Nicaraguan Sign Language

Nicaraguan Sign Language (ISN) or Nicaraguan Sign Language or Nicaraguan Sign Language en a sign language that developed in isolation from other sign languages in Nicaragua in the 1980s, when the revolutionary Sandinista government created the first public school for deaf children in the country's history. The language was not driven by the Government, but rather evolved naturally from the communication between the students themselves and their teachers.

History

Following the 1979 Sandinista Popular Revolution, the Nicaraguan government enrolled hundreds of deaf students in two schools in Managua. Initially, the use of sign language with elementary signs was attempted to present the characters of spoken languages, which resulted in complete failure, since most of the students could not learn the concept word, as they did not have never been exposed to the oral or written language. Consequently, the children and teachers were linguistically disconnected.

Initially, the students could only use somewhat rudimentary gestural signs, used within their own families, but once they were reunited, they began to independently create a language of their own among themselves. While the inexperienced teachers found it difficult to understand their students, the students communicated with each other without any problem. Within a few decades a mature language with its own rules and grammar had been born.

The authorities of the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education requested the support of international academics who finally decoded the children's creation.

ISN and linguistics

Linguists find ISN particularly interesting because it has matured in a few decades from a pidgin to a fully developed creole (creole) language, thanks to the arrival of new children who have learned ISN as their primary language.

It also represents the formation of a new language without a community of "speakers" native adults. Habitual creoles develop from the pidgin type mixture of two or more well-defined communities of native speakers, but in this case the evolution occurred from a group of young people without a primary language.

Some linguists believe that what happened in Managua proves that language acquisition is an innate attribute of the human mind. Steven Pinker has argued that:

(...) is an absolutely unique case in history. We have been able to see how children (and not adults) generate language, and we have been able to record what happened with a great scientific detail. And it's the first, and the only, time we've actually seen the creation of a language from nothing..

Official Status

Through the Nicaraguan Sign Language Law, Law No. 675, approved on February 12, 2009 and published in "La Gaceta" No. 75 of April 24, 2009, recognizes and regulates the Nicaraguan Sign Language, as the language of people with hearing disabilities in Nicaragua, who freely decide to use it.

In Article 3 of said law, the Official Recognition by the State of Nicaragua is granted:

"The Language of Nicaraguan Signs is recognized as a means of official communication of persons with hearing disabilities in the national territory.

In accordance with Art. 8 of said law orders the creation of the National Council of Nicaraguan Sign Language as a body for the definition, promotion, research and dissemination of Nicaraguan sign language.

Awareness raising and promotion

In 2020, the Nicaraguan channel VosTV launched the television program "Mi seña Tu seña" in alliance with the Aprendo y Emprendo project, the Federation of Associations of Persons with Disabilities (Feconori) and the National Alliance of the Deaf Nicaragua (Ansnic).

The program is aimed at hearing people who really need and want to learn this language, in order to promote communication between the deaf person and the hearing person.

Controversy

Some "purist" have suggested restricting users' access to other sign languages "in order to protect the purity of the language"; suggestion that has not been welcomed in Nicaragua; since this would be an unethical restriction on freedom and the human right to express themselves in the language or language that the person wishes.