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Contributed by Francois Grosjean, August 7, 1999, who writes:
"This short text is the result of much reflection over
the years on bilingualism and deafness. Those who surround
young deaf children (parents, doctors, language pathologists,
educators, etc.) often do not perceive them as future bilingual
and bicultural individuals. It is with these people in mind
that I have written this paper."
The right of deaf child to grow bilingual
By
François Grosjean, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland
Every
deaf child, whatever the level of his/her hearing loss, should
have the right to grow up bilingual. By knowing and using
both a sign language and an oral language (in its written
and, when possible, in its spoken modality), the child will
attain his/her full cognitive, linguistic and social capabilities.
What
a child needs to be able to do with language
The deaf child has to accomplish a number of things with language:
1. Communicate with parents
and family members as soon as possible. A hearing child normally
acquires language in the very first years of life on the condition
that he/she is exposed to a language and can perceive it.
Language in turn is an important means of establishing and
solidifying social and personal ties between the child and
his/her parents. What is true of the hearing child must also
become true of the deaf child. He/she must be able to communicate
with his/her parents by means of a natural language as soon,
and as fully, as possible. It is with language that much of
the parent-child affective bonding takes place.
2. Develop cognitive abilities
in infancy. Through language, the child develops cognitive
abilities that are critical to his/her personal development.
Among these we find various types of reasoning, abstracting,
memorizing, etc. The total absence of language, the adoption
of a non-natural language or the use of a language that is
poorly perceived or known, can have major negative consequences
on the child's cognitive development.
3. Acquire world knowledge.
The child will acquire knowledge about the world mainly through
language. As he/she communicates with parents, other family
members, children and adults, information about the world
will be processed and exchanged. It is this knowledge, in
turn, which serves as a basis for the activities that will
take place in school. It is also world knowledge which facilitates
language comprehension; there is no real language understanding
without the support of this knowledge.
4. Communicate fully with
the surrounding world. The deaf child, like the hearing child,
must be able to communicate fully with those who are part
of his/her life (parents, brothers and sisters, peers, teachers,
various adults, etc.). Communication must take place at an
optimal rate of information in a language that is appropriate
to the interlocutor and the situation. In some cases it will
be sign language, in other cases it will be the oral language
(in one of its modalities), and sometimes it will be the two
languages in alternation.
5.
Acculturate into two worlds. Through language, the deaf child
must progressively become a member of both the hearing and
of the Deaf world. He/she must identify, at least in part,
with the hearing world which is almost always the world of
his/her parents and family members (90% of deaf children have
hearing parents). But the child must also come into contact
as early as possible with the world of the Deaf, his/her other
world. The child must feel comfortable in these two worlds
and must be able to identify with each as much as possible.
Bilingualism
is the only way of meeting these needs
Bilingualism
is the knowledge and regular use of two or more languages.
A sign language - oral language bilingualism is the only way
that the deaf child will meet his/her needs, that is, communicate
early with his/her parents, develop his/her cognitive abilities,
acquire knowledge of the world, communicate fully with the
surrounding world, and acculturate into the world of the hearing
and of the Deaf.
What
kind of bilingualism?
The bilingualism of the deaf child will involve the sign language
used by the Deaf community and the oral language used by the
hearing majority. The latter language will be acquired in
its written, and if possible, in its spoken modality. Depending
on the child, the two languages will play different roles:
some children will be dominant in sign language, others will
be dominant in the oral language, and some will be balanced
in their two languages. In addition, various types of bilingualism
are possible since there are several levels of deafness and
the language contact situation is itself complex (four language
modalities, two production and two perception systems, etc.).
This said, most deaf children will become bilingual and bicultural
to varying degrees. In this sense, they will be no different
than about half the world's population that lives with two
or more languages. (It has been estimated that there are as
many, if not more, bilinguals in the world today as monolinguals).
Just like other bilingual children, they will use their languages
in their everyday lives and they will belong, to varying degrees,
to their two worlds - in this case, the hearing world and
the Deaf world.
What
role for sign language?
Sign language must be the first language (or one of the first
two languages) acquired by children who have a severe hearing
loss. It is a natural, full-fledged language that ensures
full and complete communication. Unlike an oral language,
it allows the young deaf child and his/her parents to communicate
early, and fully, on the condition that they acquire it quickly.
Sign language will play an important role in the deaf child's
cognitive and social development and it will help him/her
acquire knowledge about the world. It will also allow the
child to acculturate into the Deaf world (one of the two worlds
he/she belongs to) as soon as contact is made with that world.
In addition, sign language will facilitate the acquisition
of the oral language, be it in its spoken or written modality.
It is well known that a first language that has been acquired
normally, be it an oral or a sign language, will greatly enhance
the acquisition of a second language. Finally, being able
to use sign language is a guarantee that the child will have
mastered at least one language. Despite considerable effort
on the part of deaf children and of the professionals that
surround them, and despite the use of various technological
aids, it is a fact that many deaf children have great difficulties
producing and perceiving an oral language in its spoken modality.
Having to wait several years to reach a satisfactory level
that might never be attained, and in the meantime denying
the deaf child access to a language that meets his/her immediate
needs (sign language), is basically taking the risk that the
child will fall behind in his/her development, be it linguistic,
cognitive, social or personal.
What
role for the oral language?
Being bilingual means knowing and using two or more languages.
The deaf child's other language will be the oral language
used by the hearing world to which he/she also belongs. This
language, in its spoken and/or written modality, is the language
of the child's parents, brothers and sisters, extended family,
future friends and employers, etc. When those who interact
with the child in everyday life do not know sign language,
it is important that communication takes place nevertheless
and this can only happen in the oral language. It is also
this language, in its written modality mainly, that will be
an important medium for the acquisition of knowledge. Much
of what we learn is transmitted via writing be it at home
or more generally at school. In addition, the deaf child's
academic success and his/her future professional achievements
will depend in large part on a good mastery of the oral language,
in its written and if possible spoken modality.
Conclusion
It is our duty to allow the deaf child to acquire two languages,
the sign language of the Deaf community (as a first language
when the hearing loss is severe) and the oral language of
the hearing majority. To achieve this, the child must be in
contact with the two language communities and must feel the
need to learn and use both languages. Counting solely on one
language, the oral language, because of recent technological
advances is betting on the deaf child's future. It is putting
at risk the child's cognitive and personal development and
it is negating the child's need to acculturate into the two
world's that he/she belongs to. Early contact with the two
languages will give the child more guarantees than contact
with just one language, whatever his/her future will be, and
whichever world he/she chooses to live in (in case it is only
one of them). One never regrets knowing several languages
but one can certainly regret not knowing enough, especially
if one's own development is at stake. The deaf child should
have the right to grow up bilingual and it is our responsibility
to help him/her do so.
By
the same author
Grosjean,
F. (1982). Life with Two Languages: An Introduction to Bilingualism.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Grosjean,
F. (1987). Bilingualism. In Gallaudet Encyclopedia of Deaf
People and Deafness. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Grosjean,
F. (1992). The bilingual and the bicultural person in the
hearing and in the deaf world. Sign Language Studies, 77,
307-320.
Grosjean,
F. (1994). Individual bilingualism. In The Encyclopedia of
Language and Linguistics. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Grosjean,
F. (1994). Sign bilingualism: Issues. In The Encyclopedia
of Language and Linguistics. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Grosjean,
F. (1996). Living with two languages and two cultures. In
I. Parasnis (Ed.), Cultural and Language Diversity: Reflections
on the Deaf Experience (pp. 20-37). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
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It Takes a Village to Raise a Deaf Child 
