User:Mercyvalladares/sandbox

Article Evaluation: Fingerspelling

• Does it have a detailed lead section?
  • Lead section very clearly shows the main information that will be expanded on in the rest of the article.
• Is information out of date and relevant?
  • Wide array of sources dating back from 1600’s to 2010’s. The older sources seem relevant as to the history of fingerspelling.
  • A lot of information on different sign languages; not only focused on one sign language.
  • The “Fingerspelling in sign languages” section looks like it could have little more information on different sign languages and furthermore, may be better to break up the section into further subsections about different components of fingerspelling in different types of sign languages.
  • Seems to ramble a bit in the “History” section. That could use more concise language.
• Does it have a neutral tone?
  • No clear bias toward any one position. Stays neutral throughout entire article.
• Does it have reliable sources
  • There are many sources ranging from the 1600’s to the present and that adds to the validity of the article.
• Talk page conversations?
  • There are a few conversations on the inclusion of more ASL discussions and including ASL in the lead section as it previously was not in the lead section.

Cuban Sign Language

LSC Dactilema

Cuban Sign Language, (“lengua de señas cubana”, or LSC) is the language used by the Deaf community in Cuba. There are approximately 19,000 users of the language. Cuban Sign Language is an important part of the culture of the Deaf community in Cuba.

History

In the early 1900s, in response to oralist teachings in the deaf schools in Cuba, the old manual alphabet ("alfabeto manual antiguo")started became common in these schools, until it wasn't accepted later on as it interfered with oralist teachings. In the 1980s, this manual alphabet started being used in deaf schools.The manual alphabet was used to teach deaf kids to read and write in Spanish, and was articulated with both hands and the face. This manual alphabet is no longer used for this reason, and lost its popularity, but can still be found in some LSC signs. In the 1990s, Cuban Sign Language was introduced and accepted into deaf schools. Nowadays, the current manual alphabet is called the Dactilema. It is used in LSC to fingerspell concepts that don't have signs in LSC and for specific words, like dates and uncommon words.

Linguistics

There exists 4 distinctive features in Cuban Sign Language. These include the location, orientation, movement, and the configuration of the hands. These components may not have meaning on their own, but together they create signs. To create a sign, the dominant hand moves to a particular location, makes a certain handshape has an orientation, and from there makes a specific movement. All of those components working together, creates distinct signs and meanings. There is a distinct way movement, which can be internal or external, denotes a certain meaning in Cuban Sign Language. For example, the way movement is expressed can correspond to the way the hands move or act during the action, such as in the signs for “cut”, “drive”, and “row”. The internal movement of extention of all fingers in a sign will denote signs, such as “light”, “day”, and “clarity”. The flexion of all fingers touching indicate signs, such as “darkness”, “night”, and “forget”. The way in which Cuban Sign Language personal pronouns are expressed are through the movement and the position of the people talked about. For example, the sign for “inform” carries different grammatical morphemes in terms of the direction of the movement towards or away from people talked about. In the phrase, “I inform you”, the sign for “inform”, moves from closer to the signer’s body, and then moves outwards toward the person talking to the signer. To show tense, LSC makes use of movement and space. To indicate present tense, the movements are closer to the signer’s front side of their body, for example in the signs for “today” and “now”. To indicate something in the past tense, the movement will occur towards the back of the signer’s body. Examples of signs that use this type of movement are “yesterday”, “a long time ago”, and “before”. To show something that will happen in the future, the space in front of the signer is used, like in “tomorrow” and “later”.

