A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

This section provides a description of the way in which signers and non-signers perceive LIS. Since this language has long been considered an inferior communication system, the attitude toward signs differs across generations of signers and non-signers.

The Law 517/1977 facilitated the inclusion of Deaf people into public social contexts, but it had no impact on the linguistic condition of the Deaf community. When and how the situation started to change it is hard to say. It is likely that LIS started to raise awareness along with the development of the research investigating its grammar and the impact on language acquisition.

Among the precursors of this important process, it is worth mentioning Massimo Facchini, the director of the phonological centre in Bologna. At the end of the 1970 he reopened the discussion about the effectiveness of gestures in deaf training, since gestures have often been forbidden in the past.

Further scientific research developed in Rome, following the pioneering studies of Stokoe on American Sign Language (ASL), thus providing further evidence for the importance of sign language investigation. Virginia Volterra, Elena Pizzuto, and Elena Radutzky have been the first researchers to take steps in this direction. Thanks to them, the first meeting on sign language studies took place in Rome at the Psychological Institute of CNR in February 1979.

In June of the same year, the First International Symposium on Sign Language Research was organised in Stockholm, followed by another one in Copenhagen sponsored by NATO. From then on, many conferences have been organised in Italy, testifying an increasing wave of interest in the sign language field.

            The great interest of academics leading to the recognition of sign languages as fully- fledged natural languages developed in a period in which Deaf people were still not aware of the richness of their own language. As a matter of fact, in those years, signs were used in very familiar contexts or in the Deaf clubs, and their use was purposely avoided in public situations for reasons of shame. Italian hearing people used the term sordomuto (‘deaf and dumb’) to refer to deaf people, because of the common misconception that Deaf people were also mute (nowadays the Law 95/2006 has changed the term into deaf). The local and individual variation of signs was significant, many Deaf people with a strong oral education only used signs in support of spoken Italian, thus increasing the confusion on the boundaries between signs and the spoken language. Moreover, the few existing interpreters were only called to translate signs from spoken Italian, no translation from signs to the spoken language was provided for Deaf signers.

            In such a context, Deaf people looked suspiciously at the rising interest of academics on LIS, as they considered inappropriate that hearing academics studied a language considered exclusive property of the Deaf Community. This is one of the reasons why Deaf people continued for several years to use the term mimic-gestural language in opposition to the term LIS, which was coined by academics. Indeed, the term Italian Sign Language was created in order to distinguish gestures from signs and to support its status as a natural language.

            Together with the increase of the linguistic research on LIS, it arose the necessity to properly train interpreters. The first to be officially trained were the interpreters involved for the Third International Symposium on Sign Language research organised in Rome in 1983. Nowadays, the CNR has become one of the beating hearts of sign language research and is a proactive promoter in its dissemination all over Italy.

            Starting in 1986, some scholarships offered by the Association Mason Perkins Deafness Fund allowed young Deaf students to attend courses at the Gallaudet University in Washington (SOCIO-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 3.2). After this experience, these students became important reference points for fostering cultural and educational events in their own cities promoting LIS. In so doing, the attitude of deaf people towards their own language started to change and, in the same period, some collaborations between hearing and Deaf communities were created with the same will of promote LIS courses and cultural events. We mention, among others, SILIS (group for studies and information of LIS) created in Rome in 1989, the cooperative DIRE opened in Turin in 1990 and Orgoglio Sordo (‘Deaf Pride’) started in Milan in 1990.

            Nowadays, Deaf people are aware of the status of their own language and use LIS in public with great pride. Actually, the number of Deaf users increases year after year, and there is a deeper consciousness about the difference between LIS and Signed Italian (SOCIO-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 2.4).

            During the last few decades, the attitude of hearing people has changed as well, and LIS courses have become extremely popular. This led to the necessity of creating the first collection of signs and the first vocabularies to facilitate the learning process (SOCIO-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 4.2). Moreover, the increased possibility developed in the last years of being provided with interpreting services, lead more Deaf students to attend university and undertake the academic career.

