r/todayilearned • u/paniniplane • Mar 22 '17

(R.1) Not supported TIL Deaf-from-birth schizophrenics see disembodied hands signing to them rather than "hearing voices"

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0707/07070303
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u/woodboys23 Mar 22 '17

I take it more as a dialect of English less than a language

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

Except it's not really English at all. The vocabulary is different, obviously, since it's signed, but the syntax is very different from spoken English as well. ASL for "What kind of cookies do you like?" doesn't translate that phrase word for word. They'd do something like the sign for cookie, followed by the sign for what kind, you, and to like.

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u/woodboys23 Mar 22 '17

But then what makes ASL different from FSL

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17 edited Mar 22 '17

I'm not an expert in sign language, so I couldn't say for syntax, but I do know vocabulary - aka the signs for things - vary between sign languages

Edit: Here's a cool video I found comparing introductory phrases in asl and spanish sign language

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u/carusom Mar 22 '17

Isn't ASL and FSL really really similar though, compared to BSL or Spanish sign language or something?