Being aware of the linguistics of BSL (how it is structured) can really help the process of learning it, but also helps us to discover more about the d/Deaf and hard of hearing culture. Although the legal recognition of sign language still differs between nations, linguists have been studying it in depth since its introduction into the Linguistics Bibliography in 1988.
Contrary to early portrayals, signed languages are not a visual representation of spoken languages, and do not depend on these spoken languages to operate. We can see this in the fact that English is the majority language in Great Britain, USA, and Australia, yet individuals in Great Britain that use sign language to communicate more commonly speak BSL. On the other hand, American Sign Language (ASL) is the most common sign language to use in the USA, with Auslan Sign Language being the majority sign language of Deaf individuals in Australia.
Research has shown that the acquisition of sign language works in a very similar way to that of spoken languages. Language acquisition is much easier for children, so babies beginning to learn their first language will subconsciously recognise sounds that their parents use most frequently. Surrounded by others speaking the language, children will gradually acquire this language. So, for Deaf individuals born to Deaf parents, the process of acquiring their signed language will be a much smoother one. When hearing parents give birth to Deaf or hard of hearing children, the parents will have to learn sign language if they do not already know it. As sign language will not be the majority language spoken around the child by their family, language acquisition will be a much slower and more difficult task for the child. The typology of languages refers to their basic structure, and you will notice that, when learning BSL, the word order is very different to the one we use in English. Where S is the subject, V is the verb, and O is the object; English follows the SVO order. For example: S V O I eat cake However, when speaking BSL, this sentence will be rearranged: O S V Cake I eat These two sentences mean the same thing, but this change in word order will need to be considered when learning and interpreting BSL. When learning BSL, you may also notice that some individuals have different signs for the same word. This is due to people acquiring differing dialects. Sign for numbers, colours, and place names are where you will be most likely to find this. Although this can appear to be confusing, BSL speakers have little trouble in interpreting other dialects, and so this very rarely causes a communication issue.
Super informative and well written. Can't wait to read your next piece!