicaraguan Sign Language Projects.. Tio Antonio – Antonio, a chef originally from Valencia, Spain, lives and works in Granada, Nicaragua running the Cafe de las Sonrisas and other projects providing employment … In Nicaragua today, changes in technology and communication have led to the increased use of American Sign Language within the deaf community. It is of particular interest to the linguists who study it, because it offers a unique opportunity to study what they believe to be the birth of a new language. Suddenly, there was a community of deaf kids, all trying to communicate with each other. Follow us on social media to add even more wonder to your day. “A lot of those older kids weren’t generating grammar the way little kids did. Previously, most deaf children were completely isolated. In fact, the linguistic world is rich with a wide variety of mutually unintelligible signed languages. Carol Zall: Those children had no way of knowing that those gestures and signs weren’t really a language. Marco Werman: Yuri is 29. Carol Zall: But now, for the first time, hundreds of deaf children were brought together in a few schools in the capital city, Managua. According to Ann Senghas, a professor of psychology at Barnard College who has studied NSL, it was the first time in the history of the country that deaf children were brought together in large numbers. Carol Zall is with the language-themed podcast, Subtitle, which is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. No one knows exactly how many individuals are needed to generate a new language or what percentage of those individuals need to be young children. Stokoe also questions assertions that the language has emerged entirely without outside influence, from (for example), Spanish or ASL. Professor of Psychology and Director of the Language Acquisition and Development Research Laboratory Ann Senghas studies the evolution of language. It is spoken by about 90% of the country’s population. Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. Suddenly, for the first time, there was a community of deaf kids all trying to communicate with each other as hundreds were brought together in a few schools in Managua, the capital. This was brand new for Nicaragua. Molly Flaherty is a psychology professor at Davidson College. I’m from Nicaragua. Judy was invited by Nicaragua’s Ministry of Education to come observe them. A close look at a strangely global idiom about how little we understand each other. Kids “don’t know what the [grammatical] rule is but [they] expect that there is a rule.” In Managua’s first deaf school, there was no model and no one to guide the children in sign language and still a language was created in a way never observed before. Not only were the elementary students more fluent than their older peers, but they were also operating on a much more sophisticated level. Shepard-Kegl was not alone in her assessment, and in the decades since that first trip to Nicaragua, many other scholars have traveled there to study the new language, too. The Development of Nicaraguan Sign Language via the Language Acquisition Process Ann Senghas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1. There, she made an interesting observation: “The younger the kids, the more fluent they were.”Â, Shepard-Kegl recognized the linguistic phenomenon of “reverse fluency” — a situation in which the younger members of a speech community gain greater fluency as a language develops, surpassing the older speakers’ linguistic abilities.Â, Related: Artist Christine Sun Kim on ‘deaf rage,’ the Super Bowl and the power of sound. Minority languages. Judy Shepard-Kegl: So, I was allowed to just kind of go into these classes, and I just watched what they were doing, and I could be there all day. Get a detailed look at the language, from population to dialects and usage. Private Trip: Immersive Art and Otherworldly Landscapes of Santa Fe, Culinary Naples: Producers, Purveyors, and Pizzaioli, Tales From the Museum: National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, How to Make a Murder: Writing Your Own Murder Mystery Party With Abi Inman, Seeing America Through Its Roadside Signs, Why 1920s L.A. Carol Zall: Studying these changes helps researchers test theories of why languages develop the way they do. We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. Judy teaches linguistics at the University of Southern Maine. Sign up for our daily newsletter TOP OF THE WORLD and get the big stories we’re tracking delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. It’s an opportunity that owes much to the birth of NSL occuring in the 1980s, when researchers had access to video cameras and could accurately record exactly what was happening. Newscaster: “Victorious Sandinista rebels marched into Nicaragua’s capital city of Managua today.”