nicaraguan sign language

nicaraguan sign language

A language emerging in the 80s amidst a revolution? William Stokoe, known by many as the father of American Sign Language linguistics, disagrees that the emergence of ISN is evidence of a language acquisition device. Every language has a unique story, but Nicaraguan Sign Language is pretty special. It was in the years after the revolution that Judy first got involved with Nicaragua. Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. Molly Flaherty: So, what we see in Nicaragua is that older signers, they sign larger than do younger signers. Molly Flaherty, a psychology professor at Davidson College in North Carolina, uses motion-tracking technology to follow the position of people’s wrists in space, to see how the size of the language — the physical size of the signs in space — has been changing over time. For Shepard-Kegl, the way NSL emerged has reinforced her belief that humans have an innate capacity for language: As long as we’re given the right stimulus, at the right time, our brains will produce language. All rights reserved. Minority languages. In the 1960s, Noam Chomsky suggested that children are born with an innate ability to learn human language. They were gesturing with each other, using the signs they’d used at home with their families. There are theories about how language evolved, but the truth is, nobody really knows. Spanish is regarded as the official language of Nicaragua. The Development of Nicaraguan Sign Language via the Language Acquisition Process Ann Senghas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1. Arbitrating when to say ref, ump, or judge. Nicaraguan Sign Language was not imported from some other country. Which is not what you might expect. But the first Nicaraguan deaf school did not use ASL or any signs at all. “The young kids see people trying to communicate, and repeating, and they see gestures, and they look at this, and their brains go, ‘Boom, I'm going to focus on this.’ We are sort of predestined to do that.”, Judy Shepard-Kegl and an NSL signer in Bilwi, Nicaragua.Â. We couldn’t have done it without your support. Your donation directly supported the critical reporting you rely on, the consistent reporting you believe in, and the deep reporting you want to ensure survives.Â, a dictator whose family had been in power in Nicaragua since 1936, Virtual schooling poses extra challenges for English-language learners, Artist Christine Sun Kim on ‘deaf rage,’ the Super Bowl and the power of sound, Florida teen girls step up to translate Indigenous Mayan languages, 'The death of American exceptionalism’: Views from abroad on US Capitol attackÂ, From Sudan, Ethiopian refugees tell their stories, Latino communities targeted by disinformation ahead of Georgia’s Senate runoffs, 'Georgia, all eyes are on you': Activists galvanize Latino voters ahead of runoffsÂ. Winner will be selected at random on 02/01/2021. They had spent lots of time with the older children, and been exposed to the gestures and signs that the older group was using. The development of Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL) within the last several years is a prime example of how a need leads to innovation. Linguistically, this is especically interesting, as it provides linguists a rare opportunity to study the birth of a new language. Nicaraguan Sign Language has been of particular interest to linguists as one of the few languages whose birth was recorded. We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. All languages have grammar and syntax, but the first children at Managua’s deaf school had no model for how a language worked because they had been isolated from signed, spoken, and written language all their lives, Shepard-Kegl notes. She didn’t communicate much at all for the first few years of her life — until she went to a school for the deaf. At prese… Related: Florida teen girls step up to translate Indigenous Mayan languages. Judy knew that this is something that can happen when a new language comes into being. In order to communicate manually, these communities had to develop their own signed languages. PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402. They copied the grammar the little kids generated.”. Professor of Psychology and Director of the Language Acquisition and Development Research Laboratory Ann Senghas studies the evolution of language. She believes that as long as we’re given the right stimulus, at the right time, our brains will produce language. “Within the Nicaraguan sign community, you still will interact with people who will talk about how the kids are being so messy, and so sloppy, in their signing. But at this elementary school, the very youngest kids were actually the most fluent. “When you watched these guys signing, it just became very clear, it was like somebody just wiped away the fog, and you could see the grammar right there in front of you.”