ID: Yellow, Black and White graphic flyer. At the top are white and yellow are fingerspelled in BASL.
Text of flyer:
NC STATE LINGUISTICS @NCSTATE_LDA
BLACK ASL *(BASL)
WATCH THIS!
(QR code) DOCUMENTARY: SIGNING BLACK IN AMERICA
DID YOU KNOW?
Sign language is not universal. In fact, there are several hundred sign languages around the world!
DID YOU KNOW?
“Little d deaf” refers to the condition of hearing loss. “Big D Deaf” refers to someone who identifies with the Deaf cultural community.
WHAT IS BASL?
Black American Sign language, also called BASL, is a distinct variety of American Sign Language (ASL) used by many Black Deaf communities across the United States. BASL is a spectrum of features, signs, and styles that vary for each signer & in different situations.It has a long history and, like all languages, is still constantly developing and changing.
HISTORY
(There a yellow timeline starting from left to right with the arrow at the end. The text on the bottom of the timeline with the graphic on top of the timeline except for the caption bubble)
1869: 1st Black Deaf school opens in Raleigh, NC
Segregation and linguistic isolation in schools leads to the emergence of BASL, a variety distinct from existing forms of ASL (graphic of the state outline of North Carolina with a yellow star inside)
1954: Brown v. Board of Education
The integration of Black and White Deaf schools begins but is not complete until decades later. (Graphics of a school building twice between the yellow dash line)
Today: BASL continues to evolve BASL is still diverging from Mainstream ASL, in part due to its importance to Black Deaf identity.
[The caption bubble]:
“IT’S SOUL; IT’S UNITY; THERE’S HISTORY; THERE’S CULTURE. ALL OF THAT IS ENCAPSULATED INTO THIS THING WE CALL “BLACK ASL”
– SHENTARA COBB, STUDENT
CODE-SWITCHING
There is a myth that Mainstream ASL is better than Black ASL. In reality, Mainstream ASL and BASL are just different but equally effective ways of communicating. Linguists agree that no language or dialect is actually “better”than another.
Partially because of this negative perception, BASL signers often alternate, or code switch, between BASL and ASL when outside of Black Deaf spaces. (Graphic of prohibited symbol cross out text “ASL >BASL”)
FEATURES
Some distinct features of BASL include:
• Vocabulary differences
• Incorporation of African American
English (AAE) forms into signs
• Maintenance of two-handed signs*
• Some signs remain higher on the face *
• Less mouthing of words*
• Repetition of signs*
• Larger signing space*
*These features may also be exhibited by non-Black signers, but less frequently
(Graphic of two people where one is medium brown in color with dash outline square from slightly above the face to slightly below the torso representing the signing space. The other next to it is in beige color with a dash outline square from slightly above the face to the chest)
REFERENCES
McCaskill, C., Lucas, C., Hill, J., Bayley, R. (2011). The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Its history and structure. Gallaudet University Press.
Smith, A. (2020). Viewers’ Discussion Guide to Signing Black in America. Retrieved from: https://talkingblackinamerica.org/wp
content/uploads/2020/06/SBiA Viewers-Guide-Combined- 27min.pdf
Wolfram, W. (Executive Producer), Hill, J., Lucas, C., McCaskill, C. (Associate Producers), & Cullinan, D., Hutcheson, N. (Directors). (2020). Signing Black in America [Documentary].
USA: Language and Life Project.