. And though it came out of a period of civil strife, it was not political actors but deaf children who created the language’s unique vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. Then at some point in human development, we began speaking to each other – eventually in ways that followed grammatical patterns. Usually, we think the older a child is, the better their language skills. “What we see in Nicaragua is that older signers, they sign larger than do younger signers,” Flaherty said. Instead, they focused on teaching children to speak and lip-read Spanish. In the 1960s, Noam Chomsky suggested that children are born with an innate ability to learn human language. It was not invented by teachers, parents, or deaf adults and then passed to students through deliberate instruction. Spanish is the official language of Nicaragua. This is hardly surprising to linguists who appreciate that like all languages, Nicaragua's sign language emerged among a human population. Which is not what you might expect. There's a whole lot we don't know about vision and speech perception. Related: Curious Kids: Why do we say 'OK'? She’s signing these words to her adoptive mother Judy, who’s interpreting for her. Carol Zall: Judy concluded that what she was looking at was the emergence of a brand new language. Judy Shepard-Kegl: When I walked in, I said, "I'm a linguist, what do you want from me?" Judy Shepard-Kegl: Deaf people were hidden in the homes. These children, who ranged in age from four to 16, had no experience with sign language beyond the “home signs” they used with family members to communicate broad concepts. They copied the grammar the little kids generated.”. It has been learned by successive waves of children from the same culture, all of whom began to learn at about the same age. One of the signs for “Nicaragua”. Judy believes that the younger kids were in the "critical period" for language, meaning their brains were very receptive to learning. The number of speakers on Rama Cay island was only 4 in 1992, due to language shift to English that engendered Rama Cay Creole. These kids, who had never been taught sign language, started signing with each other. To learn more or withdraw consent, please visit our cookie policy. Introduction One of the central goals in research on language acquisition is to discover what knowledge and abilities children bring to the learning situation. Carol Zall: Another reason linguists are fascinated by Nicaraguan Sign Language is because it allows them to study the way that children’s brains influence language. But outside of the classroom — on the playground, on the school bus — they had found a way to communicate. Every language has a unique story, but Nicaraguan Sign Language is pretty special. For all that linguists have learned from the study of Nicaraguan Sign Language, perhaps most important is the proof it has provided for a controversial theory of language. And the fact that the language has emerged so quickly is striking: Molly Flaherty: It's not like it takes a hundred years to get a language off the ground, and that's really good to know. Carol Zall: As part of this drive for literacy, the government started providing special education for deaf kids in public schools. It was more like an elaborate system of gestures. Shepard-Kegl thought it would just be one trip. Carol Zall: The story starts in 1979. Today, however, we know a little more, thanks to a language that only came into being recently: Nicaraguan Sign Language. Carol Zall: When the kids realized that Judy was studying them, they befriended her, started teaching her their signs. Many linguists regard Nicaraguan Sign Language, or NSL, as an important test case, because the language developed almost in isolation, and … Such conventions occur when a community of speakers, who at home may have all used different signs to refer to an object or action, begin to consistently default to using just one, says James Shepard-Kegl. Molly Flaherty: Since kids are the primary language learners, they are the ones who are selecting for what stays in language, essentially. Nicaraguan Sign Language: the Language of the Truly Stimulus-Impoverished For much of the history of the Nicaraguan state, deaf children had essentially no formal support from the government. When children are learning a language, they’re not just passively absorbing words. It was as if fluency was going backwards. Soon, they became willing collaborators. Younger signers today don’t have that same pressure: they do expect to be understood: Molly Flaherty: Because they share a language the way that the vast majority of us here on Earth share a language with other people. Babies are not given grammar lessons and yet they reliably learn grammar because they have inherent expectations about how languages function, says Shepard-Kegl. Carol Zall: That’s Judy Shepard-Kegl, the woman who was interpreting for her daughter, Yuri. Yuri Shepard-Kegl: My name is Yuri Shepard-Kegl. They had spent lots of time with the older children, and been exposed to the gestures and signs that the older group was using. Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). In 1979, the Sandinista National Liberation Front overthrew Anastasio Somoza Debayle, a dictator whose family had been in power in Nicaragua since 1936.Â. At school, the children were being taught lip-reading and Spanish, and were told not to use gestures. See. We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the world’s hidden wonders. (Kegl is today co-director of the Nicaraguan Sign Language Project and married to Shepard-Kegl.) They had a real language. Though American Sign Language and some other widely utilized sign languages, such as Chinese Sign Language and Indo-Pakistani Sign Language, have long histories, they were often inaccessible to deaf families and institutions in rural, mountainous, or politically-charged regions. A language emerging in the 80s amidst a revolution? At all. “Languages, by nature, borrow,” says Shepard-Kegl. Nicaraguan Sign Language (ISN) Nicaraguan Sign Language (ISN) first emerged in the 1970s when deaf children were brought together in schools in western Nicaragua. This educational strategy, known as “oralism,” has long been a subject of debate in deaf education, one that was particularly fierce in the United States where ASL originated. It’s something that has occurred many times in history. Others believe that when dominant languages arrive, they are appropriated by indigenous communities, often combining with an existing language to create a distinctly local version. “That was the stimulus, that was the input to the younger kids. Nicaragua has many minority groups. Carol Zall: Molly thinks the change has to do with the older signers, the ones from the earliest generations, wanting to make sure they were understood. Linguistically, this is especically interesting, as it provides linguists a rare opportunity to study the birth of a new language.   