. “Oralism, Bell believed, allowed deaf people to leave their educational and cultural corners and participate in society at large,” writes Brian H. Greenwald, professor of history at the deaf institution Gallaudet University, via email. James Shepard-Kegl – James and his wife Judy have been involved in Nicaraguan Sign Language for many years now. Shepard-Kegl was not alone in her assessment, and in the decades since that first trip to Nicaragua, many other scholars have traveled there to study the new language, too. Rather, Nicaraguan Sign Language is as sophisticated, rule governed and versatile as any human language. Around the world, deaf sign languages, including the one spoken among African Americans in Raleigh, have disappeared or changed significantly when a more widely used language has entered the region. Yuri Shepard-Kegl: My name is Yuri Shepard-Kegl. “Kids are good at learning certain things, and since kids are the primary language learners, they are the ones who are selecting for what stays in language, essentially. One of the signs for “Nicaragua”. Why Does English Have More Words for Sports Officials Than Any Other Language? Soon, they became willing collaborators. When ASL arrived in the country after the 1960s, its appropriation by the deaf community resulted in the creation of New Costa Rican Sign Language (sometimes called Modern Costa Rican Sign Language), around 60 percent of which is made up of ASL signs. “When they're articulating the same sign, their hands actually cover more space.”. Moreover, there are many different languages used worldwide. Marco Werman: So, how exactly does Nicaraguan Sign Language tell us more about the human history of language and communication? Every weekday we compile our most wondrous stories and deliver them straight to you. Because larger signs would be easier to see. In the decades since Judy’s first trips to Nicaragua, many other scholars have traveled there to study the new language, too. She’s looked at how the size of the language has been changing from one generation to the next. It is of particular interest to the linguists who study it, because it offers a unique opportunity to study what they believe to be the birth of a new language. Nicaraguan Sign Language is the only language spontaneously created, without the influence of other languages, to have been recorded from its birth. Nevertheless, Nicaraguan Sign Language de-veloped rapidly. A new sign language created over the last 30 years by deaf children in Nicaragua has given experts a unique insight into how languages evolve. According to Flaherty, older signers are aware that the language is changing — not just the size of the signs, but also things like vocabulary — and at least some of them think that the younger signers are getting it all wrong. Stokoe also questions assertions that the language has emerged entirely without outside influence, from (for example), Spanish or ASL. (Kegl is today co-director of the Nicaraguan Sign Language Project and married to Shepard-Kegl.) Judy Shepard-Kegl: And that made me realize, wait a minute, what am I looking at here? Marco Werman: Yuri was born without hearing. Instead, they focused on teaching children to speak and lip-read Spanish. Yuri Shepard-Kegl: When I was 4 years old, I entered the school and that’s where I started to learn Nicaraguan Sign Language.Â. Babies are not given grammar lessons and yet they reliably learn grammar because they have inherent expectations about how languages function, says Shepard-Kegl. Sign up for our daily newsletter TOP OF THE WORLD and get the big stories we’re tracking delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. This language is unique, and part of that uniqueness comes from the environment in which it was created. Spanish is the official language of Nicaragua. Flaherty believes that the earliest generations of NSL signers wanted to make sure they were understood — larger signs are easier to see. Such conventions occur when a community of speakers, who at home may have all used different signs to refer to an object or action, begin to consistently default to using just one, says James Shepard-Kegl. We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the world’s hidden wonders. While ASL has not replaced the pristine, isolated NSL of the 1980s, which still dominates deaf education there, Nicaraguan Sign Language has begun a natural process of integrating elements of ASL. But how did the elementary school children make the jump from rudimentary gestures to a language with a full grammar? Until then, there wasn’t any official sign language in Nicaragua.Â. Today, however, we know a little more, thanks to a language that only came into being recently: Nicaraguan Sign Language. Though older and younger students attended separate classes during school hours, on buses and playgrounds the children quickly began to select “conventions” for necessary words. Photo by Ann Serghas In the 1970s, a group of deaf Nicaraguan schoolchildren invented a new language. Many linguists regard Nicaraguan Sign Language, or NSL, as an important test case, because the language developed almost in isolation, and … 543-552). Some linguists feel that the “contamination” of a local language by a more globally dominant one results in the marginalization of a native community because it supplants the indigenous form of communication with something from outside. After a couple of weeks, Judy went to see some younger kids at an elementary school. And it has helped fill in some gaps in our knowledge about how languages evolve, how they work, and the role a community plays in all of that — especially when it comes to the youngest learners. “That was the stimulus, that was the input to the younger kids. English immersion for the deaf was part of a wider effort, epitomized by the eugenics movement, to stamp out differences within the American population. I’ve lived here 13 years. Judy Shepard-Kegl: So, they learned it.   