HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN SIGN LANGUAGE (AUSLAN)
AUSLAN was influenced and evolved from both British Sign Language (BSL) and Irish Sign Language (ISL). The first known deaf person who introduced BSL to Australia was John Carmichael who moved from Edinburgh to Sydney in 1825 whereas ISL was brought to Australia by Irish nuns through private catholic schools.
FACTS ABOUT SIGN LANGUAGE
Sign Language is not a universal language. It is not identical in its vocabulary and grammatical structure. It varies from one part of the world to the other. For example, American Sign Language (ASL) marks the sign of woman lower in its location compared to the sign of man whereas Australian Sign Language (AUSLAN) marks it the other way around.
Sign Language is not based on spoken language. AUSLAN (Australian Sign Language) is not an English sign and it does not follow the grammatical structure of English language. Many aspects of AUSLAN vocabulary and grammar use different rules from those in English. For example, in terms of grammar structure, English language uses plurality by the use of ending -s on nouns to describe the concept of more than one. Moreover, English language also indicates past tense to describe actions happened in the past by using the ending - ed on regular verbs (e.g. study versus studied) or by using the system of modified verbs (e.g. eat versus ate). On the other hand, AUSLAN does not use an ending on nouns to show plurality or an ending on verbs to describe about the past. However, AUSLAN does have shows plurality or past by the movement of the hand, orientation or location of the sign.
Major dialects in Auslan. There are two major dialects in Auslan that emerge as a consequences of the establishment of 2 major school for the Deaf in Melbourne (South) and Sydney (North). It does not affect someone's ability to understand and communicate with each other, only to mark someone's state of origin.
AUSLAN was influenced and evolved from both British Sign Language (BSL) and Irish Sign Language (ISL). The first known deaf person who introduced BSL to Australia was John Carmichael who moved from Edinburgh to Sydney in 1825 whereas ISL was brought to Australia by Irish nuns through private catholic schools.
FACTS ABOUT SIGN LANGUAGE
Sign Language is not a universal language. It is not identical in its vocabulary and grammatical structure. It varies from one part of the world to the other. For example, American Sign Language (ASL) marks the sign of woman lower in its location compared to the sign of man whereas Australian Sign Language (AUSLAN) marks it the other way around.
Sign Language is not based on spoken language. AUSLAN (Australian Sign Language) is not an English sign and it does not follow the grammatical structure of English language. Many aspects of AUSLAN vocabulary and grammar use different rules from those in English. For example, in terms of grammar structure, English language uses plurality by the use of ending -s on nouns to describe the concept of more than one. Moreover, English language also indicates past tense to describe actions happened in the past by using the ending - ed on regular verbs (e.g. study versus studied) or by using the system of modified verbs (e.g. eat versus ate). On the other hand, AUSLAN does not use an ending on nouns to show plurality or an ending on verbs to describe about the past. However, AUSLAN does have shows plurality or past by the movement of the hand, orientation or location of the sign.
Major dialects in Auslan. There are two major dialects in Auslan that emerge as a consequences of the establishment of 2 major school for the Deaf in Melbourne (South) and Sydney (North). It does not affect someone's ability to understand and communicate with each other, only to mark someone's state of origin.