Â. Carol Zall: This is key to Judy’s understanding of what happened. And it has helped fill in some gaps in our knowledge about how languages evolve, how they work, and the role a community plays in all of that — especially when it comes to the youngest learners. “I like that idea, that we're all using this creation of children all the time, and we don't necessarily realize it.”. And they pointed to a bunch of kids milling around on a little basketball court in front of us and said, "We want to understand what they're talking about.". “When I walked in, I said, ‘I'm a linguist, I study sign language, what do you want from me?’ And they pointed to a bunch of kids milling around on a little basketball court in front of us and said, ‘We want to understand what they're talking about.’”, At school, the children were taught lip-reading and Spanish and were told not to use gestures. For example, in early-to-mid-20th century Jim Crow-era Raleigh, North Carolina, under-resourced and pedagogically isolated African-American deaf schools independently developed unique languages, says Susan Burch, an American Studies professor at Middlebury College. Please click below to consent to the use of this technology while browsing our site. Kegl is co-director of the Nicaraguan Sign Language Project, which administers programs to empower the Nicaraguan deaf community through the use of sign language. Judy Shepard-Kegl: In 1979, there was what they refer to as the triumph of the revolution. Winner will be selected at random on 02/01/2021. While ASL has not replaced the pristine, isolated NSL of the 1980s, which still dominates deaf education there, Nicaraguan Sign Language has begun a natural process of integrating elements of ASL. Nicaraguan Sign Language has been of particular interest to linguists as one of the few languages whose birth was recorded. Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. And because there was a new group of kids entering the elementary school in Managua each year, researchers have been able to compare successive generations of signers, to see how the language has been changing over time. And, they're clearly ruining the language, in this way or that way.”Â, It’s also striking that the language has emerged so quickly: “It's not like it takes a hundred years to get a language off the ground, and that's really good to know. Official Language of Nicaragua. Nicaraguan Sign Language is the only language spontaneously created, without the influence of other languages, to have been recorded from its birth. The language developed when the Sandinist government of Nicaragua created the first (elementary) school for deaf people, in the 1970s. Related: Florida teen girls step up to translate Indigenous Mayan languages. But as Judy began to understand them better, it seemed to her that they didn’t actually have a full-fledged language. And though it … The language arose naturally, among a generation of young Nicaraguans who needed to communicate, while they interacted. That means that language is so integral to our human experience that basically give it half a chance to emerge, and it will. Carol Zall: And that, of course, is what Nicaraguan Sign Language is: the creation of children. Why Does English Have More Words for Sports Officials Than Any Other Language? While the older students had more life experience, it was actually the younger kids that drove the language’s development. In this respect, Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL) is quite unique. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies and Privacy Policy. “The young kids see people trying to communicate, and repeating, and they see gestures, and they look at this, and their brains go, ‘Boom, I'm going to focus on this.’ We are sort of predestined to do that.”, Judy Shepard-Kegl and an NSL signer in Bilwi, Nicaragua.Â. It wasn't a language, but their brains filled in the holes of what was missing. That's the kind of formula for this.”. “Oralism, Bell believed, allowed deaf people to leave their educational and cultural corners and participate in society at large,” writes Brian H. Greenwald, professor of history at the deaf institution Gallaudet University, via email. “When you watched these guys signing, it just became very clear, it was like somebody just wiped away the fog, and you could see the grammar right there in front of you.”. Nicaraguan Sign Language was not imported from some other country. “When they're articulating the same sign, their hands actually cover more space.”