4 British Sign Language (BSL): an introduction

Origins

BSL is considerably different when compared to English. It is a language in its own right. It began with Mary Brennan undertaking extensive research in 1970. She worked alongside William Stokoe who was the founder of American Sign Language (ASL). Following her research, Brennan started to understand the structure of sign languages: their form, style. and how they can so eloquently paint visual pictures. It was from the linguistics of ASL that BSL was developed.

It took from 1970 with the hard work of creating ‘The BSL Dictionary’ to 2003 for the government finally to recognise British Sign Language as a language in its own right.

Unlike other countries, such as India, New Zealand and America, the UK still falls short when it comes to supporting the Deaf community.It has taken years of campaigning for the language to be recognised, to have subtitled cinema showings, and to ensure that there are BSL interpreters on TV shows including the news. In a recent example, the UK government did not always have a BSL interpreter present to sign while key updates were being delivered at the daily press conference during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Other areas of the UK, such as the Scotland government, were much better at making concessions for the Deaf community.) In short, there is still a long way to go in the UK.

Language difference explained…

Many people assume that BSL is simply a version of English that uses visual representations of words instead of sounds. This is incorrect. They are in fact two different languages with two completely different language structures as we will see later in this section of the course.

Figure 7 BSL interpreters at a public event

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This image is a photo of two British Sign Language volunteers working at a public event. They are wearing high-vis yellow jackets with their backs to camera. On the back of the jackets, it says ‘BSL interpreter’ and shows a logo of a sign gesture. All around the people there are members of the public.

Figure 7 BSL interpreters at a public event

It is worth considering this if you have a deaf student, employee or family member as it may help you to understand why there is a communication barrier and how you can help reduce this.