ASL history chart
Thanks to Don who posted a link to Google’s news archive. I decided to explore a little further and saw this great chart generated by Google. So I made this chart with a bit of ASL history.
1816 - Sign language from France was brought to the United States by Thomas Gallaudet, now known as American Sign Language.
1880 - ASL was banned in the 1880 Milan Conference.
1960 - Dr. William Stokoe Jr. published Sign Language Structure, showing that ASL is a complex natural language in its own right with an independent syntax and grammar.
1988 - Deaf President Now (DPN) began protest, selecting Dr. I King Jordan as Gallaudet’s first deaf president.
2000 to now - Another protest at Gallaudet University. Deaf blogsphere emerged. Videophone is invented.
4 Comments, Comment or Ping
deb ann
.cool~
Jan 25th, 2008
DE
So cool. Will be using it for Deaf Studies stuff at work! Thank you.
Jan 25th, 2008
Barb DiGi
Nice job. May I make several suggestions about the history of ASL? I had made a chart for my Deaf studies class as well but unfortunately I can’t post a chart in the comments box but you can get the idea about adding these comments (that is if you want to) in new boxes.
Prehistoric Period
Believed that gestural languages were used in pre-historical period
Colonial Period in America
2,000 to 6,000 def people lived in America prior to 1817 (founding of ASD)
Prior to 1817
Evidence of sign language development had existed at Martha’s Vineyard before the founding of ASD
After 1817
In 1817, Thomas Gallaudet brought Lauren Clerc to teach signs in America. About 60% of signs used to be related to French Sign Language 160 years ago but now 40% or less.
Since the DPN protest, it opened more doors for the Deaf to obtain high position jobs and more ASL courses are taught in high schools and colleges.
As for the blogosphere, we can also mention the birth of vlogosphere making ASL more accessible.
Keep it going!!
Jan 25th, 2008
natech
Thanks Barb for sharing more info on the ASL history. I was just using the chart off of Google’s news archives as it’s based on the number of articles that American Sign Language appears in. It’s definitely growing as technology gets better and more people are connected.
Jan 26th, 2008
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