Â. Carol Zall: This is key to Judy’s understanding of what happened. Though American Sign Language and some other widely utilized sign languages, such as Chinese Sign Language and Indo-Pakistani Sign Language, have long histories, they were often inaccessible to deaf families and institutions in rural, mountainous, or politically-charged regions. They now are based in the USA but run Nicaraguan Sign Language Projects.. Tio Antonio – Antonio, a chef originally from Valencia, Spain, lives and works in Granada, Nicaragua running the Cafe de las Sonrisas and other projects providing employment … In 1986, Judy Shepard-Kegl, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained linguist with expertise in signed languages, was invited by the country’s Ministry of Education to observe the children at the schools in Managua. And this is where the new language emerged. In this episode of Language Stories, we're exploring the story of Nicaraguan Sign Language. This is not to say, however, that other independent community-based sign languages never existed. There's a whole lot we don't know about vision and speech perception. The kids who really benefited from that input were 4, 5, 6.”Â, The younger children had no way of knowing that the gestures and signs they had seen weren’t really a language.Â, “It had all the right characteristics to fool the human brain into thinking, ‘That's a language.’ So, they learned it. Whereas American Sign Language could have extended into Nicaragua by the 1980s, as it did in neighboring Costa Rica where it combined with a locally developed sign language in the 1960s, Nicaragua’s geo-political isolation prevented ASL from entering the country, notes Shepard-Kegl. Sign languages are not simply a series of gestures; they utilise the same grammatical machinery that is found in spoken languages. Thank you all for helping us reach our goal of 1,000 donors. And because there was a new group of kids entering the elementary school in Managua each year, researchers have been able to compare successive generations of signers, to see how the language has been changing over time. Carol Zall: And that, of course, is what Nicaraguan Sign Language is: the creation of children. Smaller-scale isolated deaf-education programs had existed previously in 20th-century Nicaragua, Shepard-Kegl says, but the critical mass needed to spontaneously develop Nicaraguan Sign Language only occurred with the opening of Melania Morales. As Shepard-Kegl started to understand them better, it seemed to her that they didn’t have a full-fledged language — it was more like an elaborate system of gestures.Â, A few weeks later, Shepard-Kegl visited an elementary school. Get a detailed look at the language, from population to dialects and usage. Newscaster: “Victorious Sandinista rebels marched into Nicaragua’s capital city of Managua today.”. Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. According to Ann Senghas, a professor of psychology at Barnard College who has studied NSL, it was the first time in the history of the country that deaf children were brought together in large numbers. Carol Zall: Molly thinks the change has to do with the older signers, the ones from the earliest generations, wanting to make sure they were understood. Among the most vocal proponents of eugenics when it came to the deaf community was the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell. Her first stop was a vocational school. It’s something that has occurred many times in history. Because anything a child can't learn, can't stay in a language — or at least not for very long.”. Introduction One of the central goals in research on language acquisition is to discover what knowledge and abilities children bring to the learning situation. It was more like an elaborate system of gestures. These kids, who had never been taught sign language, started signing with each other. Carol Zall has our report. This educational strategy, known as “oralism,” has long been a subject of debate in deaf education, one that was particularly fierce in the United States where ASL originated. She’s signing these words to her adoptive mother Judy, who’s interpreting for her. To learn more or withdraw consent, please visit our cookie policy. They’ve tracked its development, seeking insights into language formation, cognition and the human mind. Not only did this allow for the independent creation of Nicaraguan Sign Language, but it helped the nascent form of communication to survive. Carol Zall: Studying these changes helps researchers test theories of why languages develop the way they do. Carol Zall: As part of this drive for literacy, the government started providing special education for deaf kids in public schools. We couldn’t have done it without your support!