Translator: Lily María Bello Sánchez Reviewer: David DeRuwe
We have known for some time that dolphins can communicate with each other,
but recent research has shown that dolphins use clicks and whistles
in a very sophisticated way
and that they even know how to take turns in conversation
and not to interrupt each other,
very much like humans do.
So let's imagine for a moment
that we have managed to map all the dolphin sounds to English words,
thereby creating an English to Dolphinese dictionary.
This means that we can communicate with the dolphins,
but essentially we only have half a dictionary or a one-way dictionary
because there is no "Dolphinese to English" section
that would help the dolphins to communicate with us.
This is because we simply haven't figured out
how to arrange the clicks and whistles logically,
so that they can be looked up.
So the dolphins really cannot use our dictionary at all.
If this is a scenario that could potentially exist in the animal kingdom,
what would you say if I told you
that this same situation has existed in our world for years.
I would like you to consider deaf communities and their languages,
sign languages,
and that, for many years, only one-way dictionaries have been available
to deaf users of sign language dictionaries.
This is because sign languages have no written form.
And in a printed dictionary,
signs are usually presented as pictures or drawings.
But because a picture presents a sign as a whole
instead of its individual components
and are difficult to arrange logically or to look up,
these dictionaries have typically been printed word lists
with the words arranged alphabetically on the one side
and pictures of the signs next to them.
And these dictionaries have no use whatsoever
to anybody who wanted to look up a sign.
I am a lexicographer with a passion for languages.
Don't worry, most people's reaction
to what I do for a living is: "lexico-what?"
But this is an easy one, and we're going to figure it out together.
"Lexico" refers to lexicon or vocabulary,
and the second part of the word
is the same as in biographer or cartographer.
In other words, somebody who writes something.
Therefore a lexicographer, somebody who writes dictionaries.
I work for a monolingual comprehensive dictionary
in a South African language known as Afrikaans,
and I love my job.
But ever since years ago, as a child,
I first saw American sign language on television,
I have been fascinated with the idea
of a language that does not have to be spoken.
And eventually, my two passions came together
and led me to learn South African sign language, or at least start to,
and research the lexicography of sign language, on the other hand.
Now, it has to be said that the electronic era
has already brought about a big change in sign language lexicography,
and there are, indeed, excellent online sign language dictionaries
which do make it possible to look up a sign.
And they do this by breaking down the signs
into their individual components or phonemes.
Now, before we get to the idea that I would like to share with you today,
we are going to take one quick step back
to make sure that everybody is on the same page,
more or less, about sign languages
and see what we think or what we know about them,
and what, perhaps, we're not so sure about it.
So first of all, there is no universal sign language.
In other words, there's no single sign language
used by all deaf people everywhere around the world.
Most people are quite surprised to discover this,
and they ask, "Why?"
The answer is quite simple:
it's for the same reason that there is no single spoken language
used by all hearing people everywhere around the world.
After all, we're not telepathically connected,
and languages grow and change and develop where they are needed and used.
Which brings me to the second point:
sign languages are, indeed, natural human languages
with their own syntax and grammar.
They're not linked to any specific spoken language,
and they're so much more than just spoken language on the hands.
Even though English is spoken in the United States and in Britain,
users of American sign language and British sign language
may not necessarily understand each other.
So with all of that out of the way,
we can get to the idea I would like to share with you today.
It started some years ago, at the beginning of my research.
I visited a primary school for deaf children,
and in particular the foundation phase,
which in South Africa is grades one, two, and three.
And I wanted to see what language support material they had available.
At that time, it consisted of a very basic word list.
The words were arranged thematically
and presented the target vocabulary for the various learning areas.
But this list, as you can see, contained no pictures and no signs
to help to make a connection between the word and what it stood for.
So it was very plain to see
that the children were not using this list at all,
because it offered no help in remembering what a word means.
And I compared it to the beautiful bilingual foundation phase dictionaries
that are available in other languages and that also include themed searches.
In other words, in addition to the alphabetic section,
they have these colorful thematic pages
on which words from both languages
appear next to a picture of the concept that they represent.
And I asked myself,
"Why can't we do the same for a sign language dictionary
for deaf children in the foundation phase?"
Given how important this phase is to acquire literacy in the first place.
You see, unfortunately, there is a world-wide lost generation
of deaf adults who, on average, have very low literacy levels
and who do not like to read.
Therefore, they are extremely unlikely to use the dictionary
in which the main access route is a word.
It is, after all, difficult to look for a word
if you're not sure how to spell it to begin with.
So picture searches can be a great way of learning and searching for children,
but they may also help to alleviate some of the anxiety or the frustration
that all the users may feel when it comes to using a dictionary for the first time.
Here is something else that most of us have never really thought about,
but learning to read relies very heavily on sounds and phonics,
something which deaf children have no access to.
But there has been research that shows
that by indicating the finger-spelled rendition of a word,
a bridge may be built
between the written form of the word and the sign.
So while hearing children learn songs like "A is for apple, B is for ball,"
a very simplistic example would be that deaf children
may equally benefit from learning that A is for apple and B is for ball.
So with all these things in mind,
I decided to research a solution to address these problems.
And the completed theory
presents an electronic, fully-bilingual, sign language dictionary
with all content available side by side in both languages
and with the sign language content in video format.
The dictionary is equally accessible via three ways of searching:
namely, the picture search, a sign search, and a word search.
And this means that no literacy is actually required
in either of the dictionary's two languages,
the written language or the sign language,
to even start using the dictionary.
Hanno Schreiber is a computer scientist
who completed his honors degree at Stellenbosch University last year.
And together, we have started to build an online dictionary
based on my theory and on a dynamic database that was developed by him.
Although it is currently stalled at the prototype,
it is apparent that the theory works.
And it has been acknowledged by the National Institute for the Deaf.
There is a road ahead of us, though,
because original content still need to be developed,
which would include artwork
as well as definitions and examples in both languages.
And certainly not with yours truly as the model.
(Laughter)
The ultimate goal is to make it available to the deaf community for free.
Because the deaf community already faces so many challenges including financial
that it would be unfair to charge them for access to a resource
in a language that is already so vastly under-resourced.
The deaf might not be able to hear,
but they can still listen and learn
if they have access to the right tools.
And it's actually amazing that the deaf have achieved so much already
with what, in most cases, has been just half a dictionary.
I don't think life should be so full of obstacles there.
And I believe that the idea that I shared with you today
can be part of the way as we move forward
towards producing accessible and appropriate sign language resources.
I want to challenge you
to think of the deaf community as a linguistic minority,
instead of thinking of deafness as a disability.
The deaf simply speak a different language.
And it's time that we come together to start working on the right tools
so that this "disability" becomes nothing more than a different "ability."
And then the barriers of communication can be broken down once and for all.
Thank you.
(Applause)