deaf sign

deaf sign 


 The sign language constituting the deaf as subject



The importance of sign language to form the deaf identity




Liliane Correia Toscano de Brito DizeuI; Sueli Aparecida CaporaliII

Master's degree in linguistics from the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) and professor of the Phonoaudiology Course of the University Foundation of Health Sciences of Alagoas (UNCISAL). E-mail: lilianectbrito@ig.com.br
IIDoutora in sciences from the University of São Paulo (USP) and professor of graduation and post-graduation of the Course of Speech-Language Pathology at the Methodist University of Piracicaba (UNIMEP). E-mail: sueli.caporali@merconet.com.br





ABSTRACT

The proposal of bilingual education for the deaf has been widely discussed. In this, the subject must acquire the sign language, as the first language, naturally and a second language, the language of the majority hearing society (oral and / or written), built through the linguistic bases obtained through sign language . In this text, some important aspects about the Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS) and its acquisition by the deaf child are discussed, regarding the development of language, cognition and social interaction. It also discusses the importance of the insertion of the deaf child into the deaf community for the formation of identification and cultural processes, in order to help professionals working with the deaf to reflect on the importance of LIBRAS for the deaf.

Keywords: Deafness. Language by signs. Education.

ABSTRACT

The proposal of bilingual education for the deaf has been largely discussed. In this theoretical principle, the deaf must acquire the sign language, the first language, by natural way and second language, the predominant language of listener society (in the oral and / or writing form) based on the first language learning. In this text, are discussed some important aspects about LIBRAS (Brazilian Sign Language) and its cognition by the deaf child, on the development of the language, cognition and social interaction. The importance of the deaf child insertion in the deaf community for the formation of cultural identification and process will also be discussed, with the aim to take professionals involved in deaf people education to reflect on the LIBRAS importance to the deaf.

Key words: Deaf. Sign language. Education.





1. Sign language

Adiscussion on deafness, education and sign language has been expanded in recent years by professionals involved in the education of the deaf, as well as by the deaf community itself. According to Moura (2000), the education and social insertion of the deaf are a serious problem, and many paths have been followed in the search for a solution.

The signing of the Brazilian Language of Signals (LIBRAS) in April 2002 (Law No. 10.436, of April 24, 2002) begins to open new paths, without, however, giving rise to controversy by professionals working with the deaf and deaf oralized, who do not feel part of a deaf community and see no merit in this victory for the deaf community.

The sign language, the natural language of the deaf, because the deaf child acquires spontaneously without the need for specific training, is still considered by many professionals only as symbolic gestures. In general, in our society there is no place for differences, with deaf users of sign language being disregarded in the educational process.We live in a society in which oral language is imperative, and as a consequence it will be up to all who are part of it to adapt to their means of communication, regardless of their possibilities. Any other form of communication, such as sign language, is considered inferior and impossible to compare with oral languages.

Many professionals who work with the deaf have a vision of sign language as a form of communication, not attributing it to language status and as an alternative to deaf people who have not been able to develop oral language. According to Skliar (1997), oralism is considered by scholars a social imposition of a linguistic majority on a linguistic minority.

As a consequence of the prevalence of this oralist view on sign language and deafness, the deaf person does not participate in the process of social integration. Although the strongest premise underlying oralism is the integration of the deaf into the listening community, it can not be attained in practice, at least by the vast majority of deaf people. This ends up mainly reflecting the development of his language, and the deaf is silenced by the listener, for many times not understood.

There is no denying the advances that technology has brought to the early detection of deafness and intervention in this process. With the appearance of otoacoustic emissions and Universal Neonatal Hearing Screening programs it is possible to diagnose deafness early and initiate an early intervention work, covering the baby and the family. Currently, digital hearing aids allow greater power with better sound quality for adaptation in children (Buerkli-Halevy & Checkley, 2002). Multichannel cochlear implants have also been an option for those who do not benefit from hearing aids (Koslowisky, 1997). In addition, in the field of computer science, the amount of software that exploits the visual image is increasingly common in the market, facilitating a series of accesses to deaf educators.

