Hands Down! American Sign Language Quiz

Answer: Written form of ASL

ASL has no true written form BUT Gloss is used for things such as court hearings, teaching ASL, etc.

Answer: French Sign Language

When Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet wanted to bring a teacher of the deaf to America, he traveled to France where he met a man named Laurent Clerc, a top educator in French Sign Language. Gallaudet brought Clerc back to America with him to help teach a little girl named Alice Cogswell, whose deafness prompted Gallaudet to help her communicate.

Answer: Canada

Canada does not have an official sign language of its own, although there is a specific "Quebec Sign Language" which (as the name suggests) is more or less confined in its use to Quebec itself. Many Deaf Canadians use American Sign Language.

Answer: True

Most of the time, when you are friends with a deaf person they give you a sign name, and vice versa.
*Mine is a fingerspelled- B E by my mouth that moves up and down!*

Answer: Signed Exact English

Not many deaf people use Signed Exact English anymore. SEE is a signed code for English rather than a whole language. An example of the difference between the two is this: TREE in ASL is simply repeated and stressed, to make it plural is like wiggling your hand a lot whereas in SEE, TREE is the same ASL sign BUT it uses a fingerspelled "S" to make plural instead of shaking your hand. Subtle differences but also in SEE some words such as THE, IS, AN and AM are used and in ASL they are not.

Answer: Pidgin Signed English

This is basically American Sign Language signed in English order. Many deaf children, who sign, with hearing parents use PSE. This tends to happen because ASL word order is different from English word order. Parents tend to sign in their own natural word order, if ASL is a new language for them, therefore the deaf children will usually use PSE verses ASL grammatical order. This also makes it easier to learn to read and write.

Sometimes SEE signs will mix into PSE.

Answer: True

Gallaudet University was named after Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. It is a private and very expensive college which hearing people can attend BUT deaf persons get first 'pick.'

Answer: Deaf President Now

In the 1980s there was a protest at Gallaudet University because a hearing, non-signing woman was appointed to the presidential seat. It was called Deaf President Now and lasted for about 8 days. King Jordan, who was appointed the new president, became deaf in his 20s after a car accident. He has made appearances in movies and other important things dealing with deaf people/culture.

Answer: Cincinnati, Ohio

It was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio. Later, the headquarters was later moved to a city in Connecticut.

Answer: Marlee Matlin

Marlee's first movie was as Sarah in "Children of a Lesser God." She now owns her own movie studio called Solo One Productions and has published a book. A second book is expected soon in 2004 or 2005.