Abstract

SOUZA, Regina Maria de. "Linguistic" intuitions about sign language in the 18th and 19th centuries, according to the understanding of two deaf writers from that time. DELTA [online]. 2003, vol.19, n.2, pp. 329-344. ISSN 0102-4450.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-44502003000200005.

This paper discusses some "linguistic" conceptions about Sign Language which were current in the Modern Age, based mostly on two texts: one a book written by a deaf typographer and published in Paris in 1779; the other an essay written in 1840 by a deaf professor. Similarities will be shown to hold between their statements and several extant concepts and prejudices about what is generically called "Sign Language" from a linguistic point of view. Based on those same texts, considerations which are pertinent to the present will be made regarding the role of Sign Language in Deaf Education.

Keywords : Sign Language; Deaf Education; Philosophy of Language; Education.