SASL Newsletter - Fall 2017 Issue Issue 7 - Fall 2017 | Page 8

Feature 3: Respect for Deaf Culture. I saved this for last for one important reason. Deaf culture
does not seem to receive the respect that it deserves. Dr. Cripps mentioned SASLJ's commitment to
changing this situation (in his editorial commentary) by expanding the scope of research and
scholarship to include differences, diversity, and inclusiveness. Deaf people have so much to offer (for
themselves and the world) when it comes to their language, ASL. There are standards and quality
issues to consider. The main contributors to the SASLJ's inaugural issue addressed those issues in the
areas of language teaching/acquisition, reading/literacy, and literature/performing arts, which
demonstrates that Deaf culture is real and must be put in the forefront. This includes the needed
professionalization of signed language education as proposed by Dr. Rosen.
What I hope is that the inaugural issue of SASLJ will help show that deaf people as primary
users of ASL are different in many ways, but their view of the world contributes to the diversity of the
human race. Just as hearing people differ in certain ways, deaf people are no exception. SASL is thus
responding through a humanistic and socially beneficial platform for research and scholarship.
How Many Signed Languages
Do We Have Now?
Nowadays, there are 7,099 living languages in the world, including both spoken and signed
forms (Ethnologue, 2017; Simons, 2017). The exact number of signed languages is unknown but there
are several reports that show a variety of numbers. Published yearly by the Summer Institute of
Linguistics (SIL) International, a faith-based non-profit organization supporting language communities
throughout the world, Ethnologue (2017) reports that, out of 7,099 languages, there are 142 signed
languages. Working with local, regional, and global organizations “to help build capacity in sign
language communities for the pursuit of their language development and Scripture translation goals”,
SIL International (2017, https://www.sil.org/sign-languages) suspects that there may be more than 400.
According to the World Federation of the Deaf (2016), there are 70 million deaf people using 300+
signed languages in the world. Interestingly, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, a Finnish linguist who is well
known for writing Linguistic Genocide in Education? – Or Worldwide Diversity and Human Rights? in
2000, feels that “there may be as many [signed] languages as spoken languages in the world. Every
society has deaf people, and they have developed [signed] languages everywhere, with many dialects”
(p. 76).
References
Ethnologue. (2017). Browse by language family. Retrieved from https://www.ethnologue.com/browse/families
SIL International. (2017). Sign languages. Retrieved from https://www.sil.org/sign-languages
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Simons, G. (2017). Welcome to the 20 edition. Retrieved from https://www.ethnologue.com/ethnoblog/gary-simons/welcome-20th-edition
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2008). Bilingual education and sign language as the mother tongue of deaf children. In C. J. Kellett-Bidoli & E.
Ochse (Eds.), English in international deaf communication (pp. 75-94). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
World Federation of the Deaf. (2016). Our work. Retrieved from https://wfdeaf.org/our-work/
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