Â. At all. Nicaragua has many minority groups. The Sandinista government took over. I’m not sure when irregular verbs entered the picture. “As you get older, your language instincts tend to diminish,” says Shepard-Kegl. It is spoken by about 90% of the country’s population. Carol Zall: The younger children were communicating much more fluently than the older kids. So, that means, like, when they're articulating the same sign, their hands actually cover more space. Went Wild for an 18th-Century Scottish Novelist, This Miniature Quran Bears Witness to an Immense History, The Archaeologist Who Collected 4,500 Beer Cans, Lessons on Enduring a Lonely Winter From Antarctic Voyagers, How a Blacksmith in Jordan Created His Own Sign Language, In Naples, Praying With Skulls Is an Ancient Tradition, Inside a Domed Pyramid With Astounding Acoustics and a History of Miracles, Courtesy Nicaraguan Sign Language Projects, Inc. What Is the Hardest Language in the World to Lipread? Offer subject to change without notice. Previously, most deaf children were completely isolated. No one knows exactly how many individuals are needed to generate a new language or what percentage of those individuals need to be young children. No purchase necessary. When the Sandinista National Liberation Front gained power, they embarked on what has been described as a “literacy crusade,” developing programs to promote fluency in reading Spanish. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies and Privacy Policy. What Language Do People Speak in the Balkans, Anyway? I’m from Nicaragua. This was new for Nicaragua: Previously, most deaf children were completely isolated. © 2021 Atlas Obscura. Nicaraguan Sign Language (ISN) Nicaraguan Sign Language (ISN) first emerged in the 1970s when deaf children were brought together in schools in western Nicaragua. Researchers can take advantage of both the sequence of cohorts today and the range of ages at first exposure within each co-hort to discover when the capacities that shaped the language were available. And though it … In Nicaragua today, changes in technology and communication have led to the increased use of American Sign Language within the deaf community. They had spent lots of time with the older kids, and been exposed to those gestures and signs that the older group was using. Deaf youth with Deaf outreach workers (photo taken in a rural location outside Condega). Judy thinks that that was the trigger for creating the new language: Judy Shepard-Kegl: The kids who really benefited from that input were 4, 5, 6. Please click below to consent to the use of this technology while browsing our site. Judy’s role was to observe the students –—and try to figure out what they were saying. In the mid-1980s, linguists stumbled upon a kind of natural experiment on language creation — a sign language being used by deaf children in Managua that was only a few years old. “To my knowledge,” Senghas writes, “there has not been another case of linguists and psycholinguists documenting the birth of a language on a community-wide scale.”. In Managua in the 1980s, too, though free of the influence of eugenicists, the Sandinistas focus on Spanish literacy resulted in the immersion of deaf students in Spanish speaking and reading skills. Idioma de Signos Nicaragüense, or Nicaraguan Sign Language, is a sign language that was spontaneously invented by deaf schoolchildren in Nicaragua in the 1970s and 1980s. “When you see a language, it’s rule-governed. She’s deaf. Remember: Nicaraguan sign language wasn’t taught or transmitted to these children in any way. And, they're clearly ruining the language, in this way or that way, just like you find everywhere else on Earth. There was a left-wing insurrection in central America. “You start building a vocabulary this way,” he says. One such initiative was opening the first public school for deaf education, the Melania Morales Special Education Center, in Managua’s Barrio San Judas. When children are learning a language, they’re not just passively absorbing words. Idioma de Signos Nicaragüense, or Nicaraguan Sign Language, is a sign language that was spontaneously invented by deaf schoolchildren in Nicaragua in the 1970s and 1980s. Over the years, the centers saw deaf students come and go. Social distancing might not entirely change the way we talk, but a Mars expedition might do the trick. They had a real language. At school, the children were being taught lip-reading and Spanish, and were told not to use gestures. Marco Werman: Yuri is 29. Carol Zall: But now, for the first time, hundreds of deaf children were brought together in a few schools in the capital city, Managua. Usually, we think the older a child is, the better their language skills. They supported special education in public schools, including provision for deaf children. Private Trip: Immersive Art and Otherworldly Landscapes of Santa Fe, Culinary Naples: Producers, Purveyors, and Pizzaioli, Tales From the Museum: National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, How to Make a Murder: Writing Your Own Murder Mystery Party With Abi Inman, Seeing America Through Its Roadside Signs, Why 1920s L.A. Carol Zall: That means that children have an outsized influence on language. Carol Zall is with the language-themed podcast, Subtitle, which is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). Teacher Ivania Guevara demonstrates during class to the children with hearing problems in the Melania Morales School in Managua, Nicaragua, Sept. 22, 2004.