Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL) is a sign language (now extinct), once widely used on the island of Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts, U.S., from the early 18th century to the mid 20th century. It was remarkable for its use by both deaf and hearing people in the community; consequently, deafness did not become a barrier to participation in public life. Martha's Vineyard Sign Language is also notable for the role it played in the development of American Sign Language. Sign language interpreter on stage A sign language (also signed language) is a language which uses manual communication, body language and lip patterns instead of sound to convey meaning—simultaneously combining handshapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to express fluidly a speakers... Sign language is not universal. ... The legal recognition of sign languages is one of the major concerns of the international Deaf community. ... Sign language interpreter on stage A sign language (also signed language) is a language which uses manual communication, body language and lip patterns instead of sound to convey meaning—simultaneously combining handshapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to express fluidly a speakers... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... Map of Marthas Vineyard. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... The word deaf can have very different meanings depending on the background of the person speaking or the context in which the word is used. ... Hearing is the following: Hearing is the sense by which sound is perceived. ... American Sign Language (ASL; less commonly Ameslan) is the dominant sign language of the Deaf community in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in parts of Mexico. ...

The language was able to thrive on Martha's Vineyard because of the unusually high percentage of deaf islanders. In 1854, when the island's deaf population peaked, the United States national average was one deaf person in 5728, while on Martha's Vineyard it was one in 155. In the town of Chilmark, where most of the deaf people lived, it was 1 in 25; in a section of Chilmark called Squibnocket, as much as a quarter of the population of 60 was deaf. The word deaf can have very different meanings depending on the background of the person speaking or the context in which the word is used. ... 1854 (MDCCCLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Chilmark is a town located on Marthas Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts. ...

Hearing people sometimes signed even when there were no deaf people present: children signed behind a schoolteacher's back, adults signed to each other quietly during a sermon at church, and farmers signed to their children across a wide field, where the spoken word would not carry. Frequently, the punchlines to dirty jokes were told only in sign language.

Origins

The ancestry of most of the deaf population of Martha's Vineyard can be traced back to a forested area in the south of England known as the Weald — specifically the part of the Weald in the county of Kent. Martha's Vineyard Sign Language is thought to descend from a sign language that was used there in the 16th century, now known as Old Kent Sign Language. A number of families from a puritan community in the Kentish Weald emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony area of the United States in the early 17th century, many of their descendents later settling on Martha's Vineyard. The first deaf person known to have settled there was a carpenter and farmer Jonathan Lambert, who moved there with his hearing wife in 1694. By 1710, the migration had virtually ceased, and the endogamous community that was created contained a high incidence of hereditary deafness that would persist for over 200 years. Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... A weald once meant a dense forest, especially the famous great wood once stretching far beyond the ancient counties of Sussex and Kent, England, where this country of smaller woods is still called the Weald. ... coat of Arms of Kent For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Old Kent Sign Language. ... For the record label, see Puritan Records. ... A map of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Events February 6 - The colony Quilombo dos Palmares is destroyed. ... // Events April 10 - The worlds first copyright legislation became effective, Britains Statute of Anne Ongoing events Great Northern War (1700-1721) War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713) Births January 3 - Richard Gridley, American Revolutionary soldier (d. ... pertaining to or characterized by the custom of marrying only within the limits of a clan or tribe ...

Old Kent Sign Language evolved into a distinct Chilmark Sign Language (17th & 18 century) and was later combined with French Sign Language (19th century) to form Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (19th & 20th centuries). From the late 18th to the early twentieth century, virtually everyone on Martha's Vineyard possessed some degree of fluency in the local sign language. Old Kent Sign Language. ... French Sign Language (Langue des Signes Français or LSF) is the language of the deaf in the nation of France. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ...

Deaf migration to the mainland

In the early 19th century, a new educational philosophy began to emerge on the mainland, and the country's first school for the deaf opened in 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut (now called the American School for the Deaf). Many of the deaf children of Martha's Vineyard enrolled there, bringing their sign language with them. However, the language of the teachers was French Sign Language, and many of the other deaf students used their own home sign systems. This school became known as the birthplace of the Deaf community in the U.S., and the different sign systems used there, including MVSL, merged to become American Sign Language or ASL — now one of the largest community languages in the country. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The American School for the Deaf (ASD) was the first institution for the education of the deaf in America. ... French Sign Language (Langue des Signes Français or LSF) is the language of the deaf in the nation of France. ... Home sign (homesign or kitchen sign) is a term used to describe the gestural communication system developed by a deaf individual (together with those they grow up around) who hasnt learned either a spoken language or a signed language such as those used by deaf communities around the world. ... American Sign Language (ASL; less commonly Ameslan) is the dominant sign language of the Deaf community in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in parts of Mexico. ...

As more deaf people remained on the mainland, and others who returned brought with them deaf spouses they met there, the line of hereditary deafness began to diminish. As the 20th century came to a turn, the previously isolated community of fishers and farmers began to see the influx of tourists that would become a mainstay in the island economy. The jobs in tourism were not as deaf-friendly as fishing and farming had been. Further, as intermarriage and further migration further joined the people of Martha's Vineyard to the mainland, the island community more and more resembled the wider community there.

The last deaf person born into the island's sign language tradition, Katie West, died in 1952. However, a few elderly residents were able to recall MVSL as recently as the 1980s when research into the language began. The 1980s refers to the period where corey sucks peters and has a not little to look at his little penis of and between 1980 and 1989. ...

See also

• Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language
• Adamorobe Sign Language
• Yucatec Maya Sign Language
• Kata Kolok
• Nicaraguan Sign Language

The Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) is a sign language used by about 150 deaf and many hearing members of a Bedouin community in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ... Adamorobe Sign Language is an indigenous sign language used in Adamorobe, an Akan village in eastern Ghana. ... Yucatec Maya Sign Language is used in the Yucatán region in Mexico by both hearing and deaf members of a traditional Mayan community, where there there is an unusually high number of deaf inhabitants. ... Kata Kolok (literally deaf talk) is the name given to a sign language of a village in northern Bali which has had an extraordinarily high rate of deafness for several generations. ... Nicaraguan Sign Language (or ISN, Idioma de Señas de Nicaragua or Idioma de Signos Nicaragüense) is a signed language spontaneously developed by deaf children in a number of schools in western Nicaragua in the 1970s and 1980s. ...

References

• Groce, Nora Ellen (1985). Everyone here spoke sign language: Hereditary deafness on Martha's Vineyard. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-27040-1. 
• Sacks, Oliver (1991). Seeing Voices: A Journey Into the World of the Deaf. Vintage. ISBN 0-330-32090-4. 

Dr. Nora Ellen Groce is the co-chair of the Disability Studies Group at the Yale Institute of Social and Policy Studies and the director of the Yale/WHO Collaborating Center. ... Oliver Sacks Oliver Wolf Sacks (born July 9, 1933, London) is a neurologist who has written popular books about his patients. ...

External links

• Ethnologue entry for MVSL