Japanese sign language

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Japanese Sign Language JSLNihonshuwa-JSL.JPG

Spoken in

Japan
speaker 320,000
Linguistic
classification
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

-

ISO 639 -2

so-called

ISO 639-3

jsl

The Japanese Sign Language ( . English Japanese Sign Language, in short, JSL, Japanese. 日本手話 , Nihon Shuwa ) is the official sign language in Japan .

The Pidgin Signed Japanese , which is the Japanese version of the international sign language , and the Japanese spoken language accompanying signs (LBG) , Japanese 日本語 対 応 手 話, must be distinguished from Japanese sign language .

History of origin

Very little is known about the deaf culture of Japan prior to the Edo period (1603–1868). It is recorded that under the penultimate Shogun , Iemochi Tokugawa , messengers were sent to Europe in 1862 to visit schools for the deaf. However, it was not until 1878, during the Meiji period , that a school for the deaf was established in Kyoto .

Until 1948 the Japanese deaf were not allowed to attend a regular school in order to get a basic education or even learn the Japanese sign language.

In the second half of the 20th century, there was a rethink in Japan. It deviated from the point of view that the deaf are only people who cannot hear, and adopted the point of view that the deaf are people who can speak Japanese sign language. However, the Japanese deaf was not allowed to say that JSL is a language of its own.

The Japanese Association of the Deaf achieved more and more acceptance and spread of Japanese sign language among the population of Japan through perseverance and patience, but the sign language is still not fully accepted and, unlike in Germany, is not a separate language.

Overview of Japanese Sign Language Institutes

The slow acceptance of sign language in Japanese culture means that more and more institutes are emerging that train interpreters and give non-deaf people the opportunity to learn sign language.

  • 1991: Founding of the "Association of Japanese Sign language interpreters" (English. Japanese Association of Sign Language Interpreters, JASLI).
  • 1997: JASLI introduces a uniform sign language for sign language interpreters.
  • 2002: The "Japanese Deaf Association" and the "National Association for the Preservation of Sign Language" found the "National Teaching Institute for Sign Language".

In 2006 a new law was passed by the Abe cabinet , which encouraged the governments of the individual prefectures to increase the number of sign language interpreters.

The structure of the Japanese sign language

Finger alphabet

The Japanese sign language, called Shuwa ( 手 話 ) in everyday usage , contains its own finger alphabet ( 指 文字 , shimonji ) and one for international words.

  • the Japanese finger alphabet ( 指 文字 )

  • the German finger alphabet

The finger alphabets are used for surnames, unusual or foreign words, among other things.

There are different signs for more common words .

  • Sign for "to be" as a copula

  • Sign for "bicycle"

  • Gesture "run forever"

  • Sign for "inside"

grammar

The grammatical structure of sign language is very much influenced by the Japanese spoken language and therefore very similar to it. In contrast to German Sign Language (DGS), Japanese Sign Language has different cases , articles and verbs that can be conjugated . Both sign languages, i.e. German and Japanese, are not purely manual languages, that is, languages ​​only spoken with the hands. A voiceless or voiced say the words ( 口話 ) is necessary because the same gestures have different meanings. Active body language ( 身 振 り ) is also necessary, as this determines the type of sentence : statement sentence , question sentence or the command form of a sentence.

The significance of Japanese sign language in Japan today

Japanese sign language is still not fully accepted in Japan, although many messages are held simultaneously in Japanese sign and spoken language and there are entertainment media with Japanese sign language (e.g. Babel , The Call 3 - Final ). Because this increased public interest in Japanese sign language and led to an increase in private courses on sign language, Japanese sign language was not taught in most Japanese special schools for the deaf in 2002. Classes are held there using lip reading and spoken language, or international sign language is taught. The Japanese Association of the Deaf is committed to establishing and translating into Japanese sign language.

Even after the state ban on teaching has been lifted, Japanese sign language is not taught, according to official information.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Leila Frances Monaghan: Many Ways to be Deaf: International Variation in Deaf Communities . Gallaudet University Press, Washington, DC 2003, ISBN 978-1-56368-135-6 , pp. 211 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ Steven C. Fedorowicz: Deaf in Japan: Signing and the Politics of Identity . In: Social Science Japan Journal . tape 10 , no. 2 , October 1, 2007, p. 320-322 , doi : 10.1093 / ssjj / jym038 .
  3. ^ Karen Nakamura: Resistance and Co-optation: the Japanese Federation of the Deaf and its Relations with State Power . In: Social Science Japan Journal . tape 5 , no. 1 , April 1, 2002, p. 17–35 , doi : 10.1093 / ssjj / 05.1.17 .
  4. ↑ a b Introduction. In: jasli.jp. Japanese Association of Sign Language Interpreters, archived from the original on November 7, 2010 ; accessed on November 28, 2010 (English).
  5. ^ The ethics code of the sign language interpreters. In: jasli.jp. Japanese Association of Sign Language Interpreters, archived from the original on June 14, 2013 ; accessed on November 28, 2010 (English).
  6. ↑ Saruhashi, Junko and Yuko Takeshita: Ten Linguistic Issues in Japan: The Impact of Globalization (PDF; 129 kB) accessed on November 28, 2010 at OECD .
  7. ↑ Hoshi no Kinka in the Internet Movie Database , accessed November 29, 2010.
  8. ↑ The official sales page of the manga Calling You (Kimi Ni Shika Kikoenai) ( Memento January 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 29, 2010.
  9. ↑ Orange Days in the Internet Movie Database , accessed on November 29, 2010.
  10. ↑ Introduction. In: jfd.or.jp. Japanese Foundation of the Deaf , accessed July 8, 2016 .