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Editor for this issue: Ljuba Veselinova <lveselinemunix.emich.edu>
las-inc.com>/I suspect that many Arabs would consider an attempt at teaching their deaf /fellow citizens a sign language that makes it easier to read a novel in /French or English than to read Arabic some variant of cultural imperialism. 1- ASL would not make it easier to read a novel in English than in Arabic. If what I said gave you that impression, I am sorry. That is not what I meant. I simply meant to point out that literary Arabic is an extremely difficult language to learn - right on par with Latin or Greek in terms of complexity. 2- I agree with the other comment from this same post which pointed out that the deaf ought to have some say in what they learn. If you leave it up to hearing Arabs to decide, they won't necessarily do what's best for the deaf anymore than hearing Americans have traditionally done for American deaf. If you talk to deaf people, I am confident that you will find them more concerned about "cultural imperialism" on the part of their own hearing countrymen than from other deaf people halfway around the world. /Aside from that, since languages (including ASL/FSL) cannot be culturally /neutral (value free) it seems inappropriate to suggest ASL/FSL as a first /choice for deaf people in any Arabic country. 3- American signers use a language so similar to French sign language that it is almost entirely mutually intelligible between French and American signers - much more so than British Sign Language which is totally different. Yet I have a hard time believing that deaf Americans feel the slightest bit subject to cultural imperialism on the part of France. In fact, I've never met a deaf person from the States who knew even two words in French let alone anything about French politics, pop culture, commercial products. Pardon me for saying so, but all this talk of cultural imperialism is a little ridiculous in my opinion. If you want to criticize someone for exercising undue cultural imperialism in the Arabic world, I can give you a list of American tobacco companies and soft drink manufacturers for starters. Add to that Saturday-morning cartoons with all their less than subtle hints at what toys to buy and what foods to consume and you've got a perfect recipe for cultural and commercial inundation of whole societies. /An exisiting and more widely /used sign language from within the Arab world would be more appropriate. 4- I don't disagree with this statement. However, I still think that you ought to get with the deaf people themselves and see what they want. You certainly shouldn't rely on what other Arabs want. In my experience with deaf people, I've found that, as a general rule, they're much more interested in intereacting with each other than they are with hearing people. And, face it, how many hearing people do you know that make any effort at all to communicate with the deaf unless they have close family members who are deaf? My sense is that the deaf of Tunisia would be ecstatic about the idea of learning a sign language used by so many others and in which a wealth of movies and educational resources already exists.Mail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue
osu.edu>I applaud (hendrikMail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue