Con Language Geekiness

[justben]

Learned something at the Con. Was babbling randomly with people after a roundtable and ran into a couple of people who knew ASL. Apparently, they report, facial expressions have a grammatical function in the language. The same hand gestures can be interpreted as a statement, a yes/no question, or a broader question of fact, distinguishable only by

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[bheansidhe]

I have wanted to learn ASL since I was six years old and taught myself finger-spelling from a poster in the school library. I checked out a few books but the medium didn't work for me, and there weren't any VCR tapes or internet downloads at the time *cough*. I can still fingerspell, though.

It's still my goal to learn ASL. And I just discovered I can take cheap classes at the Atlanta School for the Deaf. It's odd how I found this out; it's because I'm getting to know my third cousin - she also lives in Atlanta, but I've seen her maybe four times in my life. As part of our get-to-know-each-other campaign, she invited me to her children's church dedication ceremony this Easter sunday (at the Unitarian church; it must run in the family). During the ceremony I was sure I saw her signing to her 2-year-old son - who can hear perfectly well. When I asked her later, she said she'd been teaching him ASL since birth; he signed for months before he started talking.

Theories are that male brains pick up language differently - visual over verbal - and that signed communication with toddlers can cut down on temper squalls induced by the sheer frustration of not being able to convey your ideas to the adults around you.

So we stood in her kitchen and finger-spelled at each other. I think we're going to get along.