来源：《新科学家》
原文刊登日期：2022年1月12日
Not so long ago, deaf children were punished in the UK for using sign language in the classroom. Recounting his experience in the 1960s, one deaf person said many years later: “I had a lot of punishments for signing in classrooms… One morning at assembly, I was caught again, then ordered to stand at the front of the class. The headmistress announced that I looked like a monkey and that she would put me in a cage in the zoo so the people will laugh at a stupid boy in the cage.”
不是很久远前，在英国，失聪儿童会因为在课堂上使用手语而受到惩罚。一位聋人多年后回忆了他在20世纪60年代的经历：“我因为在教室里手语而受到很多惩罚……一天晨会时，我又被抓住了，然后被命令站在全班前面。女校长说我看起来像只猴子，她要把我放进动物园的笼子里，这样人们就会嘲笑笼子里的愚蠢男孩。”
Thankfully, experiences like this are no longer as common. Sign languages have not only survived, but are now flourishing – so much so that many more people are getting the chance to learn them, which should be celebrated.
值得庆幸的是，这样的经历已经不常见了。手语不仅幸存了下来，而且现在正蓬勃发展，越来越多的人有机会学习手语，这应该值得庆祝。
British Sign Language (BSL) is used by tens of thousands of people in the UK, including around 90,000 deaf signers. For some of them, such as children with deaf parents, it is the first language they acquire. In the US, more undergraduate and graduate students have enrolled on courses in American Sign Language (ASL) than German each year since 2013.
英国手语(BSL)在英国有数十万人使用，其中包括约9万名聋哑人。对于他们中的一些人，比如失聪父母的孩子，这是他们习得的第一种语言。在美国，自2013年以来，每年注册学习美国手语(ASL)课程的本科生和研究生人数都超过德语。
That sign languages are thriving should be welcomed for many reasons, including the cognitive benefits that learning them brings. Several studies have found that hearing people who learn sign languages perform better in tasks requiring spatial transformation abilities. Space is an integral part of the grammar of a sign language, with verbs, nouns and pronouns using the space in which they are located as part of their meaning. A series of experiments by Mary Lou Vercellotti at Ball State University in Indiana also found that adult ASL students have enhanced face-processing skills, which are essential to reading emotions.
手语的蓬勃发展应该受到欢迎，原因有很多，包括学习手语带来的认知益处。几项研究发现，听力正常的人学习手语，在需要空间转换能力的任务中表现得更好。空间是手语语法不可或缺的组成部分，动词、名词和代词使用它们所在的空间作为其意义的一部分。印第安纳州波尔州立大学的玛丽•卢•维切洛蒂进行的一系列实验也发现，成年美国手语学生的面部处理能力有所增强，而这对解读情绪至关重要。
Learning a sign language can be enlightening, too. In a year-long study of preschool children by Amy Brereton at Trinity Washington University, hearing children who were learning ASL attained a greater appreciation of cultural diversity, as determined via classroom observations and interviews.
学习手语也很有启蒙性。华盛顿三一大学的艾米·布里顿对学龄前儿童进行了长达一年的研究，通过课堂观察和访谈，发现正在学习美国手语的听力正常的儿童对文化多样性有了更大的理解。
Sign languages today are rich with communities and culture. Up until the 1980s, many deaf people essentially had to exist in the 19th century: no telephones, no radio, no television. But in many countries, social clubs, networks and advocacy groups for deaf signers have given rise to a diverse range of dialects. With the internet and social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, content creators are now sharing these with the world, bringing greater awareness and respect – and increased interest in learning these languages.
今天的手语具有丰富的社区和文化。直到20世纪80年代，许多聋人基本上不得不生活在19世纪：没有电话，没有收音机，没有电视。但在许多国家，为聋哑人服务的社交俱乐部、网络和倡导组织已经催生了各种各样的方言。随着Instagram和TikTok等互联网和社交媒体平台的出现，内容创作者现在正在与全世界分享这些内容，从而带来更大的认识和尊重，并提高了学习这些语言的兴趣。