SUGGESTIONS

ON CERTAIN VARIETIES OF THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNS AS USED IN THE

INSTRUCTION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB.

BY L. WELD.

ALL language may be considered as a collection of signs addressed to the sense either of hearing or of sight. That which is commonly called the language of signs, and which is employed in the instruction of the deaf and dumb, is of course addressed to the sight alone, and consists of various kinds, or classes, of pantomimic signs. It forms in part that complete pantomime by which ideas may be conveyed with as much clearness and precision to the initiated, as they can be by speech to mankind in general.

Practical instructors of deaf mutes agree that the use of pantomimic signs is indispensable in the early stages of instruction. The signs to be used at this period of the course are those most simple and natural, most clear and easy of comprehension, such in fact, as are used in their elements by the untaught deaf mute to express his wishes, his fears and various thoughts and feelings. For instance, nothing can be more natural and easy than to imitate the actions of putting something into the mouth, chewing and swallowing it, to express the idea of eating; to incline the head upon the hand with the eyes shut, to represent sleeping; to move the fingers as if guiding a pen, for writing-and so for most simple common actions. For a common object, as a chair, the drawing of the outlines of its form in the air and imitating the action of sitting down upon it, thus alluding to its use, are equally

natural and easy; and so of other visible objects. The earnest look towards an object, with an extending of the hands as if to draw it within reach, expresses the idea of wishing or desiring; and in similar ways, all possible emotions may have their appropriate expression, in which the changes of the countenance, the attitudes of the body, the actions of the hands, the limbs, the whole person are called forth as circumstances require. Signs like these the deaf child employs with more or less precision without being taught; as indeed other young children do to a limited extent, before they acquire the free use of speech. It is, in either case, the prompting of a natural desire to express the thoughts or emotions of a mind under some restraint, that leads to this use of gestures. Hence the term natural signs is applied to them, in contradistinction to methodical, conventional or arbitrary.

There are four principal classes of signs used in the instruction of the deaf and dumb; namely, the alphabetic,the strictly natural, the methodical and the conventional or arbitrary.

The alphabetic are such as represent each letter of the alphabet by a certain position of either hand. On this, for the present purpose I need not enlarge.

Of the strictly natural, I have already given some explanation. It may be added here however, that this is by far the most important class, as with proper modifications it is the great instrument in the communication of instruction to the deaf and dumb. It includes not those signs merely which are natural to an infant, or to a very ignorant mind, but to the most enlightened also, and it is applicable to the most elevated subjects of thought as well as the simplest.

Of the other classes mentioned, I will soon speak more at large. Writing and picture-drawing might be included among the distinct classes of signs used in the education of the deaf and dumb. The former is of course indispensable, and the latter a very desirable accomplishment. But these are not claimed as belonging to the language of signs, of which we now treat.

Methodical signs include all those simple natural signs which admit of little or no variation, but in their application

to the teaching of words, should be made essentially alike under all circumstances. This class has many subdivisions; such as the signs for certain words indicating divisions of time; as to-day, yesterday, to-morrow, etc.: those for the adverbs of time, as always, never, now, hereafter: those for human relationship, as father, mother, son, daughter: those for the passions, as love, sorrow, fear, grief, joy: those for some of the pronouns, the prepositions, conjunctions; those for synonyms very generally; in short, those used for all the radical words of the written language taught, embracing large numbers of nouns, verbs and adjectives. For the purposes of the school-room these should be given in all their variations of case, tense, degree, etc. If the pupils in a school of deaf mutes are taught to make such signs as are really fundamental in a similar manner, that is, so nearly alike that they cannot but be generally and readily understood by those of equal or superior intelligence to themselves, there is an ease, confidence and satisfaction in their use which renders it as agreeable as speech. Merely natural signing without established method is incapable of this in its application to many subjects, as we constantly see in our conversations with new pupils. Such pupils have a limited range of thought, and their range of intelligible means of expression is often more limited still. But we see it admirably and rapidly enlarged, with little effort on their part, when they become somewhat familiar with their fellows at school, whose natural language has been made clearer and more exact by that judicious, methodical use of it which prevails around them.