            Crucial in the process of attitude change towards sign language has been the spreading of LIS through the media. Since 1993, several editions of the national TV news are interpreted in LIS every day representing a key source of information for Deaf people, especially among the older signers. By 1995, the President’s New Year speech is interpreted in LIS. Moreover, some documentaries on LIS started to be made and transmitted via public channels, among other: Segna con me (‘Sign with me’), a film documentary on LIS realised by Silvia Bencivelli and Chiara Tarfano and broadcasted on Rai Storia on September 26, 2015.

            In the last years, Deaf artists and LIS started to appear on TV or have been called into public shows, increasing the visibility of the Deaf community. Examples are the Silent Beat hosted by Fabio Fazio in Quello che (non) ho (‘The things I do (not) have’) broadcasted on La7 (May 16, 2012), the singer Daniele Silvestri who appeared with an interpreter at Sanremo, a very popular Italian music festival, or the Deaf rapper Eugenio Scarlato, who participated at Italia’s Got Talent, and many others (for further information see SOCIO-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 2.3). All these events are contributing to deeply changing the perception of signs for both signers and non-signers.

            Surely, the increasing awareness and knowledge of sign languages is parallel to the technological developments. The most important resources used by Deaf people are digital technologies and the internet. ENS’s main websites provide daily information on the community, local association activities and everyday life. Beside these, social networks and video blogs (Vlogs) are the preferred platforms for sharing opinions and comments among the members of the Italian Deaf community. Younger Deaf signers are surprisingly not the unique internet users: the 9.92% of signers over fifty-years old regularly use the Internet for communication as well. Many web pages regarding sign languages in general have been created in social networks, which have become not only a tool of communication, but also a way through which fostering the standardization and broadcasting of LIS across the country.

            Despite these positive signals of general improvements, common misconceptions about deafness are still present, especially among hearing people who have never been in contact with Deaf people and Deaf culture. Deafness has often been defined as an invisible deficit, indeed a deaf person is not suddenly identifiable, unlike other types of impairments, for example a blind person who may be more recognizable, with a white stick, dog and black sunglasses. Blindness in history has always been recognized as a noble deficit, since blind people attended higher training organisations and could benefit from a significant status in society.

            The invisibility of deafness, instead, contributed to the consolidation of false prejudices and misconceptions about deaf people. As mentioned before, one of the most common mistakes concerns the use of the term sordomuto, which is often spread among hearing people who have never been in contact with deafness. It is very rare that deaf people are also mute, being this a situation occurring only when deafness is linked to a vocal and articulatory problem. Thus, the term sordomuto is wrong and inappropriate, as also stated by the Law 95/2006.

            Much worse is the misconception about deaf people who are also considered to be dumb, reminiscence of the old term deaf and dumb used in the past. Because of their lack of hearing, many deaf people were institutionalized in clinicals for mental diseases just because of a wrong diagnosis or clinical ignorance. Deaf people were also deported under Nazism and they were analysed by scientists and doctors for eugenics studies, together with other people considered untypical, for example gypsies and homosexuals.

            Other false conceptions about Deaf people are related to sign language. Indeed, signs are often considered a rude pantomime through which it is impossible to share complex thoughts and deep meanings. Furthermore, signs are supposed to be dangerous for the acquisition of the spoken language. Although linguistic and psycholinguistic studies have proved this belief to be wrong, it is still widespread in many clinical and educational environments, where doctors and teachers still obstacle and discourage the use of LIS in education. One of the most common misconceptions about sign languages concerns the false belief that signs are universal. For unknown reasons, probably linked to the misconception that signs are not linguistic units but gestures, they are believed to be shared by deaf from all over the world. As widely known, every country has its own developed and codified sign language, which, just like spoken languages, can share etymological influences and connections, depending on the historical processes of contact but, being based on arbitrariness, as all natural languages are, differs greatly, especially in the lexicon.

            Prejudices and misconceptions represent barriers for the total integration and inclusion of Deaf people in society, this is why it is important to support and spread knowledge and information about this minority language and its community.