TOPIC: DEAF PEOPLE AND THEIR SIGN LANGUAGE
Author: Carlos Erlan Olival Lima Student ID: M175114
Subject: Japanese Life Today
Deaf people have two main ways of
communicating with others – lip reading and
sign language.
Lip reading is a technique to understand
speech by visually interpreting the
movements of the lips and tongue, using
facial expression and body language to help.
Lip readers also use information they have
from:
 The context (or topic) of the
conversation – this helps narrow
down the possible vocabulary they
might be lip reading
 The knowledge they have about the
language and its lip patterns.
 Any residual hearing they may have
(with or without a hearing aid).
It is used by many deaf people who do not
sign; especially those who were born
hearing and have either gradually or
suddenly lost their hearing during their life.
The other way is sign language, which is a
visual language that uses hand shapes,
facial expression, gestures and body
language. Contrary to popular belief there is
not one universal sign language used by all
Deaf people. Sign languages, like any other
languages, are a means of communication
and are the natural languages of Deaf
communities. In fact, Deaf people
throughout the world use different sign
languages depending on their country of
origin.
When it comes to the use of sign language
in Japan, we can find three main types of
sign language in Japan: Japanese sign
language, or JSL; "manually coded
Japanese", or MSJ; pidgin signed language,
or PSJ.
JSL is the dominant sign language of Japan.
It is distinct from spoken and written
Japanese, though there are influences, of
course.
MSJ is not a natural form of communication
among the deaf and hard of hearing. It was
banned in schools until 2002, and is
sometimes taught in them now.
PSJ is sometimes used between non-native
speakers; it is basically signed versions of
spoken/written Japanese.
About JSL, JSL has a few different moving
parts.
ゆびもじ
 Yubimoji 指 文 字 (Finger Spelling)
This is just like it sounds. It's the
Japanese alphabet with one hand
shape for one sound. You use them
for foreign words, last names, or
strange words you don't know the
sign for.
 くうしょ
 Kuusho 空 書 (Air Writing) Used for
tracing kanji in the air. You probably
do this already when you don't know
a kanji and you're trying to explain it
to someone else. Japanese people
do it too.
こうわ
 Kouwa 口 話 (Mouthing) This is a
leftover from the movement back in
the Taisho era when lip reading was
being promoted. You mouth out kanji
that have different readings to
differentiate. Usually you'll mouth the
first sound of each word.
JSL appears to be a much "younger"
language form than many other national
sign languages. The first school for the deaf
was established in Kyoto in 1878 and we
have very little evidence for sign language
communities before that time (although they
no doubt existed in small pockets). The
current form of fingerspelling was
introduced in the early 20th century and is
based on the fingerspelling used in Spain,
France, and the United States. However,
many older deaf do not know the
fingerspelling forms or numerals and most
Deaf born before the end of World War II
(1948) did not attend school since it was
only after the war that compulsory education
for the Deaf was instituted.
a standardized set of "Kanji" signs that allow
you to spell out your name using the
Chinese characters in sign form. Mouthing
is also used when spelling out names.
Interest in sign language among the hearing
population of Japan has been increasing,
with numerous books now published
targeting the hearing population, a weekly
TV program teaching JSL, and the
increasing availability of night school
classes for the hearing to learn JSL. There
have been several TV dramas,
including Hoshi no Kinka (1995), in which
signing has been a significant part of the
plot, and sign language dramas are now a
minor genre on Japanese TV. The anime
school drama film "A Silent Voice"
(Japanese: 聲の形 Hepburn: Koe no Katachi,
lit. The Shape of Voice), released in 2016,
also talk about the challenges that the deaf
people have to deal in their daily life.
Lastly, The Japanese Sign Language (JSL)
family is a language family of three sign
languages: Japanese Sign Language (JSL),
Korean Sign Language (KSL), and
Taiwanese Sign Language (TSL). There is
little difficulty in communication between the
three languages.

JSL has fingerspelling, but many people

don't use it widely. I saw a lot of what I
would call "air writing" -- especially of
numbers and English letters -- instead of
fingerspelling at the national Deaf meeting.
Fingerspelling is not used much in normal
conversation, certainly not as much as
American Sign Language (ASL). For
personal names and place names, there is