Summary: In This Episode: It’s easier for young children to learn basic sign language than to speak, and what a head start they can get on learning! Proof of concept: a gorilla, which in part shows that thinking is not limited to humans.<br> <br> <a class="twitter-share-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">Tweet</a><br> <a href="#transcript">Jump to Transcript</a><br> <a href="https://thisistrue.com/category/podcasts/">How to Subscribe and List of All Episodes</a><br> Show Notes<br> <br> * An interesting article on the history and structure of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sign_Language">American Sign Language</a>.<br> * If you haven’t seen it already, check out the fascinating Honorary Unsubscribe for <a href="https://www.honoraryunsubscribe.com/hanabi-ko/">Koko the gorilla</a>, which includes a video of Koko interacting with a special friend: Robin Williams.<br> * Using an online ASL video dictionary, you can see the signs for <a href="https://www.handspeak.com/word/search/index.php?id=60">all</a> and for <a href="https://www.handspeak.com/word/search/index.php?id=154">ball</a> — and note the facial aspect, especially during the former sign. And, you can see they don’t look at all alike.<br> <br> <br> <a name="transcript"></a><br> Transcript<br> It’s easier for young children to learn basic sign language than to speak, and what a head start they can get on learning! Proof of concept: a gorilla, which in part shows that thinking is not limited to humans …especially when you compare such animals to some humans who don’t seem to think at all!<br> Welcome to Uncommon Sense, I’m Randy Cassingham.<br> This is a retake on a popular episode from season one, which was prompted by something in the news. And it happens to be something my wife and I coincidentally both have experience with. Plus, it’s a fantastic tool to help kids learn and communicate at a much earlier age than thought possible a generation or two ago. And that’s sign language, specifically in this case, American Sign Language, because yes, different countries have different sign languages.<br> And by the way, there are even different dialects of American Sign Language. You might think, well that sure makes sign language harder to learn. Maybe, but what I call “soda pop,” those in the south call “coke” — you know, like “orange coke” and “root beer coke.” British English is different too: their cars have boots where ours have trunks. French Canadian is a bit different than French in France. So different dialects are clearly a common factor in languages in general, not just sign language.<br> Most people seem to think that sign language is some sort of gestural system for deaf people. But it’s far more complex than that: it is a true language, with its own syntax and grammar that are very different from English, and it’s a very useful tool for hearing people too. That’s what we’ll be exploring a bit here.<br> In college, I majored in Journalism to learn to research and write quickly. But I’ve always been interested in communications in general, so I designed my own minor in non-verbal communications. That was partly to study what most people call “body language,” and I was honored to even study briefly with Professor Albert Mehrabian of UCLA, one of the pioneers in the study of what he calls “implicit communications,” and he’s the one that got me interested in that topic.<br> Mostly, though, my course of study included a full year of college-level American Sign Language classes, which were not just fun — they were challenging.
