On 18th September this year, Scottish people will vote on whether they want to remain part of Britain, or whether to become independent.
Both sides have been battling hard to persuade people to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’, with the debate so far focusing on issues such as the economy, membership of Europe, and whether Scotland would be allowed to keep on using the pound or not.
But for the Deaf community north of the border, there may be a very different question to ponder: what happens to British Sign Language if Scotland stops being a part of Britain?
To watch this article in BSL, signed by Tessa Padden of our supporter Signworld, just click play below:
Of course, Scottish Deaf people wouldn’t start signing any differently following a ‘yes’ vote, but it’s possible that when they stop being part of Britain, they might start to feel that the name of their language – British Sign Language – leaves Scotland out.
BSL is a language that is rich in regional variations, and many of the signs used north of the border are distinct from elsewhere. So, is it possible that Scottish signers could seek to define their variation of British Sign Language as SSL instead – Scottish Sign Language?
I decided to ask an expert, Professor Graham Turner of Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University for his thoughts. Turner is the Chair of Translation and Interpreting Studies at the university, which is now running the first BSL degree course in Scotland. Earlier this year, he memorably took a ‘vow of silence’ and only used BSL for one week.
First off, on the subject of the regional differences in signs used in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK, Turner says:
“There are English Deaf people who say that Scottish BSL is the richest and most complete in the UK. It’s certainly true that a whole series of well-known Scottish Deaf communicators and role-models (Clive Mason, Clark Denmark, Gerry Hughes, Lilian Lawson etc) have shown BSL to be a vivid and dynamic language.”
On the question of whether Scottish Deaf people could start calling the language they use Scottish Sign Language instead, Turner said:
“If Scottish signers chose to exert their political muscles, they could start using the term ‘Scottish Sign Language’ tomorrow, if they wanted to, referring to the eloquent and powerful signing they already produce every day – and nothing new would need to be developed to achieve that.”
Although it’s possible Scottish signers could turn around and say they use SSL straight after independence, Turner expects any change to happen far more slowly, because BSL already includes the Scottish regional variations in signs:
“In terms of linguistic structures, I would expect BSL to remain more-or-less as united as it has been after the referendum, no matter what the result. Languages change pretty slowly, after all. And as can be seen in the BSL Corpus (http://www.bslcorpusproject.org/, for which Heriot-Watt University was the Scottish partner), there is already significant regional variation in signing, including what are considered distinctly Scottish signs.”
However, he adds:
“But politically, things may be different for communities in an independent Scotland. A lot will depend on social attitudes on both sides of the border. Will the Scots want to underline their difference by finding and foregrounding markedly Scottish habits of communication? Will English people be inclined to turn their backs on Scotland – an ‘if it wants to be separate, we’ll jolly well make sure it FEELS separate!’ kind of view? In that case, it’s possible that linguistic divisions may harden over time – but we’d be talking generations, not months!”
There are areas where Turner feels Scottish Deaf people could use independence to gain more language rights:
“The other thing that is crucial is how key aspects of government policy in London and Edinburgh develop after the referendum. I published a paper in 2003 (“On Policies and Prospects for British Sign Language”) saying that one of the problems with making progress in improving BSL’s status is that the UK has always lacked any specific LANGUAGE policy about BSL. We have policies in health, social care, justice, education etc, all of which have implications for BSL – but nowhere do we take the language itself, and the signing community, as the focus for policy development. The result is the kind of incoherence and inconsistency we see in the Westminster government’s approach to BSL at present.”
Turner feels things could be different in an independent Scotland:
“What we do know is that the Scottish Parliament is due to consider a BSL Bill during 2014 – for once, putting the focus on the language. That should be an encouraging signal that Scotland is moving towards seeing BSL, like Gaelic and Scots, as part of its own cultural heritage, to be treasured and protected.”
So, it’s possible things could be better – in terms of language rights – for Scottish signers in an independent Scotland than they are now.
If Scottish signers did decide to break away, and say that they use SSL, gaining better language rights as a result, where would that leave BSL? Will it start to feel like the poor cousin?
There’s a lot riding on that vote in three months time.
BBC2’s See Hear have an item about Scottish independence in their programme today. To find out more, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047w8zk
Further reading: Toby Dawson: How the proposed constitution could give deaf people better rights in an independent constitution
By Charlie Swinbourne. Charlie is the editor of Limping Chicken, as well as being a journalist and award-winning scriptwriter. His short film The Kiss was shown at Bradford International Film Festival in March, and his comedy Four Deaf Yorkshiremen go to Blackpool can now be seen on the BSL Zone by clicking here.
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Andy, not him, me
June 25, 2014
Everything the Scots do, out come the bagpipes. Therefore I propose that sign language in Scotland should be renamed to Bagpipe Sign Language.
For the miseries out there…. this was a joke.
Editor
June 25, 2014
That’d be a bit confusing wouldn’t it? BSL and BSL! (also a joke) Ed
Toby Dawson
June 25, 2014
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they come to fight you, and then you win.” (M.K. Gandhi)
Great quote isn’t it? Are we at the laughing stage? I dunno?! 😉
There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to Scotland becoming Independent; it’s strongly fuelled by the British’s media on a propaganda campaign.
