Penang Sign Language () was developed in Malaysia by
deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
children, outside the classroom, when
oralism
Oralism is the education of deaf students through oral language by using lip reading, speech, and mimicking the mouth shapes and breathing patterns of speech.Through Deaf Eyes. Diane Garey, Lawrence R. Hott. DVD, PBS (Direct), 2007. Oralism c ...
was predominant. It is now mainly used by older people, although many younger people can understand it.
History
Penang Sign Language began when the first school for the deaf,
Federation School for the Deaf (FSD), was established by
Lady Templer, the wife of the British High Commissioner in Malaya, in 1954. Deaf students went to FSD, to learn oral skills, not sign language. However, the students would sign by themselves in the dormitory of FSD every night.
In the 1960s, Tan Yap went to
Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered university in Washington, D.C., for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first school ...
in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
to learn deaf culture and sign language. He brought an ASL book back with him to Malaysia. But Tan Yap's suggestions were rejected by the Government.
An American, Professor Frances Parsons, travelled around the world in 1976 in order to introduce
Total Communication and Sign Language to poor schools for the deaf, in order to better prepare them for education. In the same year, Frances Parsons went to
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...
to meet with
Mahathir Mohamad
Mahathir bin Mohamad (; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author and doctor who was respectively the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and from 2018 to 2020. He was the ...
, the Minister of Education. After a 45-minute discussion, Mahathir agreed with Parsons's suggestions and theory. In the next few days, Mahathir announced new legislation that obliged schools in Malaysia to teach Total Communication and Sign Language. As a result, BIM (Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia) or MSL (Malaysian Sign Language) became similar to American Sign Language after 1976.
See also
*
Malaysian Sign Language
Malaysian Sign Language (, or BIM) is the principal language of the deaf community of Malaysia. It is also the official sign language used by the Malaysian government to communicate with the deaf community and was officially recognised by the Ma ...
(MSL)
*
Selangor Sign Language (SSL or KLSL)
*
Kod Tangan Bahasa Malaysia
Kod Tangan Bahasa Malaysia (KTBM), or Manually Coded Malay, is a signed form of the Malay language recognized by the government in Malaysia and the Malaysian Ministry of Education. It aids teachers in teaching the Malay language to deaf students ...
(KTBM)
References
External links
{{sign language navigation
Sign languages of Malaysia
Endangered sign language isolates
Language isolates of Asia