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Martha's Vineyard Sign Language

Martha's Vineyard

Sign language

( Martha's Vineyard Sign Language Wikipedia stub Continued...)

LEAD SECTION: Deaf people whom spoke Martha's Vineyard Sign Language were extremely independent. They participated in society as normal citizens, although it was slightly challenging due to discrimination and language barriers. Sign language on the island declined when the population attempted to purify their genetics of deafness and during the introduction of the cochlear hearing implant. Linguists are working to save the rare language, however, it is difficult due to the fact that they do not (nor can) experience MVSL first hand.

Life as a deaf person in Martha's Vineyard
The deaf population within Martha's Vineyard has remained since the 18th century, however, they faced a major change once cochlear implants were created in the late 1900s. The cochlear implants allowed the deaf to hear more efficiently and clear, but their population did not consider them as helpful as expected. The hearing implants were, at first, not accepted due to the fact that they viewed the new technology as a mechanism to help the handicap. The deaf people in Martha's Vineyard did not define themselves as handicap. Eventually the cochlear implants were used by younger generations and MVSL slowly declined, but it certainly wasn't needed.

Although the people whom were dependent on MVSL were different, they still did the same activities as the normal Martha's Vineyard citizen would. The deaf would work both complex and simple jobs, attend island events, and participate within the community. They were treated as normal people, which is extremely different from other deaf communities around the world. The deaf living in rural Mexico have a similar community to Martha's Vineyard, but there are not many hearing people that live there permanentley. Other deaf communities often isolate the sign language users, which is what makes Martha's Vineyard a very well known deaf community.

Dependent MVSL users were not excluded by the rest of society at Martha's Vineyard, but they certainly faced challenges due to the fact they were deaf. Marriage was extremely difficult to maintain between a deaf person and a hearing person, despite both could speak MVSL. For this reason, the deaf usually married the deaf, marrying the people even more closely than Martha's Vineyard already did. These deaf marriages is what really increased the deaf population within this community. The MVSL users often associated closely, helping and working with each other to over come other non-hearing issues. The deaf even entertained at community events together, teaching the hearing kids more MVSL. The sign language was spoken and taught to the hearing, as early as their first years, in order to communicate with the many deaf people they would encounter in school. Lip movement, hand gestures, mannerisms, and face expressions were all studied. Martha's Vineyard even had separate schools for specifically learning MVSL.

Outside of Martha's Vineyard, the deaf population was not viewed the same. There was discrimination towards the MVSL dependent individuals. This drove the deaf to try extremely hard to be accepted by locals, which also explains why at first the cochlear implants were not utilized.

How Martha's Vineyard Sign Language declined
The first person to attempt to improve the genetics of Martha's Vineyard and reduce the amount of deaf people was Alexander Graham Bell. He proposed that the deaf should be schooled else where, so they not only build their language abilities further, but meet and potentially reproduce with non-vineyard citizens, since Martha's Vineyard society was highly packed. By doing so, new genetics would be introduced, the deaf experience a different way of life, which would eventually cause the deaf gene to become even more recessive.

As technology advanced, more deaf people resorted to cochlear implants, as stated previously. The device allowed the deaf to understand more language, and therefore travel farther away from Martha's Vineyard's borders. The implants worked in Bell's favor, pushing the deaf to meet others.

Most people in the U.S. with hearing loss today are helped by hearing aids. The implants also reduced the amount of MVSL taught in school. As more children used the new technology, sign language was needed less. Between dispersion and cochlear implants, MVSL users slowly declined. The demand for it was simply diminishing.

Attempts to save the sign language
Because there are little to no users of MVSL today, many linguists ignore the complex language. The linguists that do study Martha's Vineyard Sign Language face several issues that many other language studiers do not encounter. The remaining deaf MVSL users cannot explain their culture and MVSL adequately, while the linguists cannot describe their culture accurately due to the fact they themselves do not experience it. This communication and experience barrier forces linguists to feel they cannot record entirely accurate, which is what keeps the language from being fully documented. Without documentation, Martha's Vineyard Sign Language can become extinct. Linguists do, however, believe that MVSL will be saved as long as they can seek a remaining deaf MVSL writer and teacher. That individual could then communicate the Martha's Vineyard sign language and culture properly. From there, the citizens of Martha's Vineyard, as well as the state government, can attempt to mainstream the sign language in hopes to gain speakers. Because Martha's Vineyard sign language is such a important part of it's history, it is an interest of the community. If the language itself cannot be preserved, the history of the language will be- how the deaf lived, their culture, stories, etc.,.