Jennifer ‘Jenny’ Witteborg graduated from Gallaudet with a BA in Government in 1983. She then raised 5 children and worked part time in various capacities including being a certified childbirth instructor, ASL teacher, communication consultant for Fairfax County, and key developer for “Parenting Skills: Bringing Together Two Worlds”. She started her own documentary filmmaking business in 2004. She returned to Gallaudet University for her Masters in Cultural Studies and expects to graduate in May 2013.
A Case Study of Sign Language Endangerment: Ban Khor Sign Language
There have been studies on spoken languages being endangered. Nettle and Romaine (2002:2) have found “about half the known languages of the world have vanished in the last five hundred years.” A language disappears every fortnight. Are there any similarities for Deaf Sign Languages? Since linguistics and anthropological study of sign languages in the 20th century began, the interesting findings are being recognized that the Deaf communities around the world are vulnerable to the declining of indigenous or native sign languages. While some sign languages are on risk of being murdered, other new sign languages are emerging. In other cases, the native sign languages are replaced or heavily influenced by American Sign Language. The driving causes of this language genocide in some parts of the world are because of government, medical, and/or pedagogy systems. While an overview will be presented briefly, the main focus will be on Thailand’s indigenous sign language: Ban Khor Sign Language which was rejected by these systems.
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