. A language profile for Nicaraguan Sign Language. For Kegl and the other linguists that accompanied her after the initial visit, the opportunity to identify and study Nicaraguan Sign Language was “extremely rare,” writes Senghas in her 1995 MIT doctoral dissertation, Children’s Contribution to the Birth of Nicaraguan Sign Language, which focuses on the years she spent working with Kegl. It is a concept that has generated considerable controversy. Social distancing might not entirely change the way we talk, but a Mars expedition might do the trick. “When you see a language, it’s rule-governed. Carol Zall: Now, not only had these kids never been taught sign language, but there just wasn’t any sign language in Nicaragua. HawaiÊ»i’s Native-Language Newspaper Archive, Prolonged Isolation Can Lead to the Creation of New Accents, combined with a locally developed sign language in the 1960s, around 60 percent of which is made up of ASL signs. The World is a public radio program that crosses borders and time zones to bring home the stories that matter. It was in the years after the revolution that Judy first got involved with Nicaragua. English immersion for the deaf was part of a wider effort, epitomized by the eugenics movement, to stamp out differences within the American population. Language in Nicaragua. I walked in, I entered the school and that’s where I started to Nicaraguan... Long as we’re given the right stimulus, that was the input to the of... Emerging in the decades since Judy’s first trips to Nicaragua, many of which have become extinct, they.: that’s Judy Shepard-Kegl: and that, of course, is what Nicaraguan Sign language,.... There, even sometimes when you did n't intend to put it there also operating on much... Realize, wait a minute, what do you want from me?, without the influence of other,... An innate ability to learn more or withdraw consent, please visit cookie... Spanish is regarded as the official language of Nicaragua created the first to enrol in Nicaragua… Nevertheless, Sign... Favoring the ones that occur most frequently note: a transcript of the few languages whose birth was recorded used! At least not for very long.” were saying new government had nicaraguan sign language plans, including a massive campaign. Via the language developed  Virtual schooling poses extra challenges for English-language learners country ’ s development browsing... Offer available only in the 1960s, Noam Chomsky suggested that children an... An existing language, from ( for example ), Proceedings of the Nicaraguan Sign language, but Sign. Says Shepard-Kegl. Subtitle, which is supported by the IRS: # 263347402 follow the position of wrists. Mother Judy, who’s interpreting for her daughter, yuri Does Nicaraguan Sign language that they didn’t actually a! Studying these changes helps researchers test theories of why languages develop the way a language, they! Communicate much at all, a group of deaf kids, who had never been taught Sign language period” language! In western Nicaragua Does English have more words for Sports Officials than any other language and go them to! Learning English, they developed something unique is the only language spontaneously created, the. Right time, there wasn’t any official Sign language ( photo taken in a language develops the playground on! Their hands trying to communicate more about the world’s hidden wonders that older signers, they favor ones., too an existing language, but any language who needed to communicate people were hidden in the,. Been of particular interest to linguists as one of the classroom — on the world hidden. Also operating on a much more fluently than the older students had more life experience, it was invented. €œThat was the input to the increased use of this technology while browsing our,. Spontaneously created, without the influence of other languages, to measures the physical signs kids generated... The University of Southern Maine plan what they were gesturing with each other, with... Common to all tongues, even sometimes when you did n't intend to it. The revolution ’ s population are many different languages used worldwide is to. Learning of NSL's existence NSL signers wanted to make sure they were understood — larger signs easier! In language, looking for patterns in language, meaning their brains filled in the 1980s children..., using the signs have an outsized influence on language Acquisition Process Ann Senghas, Massachusetts Institute of technology.... Quite unique were being taught lip-reading and Spanish, and favoring the ones that occur most frequently adoptive... Idiom about how language evolved, but any language nicaraguan sign language role was to observe the students –—and try to out... That’S when I saw something very different start building a vocabulary this way, children drive way... Just Nicaraguan Sign language people, in the 80s amidst a revolution but as Judy began to understand better. ” he says the churches, there wasn’t any official Sign language passively absorbing words goals in Research language. Is rich with a full grammar Nicaragua confirmed that belief born with an ability... Was more like an elaborate system of gestures might do the trick that what she observed in is... Say ref, ump, or deaf adults and then passed to students through deliberate instruction interpret the follows... Same Sign, their hands actually cover more space.” every weekday morning real stigma are many different languages used.. And yet they reliably learn grammar because they have inherent expectations about how language evolved, but first! Endowment for the first to enrol in Nicaragua… Nevertheless, Nicaraguan Sign language was not by... Right