However, it is important to be aware that all this technology is not available to the entire deaf population, especially considering our social, cultural and economic reality. Moreover, even if all this technology were accessible, it in itself does not guarantee the linguistic, identificatory and cultural development of the deaf subject. The use of these resources will not guarantee that these subjects will be orchestrated and integrated into society, as the oralist premise defends.

It is necessary to accept the differences between deaf people in relation to the type of communication used, whether oral or sign language. Does this difference mean inferiority?

The discussion gesturalism versus orality occurs from the beginnings of the education of the deaf. If we take as an example countries with more advanced health and education systems, such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and even the United States of America, discussions about deafness and the low educational attainment of the deaf are also controversial.

It is necessary to change the focus in the work with the deaf, and this work must be centered in the development of language.



2. Sign language and languageBefore starting this discussion, it becomes essential to clarify the terms "language" and "language". Saussure (1987) states that language is not confused with language, since it is only a determinate part, essential of it, undoubtedly, being at the same time a social product of the language faculty and a set of necessary conventions adopted by the body to enable the exercise of this faculty in individuals.

Language, in turn, is seen as everything involving signification, which has semiotic value, not being restricted to only one form of communication, and it is in it that the individual's thought is constituted (Goldfeld, 1997). The author also points out that language is always present in the subject, even when the subject is not communicating with other people; so it constitutes the subject, the way it cuts out and perceives the world and itself.

For Vygotsky (1989), the main trajectory of the child's psychological development is a path of progressive individualization, that is, a process that originates in social, interpersonal relationships and transforms into individual, intrapersonal relationships.

Thus, the language of the child, from its inception, is essentially social; it develops at the level of social interactions, in interpersonal relationships. In the course of the child's development, his social discourse is subdivided into communicative discourse and egocentric discourse. The latter, according to Vygotsky (1989), arises when the child transfers the cooperative social forms of behavior to the internal personal psychic functions. Over time, this discourse becomes an inner discourse, distinguishing itself both structurally and functionally from social speech.

The structures of discourse, when dominated by the child, become the basic structures of thought.

Taking these assumptions into account, the available social facilities that provide care for the deaf are still mostly engaged in a practice in which orality is seen as the focus of development. The central concern is marked by the use of hearing aids, the development of auditory perception and intensive speech training, and language is often disregarded or not valued. It is not a question of devaluing or disregarding the rehabilitation work traditionally done by speech therapists, but it is necessary to consider that only a few deaf people achieve good results and unfortunately they are not the majority. This reality can not be disputed by verifying the educational attainment of the deaf.

The child listener since her birth is exposed to oral language, in this way is given the opportunity to acquire a natural language, which will allow to make communicative exchanges, to experience situations of their environment and, thus, to have an effective language and constitute their language. language. For the deaf child, the same opportunity should be given to acquire a language of their own to constitute their language.

Our society is not prepared to receive the deaf individual, not offering him the conditions to develop and consolidate his language. Thus, we can depreciate reports that claim to be deafness causing cognitive and affective limitations, because the true limitation lies in the conditions offered to this deaf subject.

Góes (1999) points out that stereotyped characterizations, such as concrete thinking, rudimentary conceptual elaboration, low sociability, rigidity, emotional immaturity, etc. have been associated with deafness.

Marked by these inquiries, many professionals have pursued other, more viable, paths that enable the deaf to perform better in terms of language, social, educational and cultural performance. These proposals have been developed by many countries in Europe, some states in the United States, some countries in Latin America and also in Brazil.

From the acquisition of a language, children begin to construct their subjectivity, since it will have resources for their insertion in the dialogical process of their community, exchanging ideas, feelings, understanding what is happening in their environment and acquiring new conceptions world. In the case of deaf children, daughters of hearing parents, this process will not happen naturally, since the linguistic modalities used in mother-child interactions are not easily acquired by these children. The process of language acquisition will not be natural, as it is for children listening.There is then a need to place the deaf child close to his peers as quickly as possible, ie in contact with a deaf adult, fluent in pounds, which will be for this child the easiest way to facilitate his acquisition of the language. Under these conditions, by acquiring LIBRAS, it will become capable of signifying the world. The most promising experiences indicate the need for direct action by deaf signaling adults with deaf people who do not have access to sign language, so that it can be given quickly and efficiently, in addition to contributing to the formation of the deaf person's identity of these subjects.