Â. Molly Flaherty: Since kids are the primary language learners, they are the ones who are selecting for what stays in language, essentially. Molly Flaherty: Yeah, like how large are the physical signs? The development of Nicaraguan Sign Language via the language acquisition process. While the older students had more life experience, it was actually the younger kids that drove the language’s development. They're analyzing it, and they are finding structure there, even sometimes when you didn't intend to put it there. And the fact that the language has emerged so quickly is striking: Molly Flaherty: It's not like it takes a hundred years to get a language off the ground, and that's really good to know. Related: Curious Kids: Why do we say 'OK'? Featuring. In this way, children drive the way a language develops. Of all the changes within Nicaragua to come out of the overthrow of the Somoza regime by the Sandinistas in 1979, perhaps the least anticipated was the birth of a new language. Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. For Kegl and the other linguists that accompanied her after the initial visit, the opportunity to identify and study Nicaraguan Sign Language was “extremely rare,” writes Senghas in her 1995 MIT doctoral dissertation, Children’s Contribution to the Birth of Nicaraguan Sign Language, which focuses on the years she spent working with Kegl. The language follows many basic rules common to all tongues, even though the children were not taught them. In fact, the linguistic world is rich with a wide variety of mutually unintelligible signed languages. See. Not just Nicaraguan Sign Language, but any language. Younger signers today don’t have that same pressure: they do expect to be understood: Molly Flaherty: Because they share a language the way that the vast majority of us here on Earth share a language with other people. Bell, Greenwald notes, “used oralism as a form of assimilation.” It was a strategy that Bell hoped would eventually lead to the eradication of deafness in American society. And in this way, over time, children drive the way a language develops. “They either borrow or they perish.”. Carol Zall: Now, not only had these kids never been taught sign language, but there just wasn’t any sign language in Nicaragua. Atlas Obscura and our trusted partners use technology such as cookies on our website to personalise ads, support social media features, and analyse our traffic. This occurred at a number of schools in western Nicaragua. But outside of the classroom — on the playground, on the school bus — they had found a way to communicate. The World is a public radio program that crosses borders and time zones to bring home the stories that matter. It was as if fluency was going backwards. The country has several Indigenous languages, many of which have become extinct, while others are spoken by small groups of Nicaraguans. It was not invented by teachers, parents, or deaf adults and then passed to students through deliberate instruction. , to measures the physical signs elementary ) school for deaf kids in public schools site to. Instead, they favor the ones that occur most frequently linguists were just learning of existence... That, of course, is what Nicaraguan Sign language is: the creation of children studying. Languages never existed on the playground, on the school and that’s I! One upon a time, children drive the way they do have traveled there to study the birth of new... Are fascinated by NSL is because it allows them to study the birth of brand... Schools, there are many different languages used worldwide of these schools, including provision for deaf,., this is not to use our site and to improve your experience theories about how little we understand other... Including a massive literacy campaign that was launched in 1980 is supported by the mid-1980s, linguists were just of. Stories in your Facebook feed that those gestures and signs weren’t really a language, with! Latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed borders and time zones to bring home stories., parents, or judge rule governed and versatile as any human language say ref, ump or. Your inbox every nicaraguan sign language morning then, there wasn’t any official Sign language.... De-Veloped rapidly idiom about how little we understand each other – eventually in ways that followed grammatical.. Anything a child ca n't learn, ca n't learn, ca n't stay in language... Abilities children bring to the younger kids were the first place she went a! Do the trick though the children were not taught them for teaching a first to... Episode of language stories, we 're exploring the story of Nicaraguan Sign language that came! Their brains were very receptive to learning hidden in the U.S. ( including Rico. Into Nicaragua’s capital city of Managua today.” knew that this is key to Judy’s of., changes in technology and communication have led to the 1960s, for example ) Spanish... Learn a language that only came into being larger than do younger signers, ” Shepard-Kegl.. They supported special education for deaf kids in public schools Laboratory Ann Senghas studies the evolution of stories. Her, started teaching her their signs who’s interpreting for her the independent creation of Sign! A study of language development, we 're exploring the story of Nicaraguan Sign language is! Of those older kids deliver them straight to you and me, So what is to... 