Talking about the name of the British Sign Language in an iScotland, it’s not really relevant at this stage, what I would have thought would have been more relevant is the protection of Deaf people’s rights as that has not been the case so far, and especially recently with the ongoing saga with the Access to Work’s fiasco.
The issue is with ‘Middle England’ it’s a system known as where middle class or lower-middle class people hold right wing views, and the political parties are clamouring for their votes, and right wing policies tends not to care about equality.
And we have seen that with the Con-Dems Coalition, despite pushing ahead with the Austerity at the expense of other people, it’s less likely to affect the middle or the middle-lower class people.
Last weekend is a great example, there was a huge protest around Westminster, and apparently there was about 50,000 people turning up protesting against the cuts.
The BBC and others failed to report it, and like they have failed to report the cuts made to disabled people, and the privatisation of the NHS in England.
The proposed constitution is a huge thing for Deaf people in Scotland, it’s an opportunity to change lives in Scotland and to influence the rest of the UK.
Look at Norway, a country with a similar size to Scotland, and they have an amazing education system for Deaf children as highlighted by the recent award winning charity, SignHealth.
Talking about languages, several countries that gained independence from the British Empire, are still now speaking English.
What is more important for Deaf people right now on the British Isles, as they would say about countries across the Scandinavia?
Is it about the title of the sign language that they use? OR is it about the recognition of sign language; is it about the protection of Deaf people’s rights to access services in sign language?
I think I know the answer.
Imagine, the role was reversed, the Westminster Government announced a propositional to recognise sign language but it would be called English Sign Language? People would be massively overjoyed, and other countries around from the world would be joining in too.
Other countries would follow that quickly without a doubt.
Scotland will carry on using the Pound, via a few options as at the end of the day, it’s Scotland’s Pound too.
It’s the same with British Sign Language, it’s Scotland’s language too, and even the Scottish Government has acknowledged it as being a part of Scotland’s languages along with English, Gaelic and Scots.
Scottish people will carry on speaking English in an independence Scotland and so will Deaf people, they will carry on using British Sign Language.
I think that the whole Deaf Community should be cheering on Scotland to become independence for a better future within the British Isles.
A constitution that will implement Deaf people’s rights and to recognise British Sign Language is something that is way, way overdue for the Scottish Deaf Community as they have had a raw deal in the past in terms of opportunities.
Sandra Dowe
June 25, 2014
I always associate SSL with Swedish Sign Language, If Deaf in Scotland want to opt out of BSL, should they be users of ScSL?
Jill Jones
June 26, 2014
Interesting article! However, we are afraid it’s a simplistic view. The proposed BSL (Scotland) Bill is actually repeating what the Equality Act 2010 should be achieving, as it is mostly concerned with support services in BSL. It is also based on the Gaelic Language Act 2006, which is not actually making anything like the same impact on Gaelic that the Welsh Language Act 1993 has had on Welsh. This is because Gaelic is not a compulsory language as Welsh is.
DEX’s BSL Language Plan has taken into account the most successful ways to improve the quality of the language (which is basically what the Scottish BSL Bill requires) and to increase the quantity . There are only a few hundred deaf children in Scotland signing at present, and so it is severely endangered in Scotland as well as in other parts of the UK.
Toby Dawson
June 27, 2014
Talking about the attitude of the Scottish Government towards to the Deaf community, they have listened, and have funded to the tune of plus £6 million pounds to several of Deaf organisations, Deaf Charities, and so on from the last seven years.
Including the BDA with a total amount of £316,354 in the last seven years, the Scottish Parliament has even got BSL videos on their website unlike the House of Commons’ website.
Not forgetting the Scottish Census which included the question if people are using BSL, and it turned out that there are 13,000 BSL users in Scotland, and as a result the BDA used the figure created by the Scottish Government to come up with a round figure that there are 156,000 BSL users overall giving them something to argue with.
I could go on a wee bit but I won’t, the current Scottish Government are on the right track when it comes to Deaf people and BSL.
I have to agree with you in a way that the proposed BSL Bill Act by Mark Griffin, a MSP, is so simplistic in its current form and does reflect the Equality Act, however with a constitution, it will be a different ball game because the constitution will be above the legislative laws and Deaf people will be protected in an iScotland.
I think it is only that the Scottish Council On Deafness have made the information public with regards to people being given the opportunity to tell the Scottish Government on what they want to be included with the constitution when it is officially passed by the Scottish Parliament in an event of a Yes vote, wouldn’t it be great for your organisation to make Deaf people aware of this opportunity.
You have hit the spot with the Westminster Government failing to do something for Deaf people with the Equality Act in terms of embracing BSL.
Therefore the constitution will rise above the Equality Act; the opportunity to promote and strengthen sign language is there if Scotland votes Yes.
Independence will offer Scotland’s Deaf Community with the opportunity to drive the rights of BSL further, and Scotland will have the opportunity to become the benchmark for other countries.
You have made it clear that it hasn’t been working for a long time, and with an independent Scotland potentially building a better future with a fresh start, with Deaf rights being implemented into the new constitution.