The Linguistics of British Sign Language: Linguistics and sign linguistics
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Abstract
Linguistics tries to find out the rules that explain what language users know, so that we can understand how language works. People who know a language use it without thinking. They can use a language very well, and get it right nearly all of the time. But, if we ask them to tell us the rules of their language, they often find that they cannot because they have never had to think about it before. Most users of a language do not think in terms of ‘rules’ for their language and often do not stop to think about it. As sign linguists, we want to stop and think about language, most especially British Sign Language, so that we can find the rules that explain how the language works. If we are to understand how BSL works, sign linguistics needs to ask questions like: Is BSL just a pantomime? Is sign language the same around the world? How do we ask a question in BSL? How do we say ‘no’ in BSL? What is the order of signs in BSL? Does BSL have adjectives and adverbs like English does? How do we show something happened a long time ago in BSL? Are there some handshapes that are not part of BSL? Can we sign with a straight face and give the full meaning? Do all signers sign in the same way in BSL, or are there differences?