How has Martha's vineyard sign language influenced ASL?

Answer 1

Salut: This was found on Wikipedia. Of course, you know that Wiki is not a great source for accuracy because it is open to the opinions of everyone who wishes to contribute, and, for that, there is a reference posted at the end of this.

In the early 19th century, a new educational philosophy began to emerge on the mainland, and the country's first school for the deaf opened in 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut (now called the American School for the Deaf). Many of the deaf children of Martha's Vineyard enrolled there, taking their sign language with them. However, the language of the teachers was French Sign Language, and many of the other deaf students used their own home sign systems. This school became known as the birthplace of the Deaf community in the U.S., and the different sign systems used there, including MVSL, merged to become American Sign Language or ASL - now one of the largest community languages in the country.

As more deaf people remained on the mainland, and others who returned brought with them deaf spouses they met there (whose hearing loss may not have been due to the same hereditary cause), the line of hereditary deafness began to diminish. As the 20th century came to a turn, the previously isolated community of fishers and farmers began to see the influx of tourists that would become a mainstay in the island economy. The jobs in tourism were not as deaf-friendly as fishing and farming had been. Further, as intermarriage and migration joined the people of Martha's Vineyard to the mainland, the island community more and more resembled the wider community there.

Groce, Nora Ellen (1985). Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha's Vineyard. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-27041-X. http://books.Google.com/books?id=K5nbuza--nYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=everyone+here+sign#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 21 October 2010.

Answer 2

Martha's Vineyard Sign Language is believed to have influenced the development of American Sign Language due to the high prevalence of deafness on Martha's Vineyard in the 18th and 19th centuries. As residents interacted with both hearing and deaf individuals, a unique signing system developed which may have contributed to the overall evolution of ASL. However, it is important to note that ASL has been influenced by several different signing systems and languages over time.