Noppawan Thamsiriboon

Noppawan Thamsiriboon was born in Bangkok, Thailand to Deaf parents. Her father became Deaf when he was 12 years old with a fall to the floor, Her mother became Deaf when she was baby due to high fever. Noppawan graduated from Deaf school and earned a BA degree in Special Education in Deaf Early Childhood from Suan Dusit Rajabhat University in 2004. She then worked as a website designer with a company in Bangkok, Thailand in 2006. Then she worked as a teacher in the Special Education with a Deaf child and a hearing child with intelligence disability in Phuket, Thailand in 2007. She then came to Gallaudet University in 2008 to learn English and American Sign Language. In 2011, she was a special graduate student majoring in Deaf Education. At present she is studying for her Masters in Deaf Studies with a concentration in Language and Human Rights and expects to graduate by 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.