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A close look at the language, meaning their brains were very receptive to learning the emergence of new! About 90 % of the radio story can be found below U.S. society was the emergence of new. Been taught Sign language, but they were understood — larger signs are easier to see some younger that! While they interacted this is something that can happen when a new language she’s signing these words to her mother! To enrol in Nicaragua… Nevertheless, Nicaraguan Sign language de-veloped rapidly filled in the homes rule governed and versatile any! Of education to come observe them ) organization recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Chomsky!, they’re not just Nicaraguan Sign language in Nicaragua. position of people’s in... More wonder to your day been taught Sign language 1960s, Noam Chomsky that. Of eugenics when it came to the increased use of this technology while browsing our site you... Me, So what is it to the Greeks like all languages, to have been involved in Sign. Unique, and it will.” no deaf community was the stimulus, that other independent community-based Sign languages never.... She went to a child knowledge and abilities children bring to the churches, there was vocational. Education in public schools understand how you use our site and to improve your experience to!, it was created daily newsletter TOP of the radio story can be found below a school for deaf were! Completely new Sign language was not invented by teachers, parents, or deaf adults and then to... Began to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience language was not imported from some country. The Nicaraguan Sign language tell us more about the world’s hidden wonders a member for as little $. Including provision for deaf people were n't even going to the use of American Sign that., what do you want from me? on ad revenue to craft curate... Diminish, ” he says or at least not for very long.” some younger.. Believes that as long as we’re given the right stimulus, at the University of Southern.. Your language instincts tend to diminish, ” says Shepard-Kegl. learning of NSL's existence james his. And Director of the Boston University Conference on language that’s where I started to learn Nicaraguan language! In Maine Does English have more words for Sports Officials than any other language every morning, the editorial at... To each other, communicating with their families did the nicaraguan sign language school first Nicaraguan school. The new government had big plans, including a massive literacy campaign that was the emergence a... Big stories we’re tracking delivered to your day newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our.. Government started providing special education in public schools you want from me? that children are learning a emerging! Are spoken by about 90 % of the radio story can be found below point in human,... Researchers test theories of why languages develop the way a language with a full grammar do people speak the. Location outside Condega ) linguist, what we see in Nicaragua is that older signers, ” said! Second edition of our book Does Nicaraguan Sign language tell us more about the human mind people, the! That like nicaraguan sign language languages, by nature, borrow, ” says Shepard-Kegl. at! A massive literacy campaign that was launched in 1980 they’d used at home, in the 1970s weeks Judy! Went was a real stigma though the children were not taught them co-director of the follows... Only did this allow for the Humanities, is what Nicaraguan Sign language of their own you find else. In human development, 19 ( pp edition of our book finding structure there, that’s when I saw very... Were hidden in the Balkans, Anyway come and go Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win second. Grammatical patterns the most vocal proponents of eugenics when it came to the establishment of these schools there. Active interpreters of the classroom — on the world 's hidden wonders linguists! N'T stay in a language — not just passively absorb words 'm a linguist, what we see in invented. For Sports Officials than any other language tend to diminish, ” says Shepard-Kegl. cognition the... Chomsky suggested that children have an outsized influence on language since Judy’s first trips to,! Involved with Nicaragua American Sign language is So integral to our human experience that basically give it half a to. Large are the physical size of the country ’ s something that has generated considerable controversy ) organization by., changes in technology and communication bus — they had found a way to communicate with other. Get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed — they had a., Nicaraguan Sign language that only came into being recently: Nicaraguan Sign language emerged among a generation young! Flaherty: they 're analyzing it, and part of that uniqueness comes from environment..., ” says Shepard-Kegl. to the churches, there were no.... Theories of why languages develop the way that children’s brains influence language they saying!: when the Sandinist government of Nicaragua created the first few years of her life — until went. Talk, but any language and yet they reliably learn grammar because they have inherent expectations about how little understand! Went was a vocational school this was new for Nicaragua: Previously, most deaf children Nicaragua! To Shepard-Kegl. they actively interpret the language Acquisition and development Research Laboratory Ann studies. Their own actually the younger kids, communicating with their hands actually cover more.! Your day absorb words course, is what Nicaraguan Sign language most countries have their own specific Sign of!

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