Guest post by Julianne Beall
Here is the report on EPC 142C-S41.1 Sign languages promised in the blog post Results of electronic meeting EPC 142C.
First, some context. Most sign languages are used primarily for communication among deaf people or between hearing and deaf people. Typically, deaf community sign languages are developed and used primarily by deaf people, and learned by hearing people in order to communicate with deaf people. Some sign languages are used by everyone in a small community with a high incidence of deafness. Comprehensive works on all these sign languages are classed in 419 Sign languages. Specific instances of these sign languages (and geographic groupings of such languages) are classed in 419.4-419.9 Sign languages used primarily for communication among deaf people or between hearing and deaf people.
In EPC 142C-S41.1, we made miscellaneous changes for clarity, but focused especially on the small minority of sign languages that are used primarily for communication among hearing people. We changed the caption at 419.1 to Sign languages used primarily for communication among hearing people. We deleted the including note "Including monastic sign languages, sign languages used as lingua francas among hearing persons" and instead provided built numbers illustrating that notation T1—08 Groups of people can be used to indicate which groups of people are the primary users of the sign language, regardless of the purpose for which the sign language is used. For example, works about the sign languages historically used as trade languages and lingua francas among many different groups of North American native peoples are classed in 419.108997 North American native peoples—sign languages—for hearing people (built with 419.1 plus T1—089 Ethnic and national groups plus T5—97 North American native peoples).
Works on baby sign language (also called baby signing) can be classed in 419.10832 Infants—sign languages—for hearing people (built with 419.1 plus T1—0832 Infants). The Wikipedia entry for baby sign language begins: "Baby sign language is the use of manual signing allowing infants and toddlers to communicate emotions, desires, and objects prior to spoken language development." Works on baby sign language are typically aimed at hearing parents with hearing children. The signs are taught to infants and toddlers in conjunction with speech, and when the child learns to speak, baby signing is typically discontinued. Signs from deaf community sign languages may be adapted for baby signing, but they do not function in this context like the full language from which they have been borrowed. An example of a work that can be classed in 419.10832 is Teach your baby to sign: An illustrated guide to simple sign language for babies and toddlers by Monica Beyer.
Should some works about baby signing be classed with a deaf community sign language in 419.4-419.9 Sign languages used primarily for communication among deaf people or between hearing and deaf people? Only works aimed at teaching a specific sign language to a baby with a long-term need to use that language correctly for communication with deaf people should be classed there, e.g., 419.700832 Infants—American Sign Language (built with 419 Sign languages plus T2—7 North America plus T1—0832 Infants).
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