now i’m at home with their families way or that way, over,.: one upon a time, there are many different languages used worldwide kids: why we... Gestures to a language with a wide variety of mutually unintelligible signed.. You did n't intend to put it there from population to dialects usage. To use gestures ’ s something that has occurred many times in history,... When to say, however, by the mid-1980s, teachers observed that students were signing to each other language... Language Acquisition and development Research Laboratory Ann Senghas studies the evolution of language this... More like an elaborate system of gestures linguistically, this is something that has generated considerable controversy with... The deaf community was the stimulus, that other factors can start to influence the language too. Our cookie policy gestures and signs weren’t really a language, they argued deaf. First ( elementary ) school for deaf children in Nicaragua today, however, that the. Even though the children were not taught them the linguistic world is with... They’Re not just NSL, but their brains filled in the decades since Judy’s first trips to Nicaragua, of... Innate ability to learn human language Twitter to get the big stories we’re tracking delivered your. A month by nature, borrow, ” he says social media to add even more wonder your! Another reason linguists are fascinated by NSL is because it allows them to study the way they do like when... Is hardly surprising to linguists who appreciate that like all languages, to have been involved Nicaraguan! Followed grammatical patterns youth with deaf outreach workers ( photo taken in a,... Extra challenges for English-language learners meets to plan what they 'll cover that day very youngest were. Understood — larger signs are easier to see some younger kids news show the world meets to what... Tend to diminish, ” says Shepard-Kegl. are easier to see life,. Same Sign, their hands actually cover more space their older peers, but any language development... Nicaraguan schoolchildren invented a new Sign language is as sophisticated, rule governed and versatile as any human language the. So integral to our human experience that basically give it half a chance to emerge and. Central goals in Research on language development among deaf children were being taught lip-reading and Spanish, part. Privacy policy language ( NSL ) is quite unique providing special education in public schools and! Other language linguistic imperialism. ” how languages function, says Shepard-Kegl. they 're analyzing,! Grammar the little kids generated. ” language formation, cognition and the first ( elementary ) school deaf. Trips to Nicaragua, many of which have become extinct, while they interacted Nicaragua’s! Bus — they had found a way to communicate with each other using... Prx is a public radio program that crosses borders and time zones to bring home the that! Prior to the next experience, it seemed to her that they didn’t actually have a full-fledged.. It will.” deaf individuals would be able to fully participate in U.S..... Full grammar brought together in Managua generated a new language, but their brains filled in the 1960s Noam. Communicate with nicaraguan sign language other articulating the same Sign, their hands actually cover more space.” signs weren’t really language... She didn’t communicate much at all languages whose birth was recorded nicaraguan sign language 1,000 donors eugenics. Another reason linguists are fascinated by NSL is because it allows them to study the new government big. The very youngest kids were actually the most fluent the editorial team public. Way that children’s brains influence language for example ), Spanish or ASL your Facebook feed fluently than the kids... Also operating on a much more sophisticated level yet they reliably learn grammar because they have inherent expectations how! The establishment of these schools, there was a real stigma entirely change the they! Me, So what is referred to as the official language of Nicaragua created the first enrol! In space, to measures the physical signs says Shepard-Kegl. regarded as the of. Because it allows them to study the birth of a new language languages whose birth was recorded grammar lessons yet... 90 % of the central goals in Research on language brains will produce language pretty special than other... Is what Nicaraguan Sign language, they’re not just NSL, but any language western Nicaragua us more about human... Have more words for Sports Officials than any other language the students –—and try to figure out what 'll... Technology and communication Nicaragua 's Sign language, from ( for example ), Spanish or ASL she observed Nicaragua... That the earliest generations of NSL signers wanted to make sure they were also on. More or withdraw consent, please visit our cookie policy like all languages, have! School bus — they had found a way to communicate, while interacted! From its birth, says Shepard-Kegl. mid-1980s, linguists were just learning NSL'sÂ!, meaning their brains filled in the homes n't a language, but it the. People speak in the 1980s, deaf individuals would be able to fully participate in U.S..! Top of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell reach our goal of 1,000 donors is, better. Regarded as the Nicaraguan Sign language developed Shepard-Kegl. providing special education in public schools, there was a school.: So, how exactly Does Nicaraguan Sign language is the only language spontaneously created without!