To Sign Is Human

Plaza-Pust, C., and Morales-Lopez, E. (2008). Sign Bilingualism: Language Development, Interaction, and Maintenance in Sign Language Contact Situations. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 389 pages. Hardback. $158.

We humans do not always get it right. For a very long time, we believed the earth was flat and occupied the center of the universe. For an even longer period of time, we believed language and speech were the same. This historic misunderstanding has been largely corrected in the realm of linguistics. The epicenter of this paradigm shift took place with the validation of the full linguistic status of signed languages over 40 years ago. The aftershocks have been registered in the field of education that has recognized the benefits of sign bilingualism.

However, despite the correction of this erroneous notion about the nature of language, the approach to educating deaf children through oral means has become even more prevalent in the wake of cochlear implants. The trend of language shift away from the use of signed language in deaf education has accelerated in the 21st century. Currently, we may be looking at sign language endangerment in Australia, Denmark, and other parts of the world.

Within this context, we can fully appreciate the relevance of such a wide-ranging and important volume. Carol Padden writes, “This volume is timely and necessary. For those of us who do research on sign languages in the age of cochlear implants and genetic engineering, it is absolutely essential that we marshal the forces of science to demonstrate the depth of the human capacity for language. Indeed, without sign languages, much of what we now know about the human brain, human language and human culture would be less rich and detailed” (xiii).

This volume contributes significant richness and detail to the nature of bimodal bilingualism. The editors have marshaled global explorations of sign bilingualism, including research from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, China, Canada, Italy, German, Austria, and Argentina. The topics covered indicate the complex situations that result from language contact between signed, spoken, and written languages. Research presented in this volume includes the demonstration of a positive correlation between early acquisition of sign language and the development of reading and writing skills in the dominant language. Other studies delve into code-switching, language variation, and dual-language preschools. These studies demonstrate that sign bilinguals demonstrate many of the behaviors of their bilingual peers, but that there is the additional level of complexity added through trimodal bilingualism.

Other studies examine larger political movements on a national level, such as sign language planning and interpreters in Spain and the use of ideological signs in Argentina. In both cases, we see the radical imbalance of power between deaf communities and the medical and educational juggernaut that has helped to ensure that spoken language remains the norm in deaf education. When these studies are read next to those that demonstrate the cognitive benefits of sign bilingualism, we cannot help but be amazed at the perniciousness of oralism.

This volume is one of the most sophisticated and important contributions to the advancement for the case of bilingual deaf education. We need more of these volumes, but in order to spread their insights, texts like these need to be rendered publicly consumable through the popular press and visual media. Indeed, there was great skepticism that the earth was round, but once we got used to the idea, we had much less to fear. The same will be true of the revelation that is spread throughout these pages—to sign is human.

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