|
|
Portuguese Sign Language
It is a language that uses a system of manual, facial, and other body movements as the means of communication, especially among deaf people. As with oral languages, sign languages have highly intricate, rule-governed grammar and phonology and may have a syntax and grammar that differs dramatically from the language spoken locally. The three classes of features that make up individual signs are hand configuration, movement, and position to the body.
Contrary to popular belief, sign language is not universal. Wherever communities of deaf people exist, sign languages develop, but as with spoken languages, these vary from region to region. They are not based on the spoken language in the country of origin. Hundreds of sign languages are in use around the world and are at the core of local Deaf cultures. They have rich, complex grammars and, like every other language used by people, they can be used to discuss any topic, from the simple and concrete to the lofty and abstract.
A misconception sometimes held is that sign languages are dependent in some way on spoken languages, e.g. that they are merely the spelling out of the words of a spoken language using gestural symbols, or that they were invented by hearing people (many hearing teachers of deaf people's schools, for example Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, are often incorrectly referred to as "inventors" of sign language). Sign languages are independent of spoken languages and they follow their own developmental paths. For example, British Sign Language and American Sign Language are different and mutually unintelligible, even though the hearing people of Britain and America share the same spoken language.
One other way sign language differs from spoken is its ability to be written. It would be a mistake however, to assume that sign languages are the only languages that have no written version. Sign languages are not often written; most deaf people who use sign language read and write the spoken language of their country. However, there have been attempts at developing systems for recording sign language. Most of these have been academic attempts at transcription, which often suffer from being unable to capture all the physical features (especially the non-manual and positional ones) used by sign language. As a result, they have not been used outside research.
According to Gallaudet University in 1986, Portuguese sign language is used by a considerable portion of the 8,000 deaf persons. It has different dialects in 2 different deaf schools in Lisbon and Oporto. It does not derived from Portuguese and it is related to Swedish Sign Language. Signed Portuguese has similar signs to Signed Swedish.