Is sign language universal?

Question

Do all countries use the same sign language?

Answer 1

The short answer is no. Every country has their own different Sign Language. America has American Sign Language. England has British Sign Language. France has (FSQ) French Sign Language. Mexico has Mexican Sign Language. This is simply because of how languages develop over time. While the two languages may share a few Signs /Meanings, they are not the Universal.

Answer 2

No, sign language is not universal. This makes sense when you think about how many signs are culturally based. For instance, the origin of the ASL sign for “girl” comes from American prairie days (or roundabouts, I don’t tutor history) when girls and women would wear bonnets with a chinstrap. Same for the sign for “boy” which comes from when men would wear hats, and tip them at ladies.

So taking that into consideration, you can see how that wouldn’t work universally, in other countries and areas that didn’t have that kind of history. In Indian sign language the sign for “woman” is based on the fact that women wear nose rings.

I hope that makes sense!

Answer 3

No, all countries does not use the same sign language. All the other countries have their own sign language. For example, mexico have different sign language but if you go to el salvador it different. Africa have their own sign language but most from British Sign Language we have go back to the history how british took over africa and deaf community learn their signs to communicate. To answer your question every countries are different sign language. In the United States have some different signs from the west coast, east coast, and south as well.

Answer 4

No, ASL is not universal. In fact, it is not even national. ASL is regional. However, many signs are so similar that the Deaf can understand someone who lives in another city or state. The reason for this is because in history, there was a time when Sign Language was forbidden. The Deaf were sent away to schools and were forced to speak. If they were caught signing, the consequences were severe. Very severe.

Speaking can work with someone who was not born deaf or are very hard of hearing. However, the Deaf who were born Deaf cannot learn to speak, as they have never heard sound.

ASL and the history is very interesting. I encourage you to learn about Deaf culture.

I hope this helps! Tess