Language is Power

Although we have many models and ideas about bilingualism, most of our attention has been directed to situations where the languages are of similar status.  Even though in any single country a certain language may be that of a minority, there will exist one country in the world where that language is spoken by a majority.  This is true of Urdu in the UK or Mandarin in the Chinese community in Britain.  Although members of these communities are treated as linguistic minorities, they have a “home country”, where that language is the principal one used - in fact, there may be more users than there are in the UK. 

When we talk about deaf people as a linguistic minority, there is no comparable situation.  Not only are deaf people outnumbered in the UK, there is no cultural homeland and there is no situation where the language is used by a majority.  This has major implications for the type of bilingualism which occurs; and it also has implications for the way in which non-deaf people learn the language.

Hearing people just do not have enough of the right access to sign, for them to learn reliably.  It is not just that there are not enough hours of tuition, but that the conditions for learning are not quite right.  The issue is to do with the type of contact which is available and the attitude of the learner.  This attitude is not just the superficial one of feeling positive towards sign language and trying to understand how deaf people feel.  It is not just about the motivation which everyone has anyway.  It is about the deep-seated ideas about the way our society works and the way in which decisions are made about other people.

The course is copyright
to the Centre for Deaf Studies and the Lecturers named above
and should not be used for any other purpose than personal study.
© 2000

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This page was last modified January 26, 2000
jim.kyle@bris.ac.uk