Natural signs
Question: Languages such as American Sign Language or British Sign Language
are taught to deaf people, but has sign language ever evolved naturally in any
community?
Answer: Although American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL)
are taught to some deaf students, they are not artificial languages created by
hearing people to benefit the deaf. Both these languages, and more than a
hundred other sign languages, evolved naturally in communities of deaf
individuals. A source of confusion may be that there are also artificially
created communication systems for the deaf such as Signed English. These are
systems…
