Irish Sign Language (ISL, ga, Teanga Chomharthaíochta na hÉireann) is the

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, used primarily in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

. It is also used in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, alongside

British Sign Language British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language among the Deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on ...

(BSL). Irish Sign Language is more closely related to

French Sign Language French Sign Language (french: langue des signes française, LSF) is the sign language of the deaf in France and French-speaking parts of Switzerland. According to ''Ethnologue'', it has 100,000 native signers. French Sign Language is relate ...

(LSF) than to BSL, though it has influence from both languages. It has influenced sign languages in Australia and South Africa, and has little relation to either spoken

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. ISL is unique among sign languages for having different gendered versions due to men and women being taught it at different schools.

Development

The Irish Deaf Society says that ISL "arose from within deaf communities", "was developed by deaf people themselves" and "has been in existence for hundreds of years". According to Ethnologue, the language has influence from both LSF and BSL, as well as from

signed French Signed French (''français signé'') is any of at least three manually coded forms of French that apply the words (signs) of a national sign language to French word order or grammar. In France, Signed French uses the signs of French Sign Langu ...

and

signed English Manually-Coded English (MCE) is a type of sign system that follows direct spoken English. The different codes of MCE vary in the levels of directness in following spoken English grammar. There may also be a combination with other visual clues, su ...

, BSL having been introduced in Dublin in 1816. The first school for deaf children in Ireland was established in 1816 by Dr. Charles Orpen. The

Claremont Institution The Claremont Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Glasnevin, Dublin, was the first school for the Deaf in Ireland. It was established in 1816 by Dr. Charles Orpen. History During his work at the Workhouse of the House of Industry in Dublin in ...

was a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

institution and given that Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom, it is no surprise that BSL (or some version of

based in BSL) was used for teaching and learning (Pollard 2006). McDonnell (1979) reports that the Irish institutions -

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and Protestant - did not teach the children to speak and it was not until 1887 that Claremont report changing from a manual to an oral approach. For the Catholic schools, the shift to oralism came later: St. Mary's School for Deaf Girls moved to an oral approach in 1946 and St. Joseph's School for Deaf Boys shifted to oralism in 1956, though this did not become formal state policy until 1972. Sign language use was seriously suppressed and religion was used to further stigmatise the language (e.g. children were encouraged to give up signing for

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

and sent to

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

if caught signing). The fact that the Catholic schools are segregated on the basis of gender led to the development of a gendered-generational variant of Irish Sign Language that is still evident (albeit to a lesser degree) today. ISL was brought by Catholic missionaries to Australia, and to Scotland and England, with remnants of ISL still visible in some variants of BSL, especially in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, and with some elderly

Auslan Auslan () is the majority sign language of the Australian Deaf community. The term ''Auslan'' is a portmanteau of "Australian Sign Language", coined by Trevor Johnston in the 1980s, although the language itself is much older. Auslan is relat ...

Catholics still using ISL today. In South Africa, the Dominican nuns who established Catholic Schools saw a need for a school for the deaf, but due to resource constraints were not in a position to do this immediately. Instead, they wrote back to their Mother House in Cabra requesting an experienced teacher of the deaf. A deaf teacher, Bridget Lynne, responded. Remnants of gendered generational Irish Sign Language are thought to still be visible in some dialects of South African Sign Language, which can probably be traced back to Lynne.

Oireachtas bill

The "Recognition of Irish Sign Language for the Deaf Community Bill 2016" passed all stages in the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) on 14 December 2017, and was signed into law under the revised title, The Irish Sign Language Act 2017. The Act was signed into law by the

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Ireland and the supreme commander of the Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms.Constitu ...

Michael D Higgins Michael Daniel Higgins ( ga, Mícheál Dónal Ó hUigínn; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since November 2011. Entering national politics throug ...

on 24 December 2017. The Act, which commenced on December 23rd, 2020, requires that public services are available through ISL and also outlines the need for greater access to education through sign language. Prior to the passage, there was no automatic right for deaf people to have an ISL interpreter (except for criminal court proceedings). For the deaf community, recognition of ISL means more legal rights and better access to

public service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

s - including

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

, healthcare,

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

and

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becau ...

Language code

The

ISO 639-3 ISO 639-3:2007, ''Codes for the representation of names of languages – Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages'', is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. It defines three-letter codes for ...

code for Irish Sign Language is 'isg'; 'isl' is the code for Icelandic.

References

Bibliography

* Crean, E, J. (1997): ''Breaking the silence: The education of the deaf in Ireland 1816-1996''. Dublin: Irish Deaf Society Publication. * Department of Education (1972): ''The Education of Children who are Handicapped by Impaired Hearing''. Dublin: Government Publications. * Grehan, C. (2008): ''Communication Islands: The Impact of Segregation on Attitudes to ISL among a Sample of Graduates of St. Mary's School for Deaf Girls''. Unpublished M.Phil. dissertation. School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. Dublin: Trinity College. * Griffey, N. (1994): ''From Silence to Speech: Fifty years with the Deaf''. Dublin: Dominican Publications. * Leeson, L. (2005). Vying with Variation: Interpreting Language Contact, Gender Variation and Generational Difference. In T. Janzen (ed.) Topics in Signed Language Interpreting. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 251–292. *Leeson, L. and C. Grehan (2004): "To The Lexicon and Beyond: The Effect of Gender on Variation in Irish Sign Language". In Van Herreweghe, Mieke and Myriam Vermeerbergen (eds.): ''To the Lexicon and Beyond: Sociolinguistics in European Deaf Communities''. Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press. 39–73. * Leeson, L. and J. I. Saeed (2012) Irish Sign Language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. * LeMaster, B. (1990): ''The Maintenance and Loss of Female and Male Signs in the Dublin Deaf Community''. Ann Arbor: U.M.I .: University of California, Los Angeles Dissertation. * Leonard, C. (2005): "Signs of diversity: use and recognition of gendered signs among your Irish Deaf people". In: ''Deaf Worlds'' 21:2. 62–77. * McDonnell, P. (1979): ''The Establishment and Operation of Institutions for the Education of the Deaf in Ireland, 1816-1889''. Unpublished essay submitted in part-fulfillment of the requirements of the award of the degree of Master in Education. Dublin: University College Dublin. * McDonnell, P. and Saunders, H. (1993): "Sit on Your Hands: Strategies to Prevent Signing". In Fischer, R. and Lane, H. (eds.) ''Looking Back: A Reader on the History of Deaf Communities and their Sign Languages''. Hamburg: Signum. 255–260. * Pollard, Rachel (2006): ''The Avenue''. Dublin: Denzille Press. * Rose, Heath and John Bosco Conama. 2018. Linguistic imperialism: still a valid construct in relation to language policy for Irish Sign Language. ''Language Policy'' Volume 17, Issue 3, pp 385–404.

External links