SASL Newsletter - Spring 2017 Issue Issue 5 - Spring 2017 | Page 11

sorry, I don’t understand you.” has very different meanings in ASL and English. In the Deaf
community, it is a real apology, a sharing of the failure of communication. It means: ‘I didn’t get it yet,
tell me more.’ In the English community, it often is almost an accusation, meaning: ‘You didn’t explain
clearly,’ or ‘Your ideas don’t match mine.’ It can even signal an end to the conversation. Later, as a
result of the language immersion and with the support of ASL consultants, I wrote a doctoral
dissertation outlining structural characteristics of the predicate classifier system in ASL (McDonald,
1982).
Throughout my linguistics teaching and research career, working with Deaf colleagues and
ASL has been a connection to family, community, and history. Through ASL, I have full access to the
wisdom and support of the community. They consider me theirs and take pride in my language
fluency. Here is an example: In our social gatherings, there was always one Deaf man who would tell
with pride the story of how when I was little, I would be afraid of him, because we could not
communicate well, but then when he met me again later, I was a fluent signer: “WONDERFUL!”
When he passed away, I knew that I would miss the telling of my story to others. I was astounded to
see another community member take up the story whenever I was present.
ASL enables us maintain the threads in our community history. Through ASL, I also have
access to the history of our language and support for researching it. Community colleagues like my
Mom -- Mary Greene, and Steven DeBottis, and many others share their deep knowledge of data
from St. Mary’s School for the Deaf (SMSD), founded in 1853 in Buffalo, NY. They share their
knowledge of other related researchers and topics. In particular, their stories about who attended the
school, how they got their name signs, and their knowledge of community members from distant
locales with similar signs, provide valuable details about the historical ASL community and
connections. They spread the attitude that language variation is not “strange”; it is cherished history
and an invitation to research.
In the case of the ASL variety signed at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, research shows its
roots in French Sign Language (or LSF), as is the case with standard ASL. Consider the SMSD sign
PICTURE, as signed by Mary H. Greene, a 1945 graduate.
Fig. 1: “Picture” by Mary H. Greene, 1945 SMSD graduate
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The Power of ASL
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Spring 2017 – Issue 5