Deafness in Cuba

Deaf Culture

The Deaf community in Cuba has a strong culture based on the presence of their own language, Cuban Sign Language, a shared history and similar struggles. This community not only has a shared language between them, but also a sense of identity and solidarity. The sharing of experiences, emotions, point of views, attitudes and perspectives show that there is a distinct Deaf community in Cuba. For many years, hearing people in Cuba would act negatively towards Deaf people, and for this reason, Deaf people now are wary in letting just any person into their shared Deaf spaces. The communication of the people in the Deaf community in Cuba is primarily that of Cuban Sign Language. Hearing people who learn the language later in life are not deemed part of the community, as the language is only completely dominated by native speakers of it. The Deaf culture in Cuba is one that is social, and expressive, examples of this include, applauding with their hands raised, and while doing a toast, they touch fingers instead of their cups.

Deaf Education

The first school for the deaf in Cuba was founded in the late 1800’s in Havana. There were few deaf schools in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The methods to teach deaf kids in these schools were primarily oralist, teaching them lip-reading and speaking orally. Although teaching in gestures was not allowed at this time, the old manual alphabet (“alfabeto manual antiguo”) became increasingly common in these schools and among deaf individuals. Since it interfered with the oral teachings, the manual alphabet, too, was not accepted in the schools. In the year 1977, the manual alphabet started being used in the schools for the deaf, however, with the goal being to teach Spanish literacy and oral skills. This manual alphabet is no longer used by the majority of the population. In the 1990’s, Cuban Sign Language was recognized and introduced in the curriculums of deaf schools. Around 2004, Modelo Cubano de Educación Bilingüe, an experimental project to teach deaf children Cuban Sign Language as their first language and Spanish, particularly in its written form, as their second language, emerged in three deaf schools in Cuba. This marked the beginning of having Cuban Sign Language be taught in most deaf schools. This created significant changes in the education system for the deaf in Cuba. The bilingual approach became increasingly more popular. Nowadays, the “dactilema” is used as a way of fingerspelling, to teach deaf kids in school to read and write Spanish. The dactilema is also used in LSC to fingerspell words that don’t have signs. With the continued emergence of a bilingual education model for deaf schools, comes more understanding for the need for a deaf child to learn sign, as their native language. There are three different educational models used today, total communication, bimodal, and bilingual. In total communication, the child is taught using all means of communication, oral, gestured, and sign. In bimodal education, the child learns sign and spanish simultaneously. In bilingual education, the child is taught LSC as their native language, and Spanish as their second language. As of 2001, there are 17 schools for the deaf in Cuba, one in each province and three in the capital, Havana.

Medical Aspect

One of the main focuses in Cuba, is for early screening of hearing loss. This infant screening is given to infants who are at high risk of hearing loss due to several risk factors. If an infant is diagnosed with hearing loss, the infant will then be assigned to a team of professionals, ranging from language pathologists, neurophysicians, audiology technicians, and psychologists. For those who have a bilateral hearing loss of >35 HL, monaural and sometimes binaural amplification hearing devices are administered. There is a fee of 35 Cuban pesos for the hearing aid, however, the Cuban government will pay for it if the parent cannot afford to. Since the year 2000, cochlear implants have been available to Deaf people with profound hearing loss. Priority is given to Deaf-blind people with profound hearing loss. Around 250 Deaf children have been implemented with a cochlear implant since the year 2000.

Deaf Associations

ANSOC

In 1978, the Cuban National Association of Deaf (ANSOC, Asociación Nacional de Sordos de Cuba) was founded. Their main objectives are to fight for the equal rights and duties of Deaf Cubans and to facilitate a bilingual education for the Deaf community in Cuba. One noteworthy thing that ANSOC has contributed is establishing ANSOC News (“Noticiero ANSOC”), the only news program in Cuba to bring news information in Cuban Sign Language for the Deaf community in Cuba. The program even provides information to hearing viewers to better understand the signing and bring awareness to Cuban Deaf culture.

CENDSOR

The Center of Achievement and Development of the Deaf, Centro de superacion y desarollo del sordo, located in San Miguel del Padron, was created with the main objective to support the advancement of bilingualism, in the form of LSC as the native language and Spanish as a second language for deaf people. This center is the main hub in which research about LSC will take place.