By the time the child acquires its natural language, it becomes capable of learning a second language by becoming a bilingual being. In the case of the deaf, as is not always the case, we can find adult deaf people who, due to lack of access to sign language in childhood, reach adulthood without having acquired any language because they were only exposed to an oral language and satisfactory performance.

Sign language plays an expressive role in the life of the deaf subject, leading him, through a structured language, to full development. Harrison (2000) states that this language provides the deaf child with the opportunity to gain access to language acquisition and knowledge of the world and of themselves.

This language, like any other, must be inserted into the life of the child in the first three years of age, so that the child acquires it naturally. However, according to the reality of our country, the detection of deafness does not always occur until the first year of life, just as access to sign language is late. Hardly the importance of pounds is pointed out by professionals who give the diagnosis of deafness to parents. It is fundamental that the professionals transmit to the deaf child's family the different proposals of speech-language work and inform about the importance of LIBRAS for their educational, social and cultural process, as well as their conceptions and consequences for the general development of the deaf. It is essential to clarify and, as Harrison (2000) suggests, to provide language in the expected time, as this may bring benefits to the child and family dynamics.

Sign language has the gesto-visual field as the propagating medium, which differentiates it from oral language, which uses the oral-auditory channel. Besides this difference, it also presents antagonisms regarding the constitutive rules. However, sign language must be respected as a language, as it assumes the same function as oral language, communication.

According to Quadros (1997), such language arises from the same ideals, the natural and specific needs of human beings to use a linguistic system to express ideas, feelings and actions. Thus, sign language consisted of the need for the deaf to communicate and participate as an integral part of their environment, since they present difficulties in acquiring oral language. This language presents in its structure abstract systems, grammatical rules and linguistic complexities, as well as metaphorical expressions. Quadros also emphasizes that sign language is as complex and expressive as oral language. This language, like all others, establishes its own characteristics, according to nationality and even regionality. It comprises a material organization of constituents, closed and conventional, corresponding to the possibilities of the visual-manual-gestural channel. As Sacks (1998) states, sign languages ​​have complete syntax, grammar, and semantics, but they have a different character from that of written and spoken languages.We are inserted in a listening community, where all communicative processes derive from orality and our social relations become possible in / through language. To be part of these relationships you must also have access to the majority language; this will provide experiences, acquisition of knowledge and integration into the environment. However, these rules apply to the components of society that do not interfere with the oral-auditory channel. In the case of the deaf, this access to oral language will not show favorable conditions. Faced with this, the incorporation of sign language into the life of these subjects becomes essential. In this sense, Góes (1999) affirms that sign language will be necessary for conditions that are more conducive to the expansion of interpersonal relations, constituting cognitive and affective functioning, promoting the constitution of subjectivity.

Sacks (1998: 52) points out that "a human being is not devoid of mind or mentally deficient without a language, but is severely restricted in the reach of his thoughts, confined in fact to an immediate world , little". When the author indicates that the language-deprived person is confined to a small and medium world, he reminds us of deaf children who did not have access to sign language acquisition and who did not succeed in oral language: they grew up and became adults without perspective of life, dependent of the family and with minimal possibilities of elaboration of thought. Sign language is easily and quickly acquired by the deaf, giving him the opportunity to communicate, think and express feelings. However, the deaf is denied the opportunity to interact with the world through their own language. And despite so many impositions, the sign language remains present among the deaf, resisting, because of the need that the deaf has, like every human being, to express.

Góes (1999) points out that the learning of a language implies in a certain way to consider a way of assigning meanings to the world through language, thus perceiving the cultural peculiarities. Through this the author means that through language we come to understand the world, constituting our cognitive and the subjective, creating for our own experiences and conceptions, everything and everyone that are part of our environment. In this way, the deaf child needs a language that enables her to integrate into her environment, in which she is able to understand what is around her, to mean her experiences, rather than a language that makes her fit for reproduce a restricted number of words and phrases made, which for it will have no communicative meaning, restricting its potentiality to construct and use language in the dialogical process.



