The View From Carnegie 210

I came across an article about Nicaraguan Sign Language for deaf children. In this article, Julie McCardle (2003) discusses how the Nicaragua School for the Deaf was established in the late 1970s and focused on the oral approach in the education of deaf students. They were taught to read and write in Spanish, as well as to read Spanish on the lips. They had never been taught any sign language prior to enrollment in the Nicaragua school. They weren't allowed to use any signing in the classroom, but they started to use their own form of communication outside the classroom, which teachers referred to as "mime." These students began to create vocabulary and grammar for their language, and Nicaraguan Sign Language was discovered in the 1980s.

Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL) was developed through a pidgin language that evolved into a creole language. With respect to spatial representation, a difference was found between students who entered the Nicaragua school before and after 1983, and grammatical construct was used more by the younger students. McCardle (2003) states that there are differences between individuals who learn sign language at an early age and those who learn later in life, which supports the critical period hypothesis. I thought it was really interesting that the critical period hypothesis applies to sign language in the same way that it applies to spoken language. According to McCardle, native signers are able to use the morphological aspect of sign language in more appropriate situations than those who learn later in life.