Variations in British Sign Language
British Sign Language is one of the most developed and widely used in Britain. It is estimated that 70,000 people within the UK use BSL.
BSL has developed different signs for different words and has different structures, someone signing with ASL will not be able top communicate clearly with someone signing in BSL. In addition to variations from country to country, there are dialect variations within each form of sign language.
BSL, like spoken language, has evolved through the needs of its users in spontaneous and natural ways. There are wide regional differences in some signs- numbers and colours are notoriously variable, however most signs are the same. Many of the variations stem from the schools deaf people attended; new signs are being coined, and more established signs changing with time and use. Hearing learners may find this a problem in the early stages, but it doesn’t present a problem to native signers. Variations are largely in the vocabulary of signs – the “words” of the language; the grammatical structures that hold together and give meaning, vary very little.
Because deaf communities tend to be smaller and more contained than other minorities within the hearing community the differences that emerge in sign language are more defined.
A signer’s class, age, gender, ethnicity, religion and locale can all affect the way in which they sign. This leads to many different variations within one variety of sign language alone. Even a concerted effort to unify sign language, whether it be the unification of BSL from the current number of dialects and variations within BSL, to a uniform use of the language, or an even greater attempt to unify the varieties within countries, or even worldwide will be an extremely difficult task.
One of the reasons that signing in BSL differ so dramatically from one person to another is that is a complex, fully developed language, which is extremely different from Standard English. BSL has its own grammar, syntax, lexicon, and has many other unique features.
DeafSolutions3 ● Handout Information