3. Sign Language, Family and Bilingualism

Reis (1997) observed in his studies with parents that what most distresses them in relation to the deaf son is not deafness, but the communicative difficulties entailed by it. Unfortunately, parents still suffer from this obstacle in their relationship with the deaf child, as a consequence of oral, clinical and educational guidance in the deaf child's life.

If parents were given adequate guidance on the importance of LIBRAS for the development of the child, the possibilities that the language offers for the child to communicate with them in a clear way, tell them about their play, learn their teachings and acquire knowledge, with certainty would be spared from this child and his parents' disorders and losses, and especially the emotional problems to which they are subjected.

It is imperative for this child and his / her family that contact with sign language be established as soon as possible. When the family accepts deafness and LIBRAS as an important communicative modality and starts to use it with the child, it will present the condition to make new acquisitions, boosting their linguistic development. The family, then, plays a decisive role in the establishment of sign language as a functioning language in the discourse of the deaf child in the first years of life.

When the child does not receive family support, they will often have unsatisfactory results in terms of language and communication development, which will affect them emotionally. The family is the foundation for the child and when this base is not firm, they will have consequences for development, generating aggressive behaviors and frustrations.According to Kyle (1999), sign language is natural for the deaf because it is acquired quickly and spontaneously, so the deaf child needs to have access to sign language as early as possible, even before he or she enters school. Hence the need for the deaf child, daughter of parents, as well as their family to have contact with deaf adults, sign language users.

Cárnio et al. (2000) emphasize that it can not be denied that deaf children who are daughters of hearing parents will be constantly exposed to oral language. In this way, some of these children can simultaneously acquire the sign language and the language of their parents.

Bilingualism enables the deaf to acquire / learn the language that is part of the deaf community. The educational bilingual work respects the particularities of the deaf child, establishing their capacities as a means for this child to carry out their learning. This proposal also offers access to oral language and systematized knowledge, prioritizing that education must be built from a first language, that of signs, then to acquire the second language, Portuguese (oral and / or written ).

The Bilingual Education Project for the Deaf seeks the acceptance of deafness without aiming at cultural transformations and identification of the deaf subject. According to this proposal, the individual when acquiring a natural language is capable of developing fully, living, learning and communicating, as well as identifying with their culture.

Thus, the linguistic and cultural bilingual conception strives for the deaf subject to have the right to acquire / learn LIBRAS and to help him / her not only in acquiring the second language (majoritarian), but also in enabling him / her to integrate into society. when acquiring a structured language the deaf can create conceptions and opportunities, actively participating in the conviviality in their environment.

Within this proposal, Lacerda & Mantelatto (2000) affirm that bilingualism aims at exposing the deaf child to sign language as early as possible, since this acquisition will lead to a deaf and rich development of language and, consequently, an integral development.

One of the great benefits of bilingualism for the deaf is the opportunity to use the resources of the two languages ​​concomitantly, but it is important to understand the caveat of Góes (1999), when referring to the limitation of deafness in oral language learning.Due to this fact, difficulties may arise regarding its use, which, however, does not preclude the high level acquisition of the written modality. But for the deaf individual to be accepted as bilingual, society must first accept the LIBRAS, in which it is not perceived as a language, but as "gestures" and "mimics", ignoring its linguistic structure as well as as their phonological, morphological and syntactic constituents.

We share the idea of ​​Reis (1997) that language will be constructed in the interactions established by the child, because the acquisition of the linguistic system arises from the reorganization of its mental processes. The author also affirms that language has great importance in the formation of consciousness, promoting the expansion of world perception, ensuring the process of abstraction and generalization, being the link of information and culture between the child and the world.

Telles (1998, p.7) states that "the formation of representational thinking is ensured by the harmonious procedural development of the symbolic function, and language is one of the most satisfactory." In this way, the author states that through the meanings and conceptions constructed through a full development of the subject, the subject is able to form an integral part of the relationships that build and strengthen their culture and community.



4. Sign language and the constitution of the identity of the deaf

According to Rossi (2000), children will construct their social reality and discover themselves through communication, that is, through interactions, they begin to perceive themselves and identify with their peers, thus establishing the differences between the individuals inserted in their environment.

