While this blog is way for me to explore and dissect my findings within the science of Nonverbal Communication (NVC) in regards to my work in the justice system, my work with autistic college students and getting a basic, better, understanding of interpersonal relationships thus named The Science of Gesture¹ I find myself more concerned recently with the gestures of, within, and the, very, verbal communication of American Sign Language (ASL).
Some people have a quick difficulty with the idea that ASL is in fact a verbal language however it’s easy to see that, definitionally, it very well is. William Vicars, Ed. D in his 2001 essay, “ASL Linguistics: Nonlinguistic Communication” states:
“The term ‘verbal’ has two common meanings: using words, and spoken. If I say that someone is using nonverbal communication, does that mean he is communicating without words? Or does that mean he is communicating without speaking. Popular usage tends to interpret the term “nonverbal communication as meaning communicating silently without words.” American Sign Language is nonverbal in the sense that it is gesturally produced. But it is certainly “verbal” in the sense that it uses words, or rather signs. Words are the lexemes of spoken languages. Signs are the lexemes of signed languages.”
Recently my studies have been entirely focused on the Registry of Interpreters of the Deaf‘s (RID) National Interpreter Certification (NIC) exam, specifically the Interview and Performance exam; and when I study, I obsess…
…maybe obsess is to mitigated of a word…
…and honestly, I’m not sure how I ever survived without a chalkboard wall in the first place.
Keeping in the vain of the masthead of the Grand Midway Hotel’s library; I am going to spend my time with the Science of Gesture to teaching what I wish to learn and utilize this blog from here on for each of those individual squares on the wall above.
I do hope that this will not only help me study and further learn the material to the depth needed but also that I will find some other interpreters to engage in discussion with regarding the material.
I’ll leave off this post with Ze Frank‘s Invocation for Beginnings as it is, by far, the best way to start any journey I am afraid of embarking upon…
Knuckles and all, let’s start this shit up.
¹ I must thank my friend Gavin St. John for the title. One night I'd received a text from him that said, "maybe it's the whiskey talking but I think you are this generation's Sherlock Holmes. Also your blog, "Exploring Nonverbal Communication Further," should definitely be renamed to, "The Science of Gesture."
The Science of Gesture 