It is obviously desirable in a school of deaf mutes that the methods of communication should be easy of comprehension; adapted to the state of weak and ignorant minds. To this end the gestures, postures, expressions of the countenance, and various actions of those in habitual intercourse with them, will naturally assume more or less of a fixed character. Deaf mutes themselves before instruction, follow the same natural law, so far as to use the same or similar signs from day to day when repeating the same idea, just as those who speak use similar phraseology in a thousand instances in their

repetition of the same trains of thought. But it is desirable that those expressive natural signs, which according to his ability each deaf mute invents and uses as his only language before he comes under regular instruction, should be improved, by the methodical arrangement, the judgment and taste of a well educated teacher. No untaught deaf mute possesses the best taste in the use of his vernacular, any more than uneducated persons who hear, have those ideas of grace, beauty and propriety of expression that belong to enlightened minds. Experience shows what signs are best suited to the end in view, and taste and judgment teach us to reject what are superfluous and to modify those which are awkward, ungraceful or otherwise objectionable. They thus become methodical; and it should be distinctly understood that methodical signs are founded on the natural, and become properly established and methodized under the culture of those who possess good taste, judgment and discrimination.

Methodical signs also include those which though radically natural as before stated, are yet modified by the habits of society or the associations of refined people. The idea, for instance, of imprisoning or securely confining a man, would be naturally expressed by a savage, by the signs for tying him to a tree, binding him to the earth, or surrounding him by a circle of fierce warriors. The civilized man would use those signs which indicate shutting him in a strong room, or a prison. The radical signs in each case would be strictly natural to the persons using them, and the idea of imprisonment would be fully conveyed. Frequent practice in the case of a teacher would render his use of the signs necessary to convey this idea, methodical ;-that is, he would fall into a method of his own. But in a school where there are several teachers and many pupils, there must be a common method and each must adhere to it so closely as to be perfectly intelligible to all around him. He will of course have his own style, just as every one has a style in penmanship, in some degree peculiar to himself. In each school there should be, no doubt, a common source or standard of signs, and so far as it is possi ble, this should be true of all the schools of a nation.

Methodical signing, as thus explained, is quite necessary for the establishing of uniform clearness and precision, even in the common conversation of the deaf and dumb. But it is especially important in teaching by means of lectures. In the common exercises of the school-room, much of the instruction on written language, assumes the form of a lecture. If, for instance, I am to teach my pupils for the first time the meaning of such words as truth, virtue, benevolence, industry and their opposites, at the same time that I teach the words themselves, I must not be satisfied with merely stating that such and such persons speak the truth, are virtuous, benevolent, industrious; but I ought so to state the circumstances, the actions, the emotions of the individuals, whom by my pantomime I bring before them, as to exhibit these ideas per fectly to their minds, and often with a considerable variety of application. I ought also to give them model sentences in which these words are used, that they may have the guidance of authority in their future use. All teachers of the deaf and dumb will understand this, and the reasons for it need not be stated.

If my object is to communicate facts in history, biography, or science, I need not wait till my pupils can understand the elevated language of books, but may resort at once to the lecture, either short or long according to circumstances,-the lecture by signs.

I may also for their sakes and my own, use every other aid to illustrate the subject, especially such words and sentences as I know them to understand, either by dactylology, or by writing them down in their presence, but my main reliance must be upon signs, signs for ideas, without primary reference to words. These too must be extensively methodical signs, that is fixed, previously understood among us, as a common medium of communication.

The same is true preeminently of the religious lecture. How shall we teach the great facts, truths, doctrines of the Bible? Shall we wait three, four, five or more years, till our pupils can read the scriptures for themselves? And, even if