When the deaf person is led to live only with a listening community, without contact with other deaf people, their deafness tends to be concealed and depreciated. The stigma of the handicapped is aggravated by every difficulty this person encounters in order to match the listener. It is important for the deaf to remain integrated in their community, to relate to their peers, without isolating themselves from the majority community. The purpose of this interaction is to constitute the deaf identity, to accept oneself as a normal person, with potentialities and limitations, only deaf.

In order for the deaf person to recognize his deaf identity, it is important that he establish contact with the deaf community, so that he can identify with the culture, customs, language and, above all, the difference of his condition. Through social relations, the subject has the possibility of accepting and representing himself and the world, defining his characteristics and his behavior in the face of these social experiences.

According to Souza (1998), from the moment that the deaf began to meet in schools and associations and formed a group through a language, they were able to reflect on a universe of speeches about themselves , and with it they have gained a favorable space for the ideological development of their own identity.

The deaf community can be represented by associations, churches, schools, clubs, that is, any place where a group of deaf people gather and spread their culture, exchange ideas and experiences, and use sign language. In this way, it plays a constructive role for the deaf identity, because it is through it that identifications with their peers and the acceptance of difference occur, not as a deficient or nonnormal, but with a rich culture that has values ​​and a language of its own . However, this is a minority in the face of the omnipotent listening community, which often sees the deaf and their community as "(...) part of the wider community of the incapable (...)" (Garcia, 1999, 152). ).Solé (1998) points out that in surveys of deaf adolescents, they report that their parents have no more values ​​to transmit to them, because they do not "understand" or "do not like deaf people." Thus, according to the author, these adolescents seek in the deaf community an identifiable possibility capable of answering about their EU. In the community the adolescent will have the chance to obtain a singularity (Solé, 1998).

If the deaf person were involved in the deaf community and their language and culture were respected, their identification would take place before a different, whole community, instead of developing an identity created from the imperfection of "normality."

When the listener society marginalizes the deaf and does not respect it as a citizen with duties and rights before society, this creates a stigma of deficient that does not lead him to fully develop. Reversing this situation, allowing the deaf to have contact with their peers, to know their culture, to use the language that is deaf own, he will be aware of the meaning of his culture and his perception of himself.

What attracts the deaf to integrate in a deaf community are the communicative possibilities and the identification of themselves, that cause him a comfortable participation of conviviality. According to Góes (2000), the community of the deaf makes it possible for a child to be deaf, as well as to make him see himself as a subject belonging to an effective language, which has its own characteristics and is a source of identity.

Unfortunately, for the most part, the deaf are only seen by their inability, and their cultural and linguistic diversity is depreciated. Deaf people belonging to the conviviality of the deaf community are considered to be people who use a different linguistic form, and they want to be seen as able people, who have their particularities, which does not prevent them from growing and developing in the same way as the listeners. According to Solé (1998), when a deaf person, before the listening community, is questioned: If I am not equal to them, what am I? They answer, if they are not part of the deaf community: "hearing impaired", differentiating it from those who are part of a community and use the sign language, the deaf.

The sign language, when acquired in the first years of life, provides the deaf child with a full development as a subject, but when his acquisition is late, the deaf finds some difficulties in understanding a complex context: abstract thinking, development of his subjectivity , evocation of the past, among others.

Thinking about the deaf individual, we believe that it is important for him as a subject: to grow, to develop, to mature, to build and to constitute himself inserted in a proper and natural language. The child, when having access to a language, develops language, interacting with the other, rethinking their actions, elaborating their thinking, experiencing new experiences and developing themselves. A child who does not listen has the same learning conditions as a listening child, but access to the language will be through the gesto-visual channel.

By enabling the deaf child to have the opportunity to develop in a manner analogous to that of hearing children,you will be respecting their language, their difference. The deaf should no longer be denied the right to bean integral and participative part of our society. In addition, in order for the deaf to develop,it is not enough to only allow them to use their language, it is also necessary to promote integration with their culture,to identify and effectively use sign language. The deaf community will have muchthe development of identity, because in this community the sign language occurs spontaneously and effectively.Every subject must interact in its environment, appropriate its culture and its history, and form its identity throughthrough the interaction with the other