Italian Sign Language facts for kids

Italian Sign Language, often called LIS (which stands for Lingua dei Segni Italiana), is the special visual language used by deaf people in Italy. It's a way for deaf people to communicate using their hands, body, and facial expressions. Experts started studying LIS in detail in the 1980s. Today, many of the 60,000 to 90,000 deaf people in Italy use LIS to talk to each other.

How is Italian Sign Language Structured?

LIS is a unique language. It's quite different from spoken Italian. For example, in LIS, you might say "You go where?" instead of "Where do you go?". This is similar to how some other languages work, not just spoken Italian.

There's also something called Signed Italian. This mixes LIS signs with the grammar rules of spoken Italian. But it's important to remember that Signed Italian is not the same as true Italian Sign Language (LIS).

Understanding LIS Grammar

Like all sign languages, LIS has its own grammar rules. For example, when you talk about things, their position in space is very important. This helps show who is doing what. Instead of saying "The child speaks to the mother," in LIS you might sign something like "Child-here mother-there this-speak-that."

Facial expressions are also a big part of LIS. They help show if you're asking a question, giving a command, or adding more information. LIS also has special signs called "classifiers" that describe things. It can even show if there are two, three, four, or five of something, not just one or many!

Some deafblind people in Italy use a special kind of LIS called tactile sign language. They communicate by touching the signs.

A Look at LIS History and Education

For a long time, people in Europe thought that thinking and speaking were connected. This meant they often believed deaf people were less intelligent. However, in the 500s CE, Emperor Justinian made laws that gave some deaf people legal rights for the first time.

Challenges in the Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, things got harder for deaf people. They lost many rights, like the right to inherit property or get married. People also had strange ideas about how to "cure" deafness, like shouting into someone's mouth!

New Beginnings in the Renaissance

Things started to change in the 1300s. A legal expert named Bartolo della marca c'Ancona wrote that deaf people could indeed think and use their minds. This more positive view grew during the Renaissance.

The first Italian teacher of deaf students was a monk named Pedro Ponce de León in the 1500s. Monks often used signs to communicate during silent times, which might have helped start this tradition. In fact, some of the earliest signs of this language date back to the 1000s!

The First Schools for the Deaf

The first school for deaf people in Italy was started by Tommaso Silvestri in the late 1700s. He learned about teaching deaf students using signs from a famous teacher in Paris. Silvestri believed that signs helped deaf students learn and should be used in schools.

At this time, people called the communication used by deaf people "the language of gestures." The fact that they called it a "language" shows that sign language was respected. Textbooks were even written to help teach written Italian using signs.

The Milan Conference and Its Impact

In 1880, a very important meeting called the Conference of Milan took place. Most of the people at this meeting were hearing, and they decided that teaching deaf children to speak (the "oral method") was better than using sign language.

After this conference, sign language was hardly mentioned in education. The focus shifted to teaching deaf children to speak and use the national language. Even so, deaf people started their own groups and associations to support each other.

Modern Education Trends

Towards the end of the 1900s, a new idea called "mainstreaming" became popular. This meant trying to put deaf students in regular schools with hearing students. While this aimed to give deaf students the same education, it sometimes meant that special schools for the deaf became less common.

Official Recognition of LIS

A big step for LIS happened on May 19, 2021, when Italy officially recognized it as a language!

Dictionaries and Grammar

One way to recognize a language is to create dictionaries and grammar rules for it. There are now several LIS dictionaries. Some are books with written Italian and pictures of signs. Others are online, with videos showing the signs.

Even though LIS is a full language, some people still think it doesn't have its own grammar. But many experts have shown that LIS definitely has its own rules and structure, just like any other language.

Support for LIS Teachers

The Italian government has supported LIS in some ways. For example, there's an official qualification for teachers who help deaf students. These teachers need to know LIS well to help deaf students communicate with their classmates and teachers.

The Council of Europe has also encouraged countries to use sign languages more on TV. In Italy, this means some TV shows have closed captions, and daily news segments are interpreted in LIS.

Education for Deaf Students

There are different ways to educate students with special needs. In Italy, the main goal now is to include deaf students in regular schools. This means providing teachers with extra materials and training. Italy started these inclusive policies earlier than many other countries.

However, learning LIS is usually not part of regular school. It's mostly offered by private or special schools for the Deaf. Even so, parents in Italy can choose which school their children attend. There are about 25 deaf schools in Italy, offering different teaching methods, including sign language, oral, and bilingual education. More and more parents are choosing bilingual education, which teaches both LIS and Italian.

This push for bilingual education has been successful. Bilingual programs have started in cities like Turin, Genoa, and Rome. The government also supports having LIS-speaking assistants in schools and encourages placing more than one deaf child in a mainstream classroom. Funding is also available for LIS tutors at universities.

The LIS Community

A strong sign language community often has a national association for deaf people. In Italy, the National Association of the Deaf (Ente Nazionale per la protezione e l'assistenza dei Sordi) was founded in 1932. This group works to help deaf people, protect their rights, and promote their independence. The leaders of this association are deaf themselves.

The association has worked hard to get LIS officially recognized. There are also two main groups for sign language interpreters in Italy, with hundreds of interpreters. Plus, there are many deaf clubs across the country and a special youth section within the national association.

Other Resources for the Deaf Community

There's even a website that offers information like an encyclopedia, using LIS video lessons. Although less common now with mobile phones, a text-to-speech phone service was available in most parts of Italy as of 2011.

However, some people still believe that sign language isn't a "full" language. Some think LIS is essential for deaf children to reach their full potential, while others believe learning to write and speak Italian is more important. Those who become deaf later in life sometimes use a mix of signing and spoken language.

The deaf community is also involved in research about deafness. This means that deaf people and LIS signers help plan and carry out studies about their own community.

Relevant Literature

• Volterra, Virginia, Maria Roccaforte, Alessio Di Renzo, and Sabina Fontana. Italian Sign Language from a Cognitive and Socio-semiotic Perspective: Implications for a general language theory. (2022). John Benjamins.

See also

In Spanish: Lengua de signos italiana para niños