Why Our Journal is in English
A Note from the President By Samuel J . Supalla
Why Our Journal is in English
Since the last newsletter issue , a lot of things have happened with the SASL Journal . You may be wondering when the first journal issue will come out , and the answer is around January . I must say that the process of creating the journal has been much more labor intensive than originally thought ! Dr . Jody Cripps of Towson University , the journal ' s editor , has been busy with soliciting papers from presenters of our last conference in November , 2015 ( see http :// www . societyforasl . org / celebration-of-sign-language-2015-documentary . html ). All of the papers are subject to the peer review process . I appreciate that many reviewers from around the country have agreed to help out . Hopefully , all six papers will be accepted for publication in the first SASL Journal issue . And the big question remaining is : Why will the SASL Journal be published in English and not ASL ?
This question is a hard but fair one . I know of at least two journals that have been published in ASL . This means that contributors sign , and their ‘ text ’ is videotaped and posted . I must say that it is experimental , to say the least , to have a scholarly paper done through the oral means , that is , signing in ASL . I have watched some scholars attempting to sign a text academically on video , however , I became restless and inattentive to their efforts . As an academician , I find it engaging and thoughtful to read a scholarly paper that is written . I have come to believe that the written language consistently represents the scholarly content best . If ASL had a writing system , I can imagine how we could benefit from a journal written in ASL . Unfortunately , ASL has been a non-written language throughout its 200-year history . The fact that there are multiple writing systems developed for ASL over the years , but is not yet part of deaf education is something to consider . While I attended a school for the deaf and am a native signer , I was never taught to read and write ASL .
Another point to make is that scholars have long recognized the distinction between oral culture and print
culture . The American deaf community is part of an oral culture . Deaf people possess oral traditions and have a large body of ASL literature that is signed . I
have no reservations regarding an ASL literary piece published through the video or DVD format . My published work " For a Decent Living " as part of the ASL Literature Series in 1994 proves that . The ASL Literature Series is an anthology and not a journal . For me , scholarly journals belong in print , and we should not try to change that .
I hope that the rationale I outlined explains why the SASL Journal will be in English . With SASL being a newly formed organization , we are fortunate that ASL literacy has been written into its mission . Thus you will see some scholarly papers coming out on signed language writing and reading through the SASL journal . The scholarly attention to ASL literacy is unprecedented and much needed , especially considering this discussion !
( Continue on page 5 )
The Power of ASL 4 Winter 2016 – Issue 4