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Each month we will be running a competition for the CUBS and SCOUTS of 1st Lucas Heights

Since the competition is becoming so popular there will be 2 prizes each month. One for the Cubs and one for the Scouts.

AUGUST 2008 COMP

This months competition is Auslan (Australian Sign Language).

Auslan (Australian Sign Language)

Auslan was not invented by any single person, hearing or deaf. Any language, whether spoken or signed, grows and develops spontaneously in response to the communication needs of its users, particularly when it is used (1) by an entire community and (2) in communication between parents and children, and especially when that language is the child's first, or only, one.

Auslan has evolved from the sign languages brought to Australia during the nineteenth century from Britain and Ireland. Auslan has been called a dialect of British Sign Language (BSL) and, undoubtedly, the two sign languages are very closely related. It is, however, probably more correct to say that modern BSL and modern Auslan have both evolved from forms of BSL used in the early 1800s, particularly those forms of BSL associated with the large residential schools for the deaf of the time. The first known deaf person to introduce BSL to Australia was the engraver John Carmichael who moved to Sydney in 1825 from Edinburgh.

Auslan has developed some distinct characteristics (in particular, some unique signs) since it first began to be used in Australia in the nineteenth century. New signs developed in the Australian deaf community, particularly in the residential schools for deaf children because signers may have had little contact with deaf communities in other parts of the country. Auslan has also had some influence from Irish Sign Language (ISL).

ISL was brought to Australia by Irish nuns who established the first school for Catholic deaf children in 1875. The Irish one-handed alphabet and a tradition of Irish-based signs was kept alive well into the middle of the twentieth century through private Catholic schools that used many Irish signs and one-handed fingerspelling, while public schools used Auslan signs (originally BSL) and two-handed fingerspelling. Separate education systems aside, the two communities mixed freely, with British based signing being undoubtedly the dominant linguistic influence.

A number of signs in modern Auslan clearly have their origins in ISL (and through ISL to the French and European signing tradition). Also as a consequence of this mixing and exposure to Irish-based signing, the one-handed alphabet (including its modern American form) does not feel quite so 'alien' to Auslan signers as one might expect. Initialised signs base on one-handed fingerspelling have been and continue to be accepted by this linguistic community, even though fingerspelling is regularly produced using the two-handed alphabet.

Though there are some minor differences between states, overall there are two main dialects of Auslan that have emerged as a consequence of the establishment of the two major residential schools for the deaf, one in Sydney (in the north) and one in Melbourne (in the south). The two sign dialects of north and south may reflect the original signing differences between the two deaf founder-teachers of the Sydney and Melbourne schools and the pattern of expansion and influence that the two schools (and cities) had. State and dialect differences are large enough to clearly mark someone's state of origin (and/or the school they attended) but are small enough not to seriously interfere with or hamper communication.


Below is the Finger Spelling for Auslan (Australian Sign Language)


auslan

The Competition

STEP 1: Download the Entry Form and complete the tasks on the entry form.


Step 2: Complete the Entry Form and get it to by FRIDAY 26/08/2008. (Completed entry forms will be accepted by email but cut off for email is 4.00pm, Thursday 25/08/2008.)


Only CUBS and SCOUTS of 1st Lucas Heights will be in the draw.

All entries will be put in a box, the box will be shaken & the first correct entry will win a prize.



The prize is a torch that does not need batteries.

Winner for draw 0072008 will be drawn on FRIDAY 26/08/2008.