Weekly Online Lesson Online Lesson Archive Grade Level: 5-9 Subject: Language Arts

Simplified Sign Language

Nikki Kissane, a 21-year-old student graduating from the University of Virginia, has submitted for her student thesis a simplified signing language. The language is made up of simple gestures requiring a minimal number of separate movements, making it easier for people who might have limited motor skills or working memory.

Who stands to benefit from the simplified system? Stroke-impaired adults, autistic children, or anyone who may have temporarily or permanently lost the ability to speak. The system could also benefit people who might not have the time to learn the intricacies of a complete signing language. This includes caregivers in institutions or parents of children with impairments who need to learn to communicate quickly.

The simplified language draws from 20 different sign language dictionaries around the world including those from Africa, Asia and Australia and America. Kissane selected 900 signs that seemed easy to form and remember, and tested these on fellow students. For signs that proved too difficult for students to easily remember, Kissane simplified the sign or made up an easier one.

Kissane's sign language is not perfect — it's not even complete — but it does underscore the need for an easy, gesture-based communication system for those who are able to hear but not speak.

Loosen up your limbs and fingers. In this week's lesson you will learn about sign languages.

Simplified Sign System

Nikki Kissane's senior thesis, The Development of a Simplified Sign System, is online at www.simplifiedsigns.org. Visit the site, and click The Need for a Simplified Sign System in the main menu. Read the two paragraphs explaining why the language was developed and for whom. If you want to investigate further, read Kissane's complete thesis.

Click now to the site's Lexicon of simplified sign images. The words are listed alphabetically (you can jump to a particular letter using the links at the top). To see the sign for a word, simply click it. A simple drawing will appear illustrating how to make the gesture. For example, click the word afraid. The illustration shows an individual with arms crossed over the chest, moving the arms in a trembling gesture. Try making the sign yourself.

Using the lexicon, compose a simple 5-word sentence and make each of the signs.

ASL Browser

How does Simplified Sign System compare with American Sign Language or ASL? Find out by visiting Michigan State University's ASL Browser, an online American Sign Language dictionary with thousands of video ASL signs you can look up and view. The site requires QuickTime.

Begin by choosing an index (A-Z in the bottom frame) and then scrolling down the list on the right to choose a word. For example, you can find the word Rainbow by clicking R in the index and then scrolling down to find the word Rainbow. When you click the word it will appear in the main frame along with a description of the action and a video window. Read the described action, and then click the play button on the video window (bottom left) to see how the sign is performed.

Translate the same 5-word sentence you composed before, this time using ASL. Next, look up and compare the following signs in both ASL and Simplified: doctor, glasses, house, hour, laugh, pill, and trade. Which do you think is easier to remember? Which do you think is easier to sign?

Handspeak

One final site for this week's lesson is Handspeak, another online sign language dictionary. Like before, you can look up words by clicking a letter in the alphabetical index and then choosing a word. You can also look up words by category. This time the signs appear as animated images that keep repeating.

The coolest thing on the site is a series of three ASL Stories. Choose any of the three (part or the full story) and read along as the signers tell you the story visually. Read all three.

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