BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE
D/deaf Awareness & Inclusion
A message from one of our BABAO 2024 hosts, Dr Amber Collings:
Hello, I am so pleased you have decided to learn more about British Sign Language! You may be wondering why we have chosen to focus so much attention on British Sign Language (BSL) at this year's BABAO conference and the answer is two-fold. Firstly, as is usually the case with these things, there is a personal story behind this. I myself have unilateral hearing impairment, along with other conditions and neurodiversity. Last year I decided to start my learning journey with BSL so that I could not only learn more about the D/d deaf community and D/deaf awareness, but also so that I could communicate with my D/deaf friends and any D/deaf students. Secondly, our over arching conference theme this year is 'Celebrating Interdisciplinarity Collaboration and Inclusion' and so we felt that it was the perfect opportunity to promote an aspect of inclusion that is not often the focus of attention. Thanks for reading!
About BSL
British sign language (BSL) is a visual sign language used predominantly by the D/deaf community, and those with hearing impairment.
As it is a visual language, communication is achieved using a mix of hand gestures, facial expressions, mouth patterns/shapes, and body posture. As a separate language to English, BSL has it's own grammatical structure, alphabet, and syntax.
BSL is a recognised official minority language since 2003 and is the most commonly used sign language within Britain.
BSL vs SSE
While BSL uses its own grammar and sentence structure, there is another form of sign language that is used in Britain, known as Sign Supported English (SSE). SSE use the same signs as BSL however they are used in the same order as spoken English. SSE is therefore not its own language like BSL but is almost like a hybrid of BSL and English; as the name suggests using BSL signs to support the spoken word.
Regional variation
Just like spoken English, BSL also has regional variation. While in spoken English these regional variations manifest as regional accents, colloquialisms, and sayings specific to certain counties or cities, in BSL some signs can vary regionally.
Other Sign Languages
Just as different regions of the UK use different signs, different countries have their sign languages, for example, American Sign Language or ASL. These again are completely separate to BSL and will have their own grammar, sentence structure, alphabets, and hand gestures. One of the most noticeable differences between BSL and ASL is that ASL tends to favour the use of only the dominant hand, using only one hand to sign the letters of the alphabet for example. BSL, however, makes use of both hands in many of the signs.
Left vs Right handed
Although you may not think it would make a difference, like most things requiring dextrous motion of both hands, signing is different depending on whether you are left handed or right handed. This is because BSL uses both hands. Your dominant hand is usually the one that does the most work, it often moves to the non-dominant hand to make the hand gesture. For example, when finger spelling the vowels of the alphabet the index finger of your dominant hand is the one that moves and points to your vowel digits.
A = Thumb, E = Index finger, I = Middle finger, O = Ring finger, and U = Little finger
or for the anatomists out there...
A = Digit 1, E = Digit 2, I = Digit 3, O = Digit 4, and U = Digit 5
The Alphabet & Fingerspelling
Fingerspelling is the action of signing out the letters of the alphabet in BSL during conversation. This is important in BSL because not all words have their own sign, names of people and places, for example. Sometimes, fingerspelling is required to clarify or define a sign to the person reading the signer. It is also common for signs to be derived from the alphabet for example the sign for 'bus' incorporates the fingerspelt 'B' and 'S' in succession.
Below is the BSL alphabet in both the right handed and left handed form.
Top tip: When learning fingerspelling, it is worth practicing the alphabet in the mirror because while the signs look familiar (i.e. based on the shape of the written English alphabet) to yourself, they can sometimes be tricky to interpret when reading another person fingerspelling, especially when those whose first language is BSL fingerspell at full speed - it's FAST!
