ASL (Language Set)
This is the percentage of Deaf children born into hearing families, who more than likely lack awareness of Deaf culture and any real degree of fluency in ASL . . .
90% of Deaf children are born into hearing families.
One example of a cultural characteristic that defines the Deaf community is . . .
85-95% endogamous marriage rate, existence of formal societal structure (NAD, World Federation for the Deaf), use of ASL.
The title of Rutherford’s text comes from Mark Medoff’s play Children of a Lesser God, in which Sarah, a Deaf woman, responds to James, a hearing man responsible for teaching speech to the deaf, praising his own humor. She says, . . .
‘You’re funny in hearing, not in Deaf.’
Within Deaf folklore, Deaf storytelling serves as entertainment and…
Cultural reflection(s)
According to Rutherford, hearing people have historically portrayed Deafness primarily as…
A medical condition rather than a cultural and linguistic identity & culture.
These two signs form the basis of the ‘railroad’ joke popular within the Deaf community, which have immense phonological similarity . . .
Open the railroad crossing gate’ (G-handshape with palms facing inward) and ‘But’ (G-handshape with palms facing outward).
True or False?
Communication breakdowns that occur during interactions between Deaf and hearing persons, as exemplified by the ‘railroad’ joke, are a shared point of anxiety among Deaf community members.
True
An older member of the Deaf community described the familiar ‘railroad’ joke as being . . .
an ‘old chestnut’.
Why do repeated deaf jokes remain funny and/or effective?
Society has unresolved many cultural and linguistic issues.
Rutherford argues that control over language in Deaf education parallels Orwell’s claim that...
Controlling language warrants control over that group of people.
The ‘railroad’ joke is distinct within the context of Deaf humor using sign play because it utilizes this concept, which is more akin to the hearing world than the Deaf . . .
English gloss, or the practice of converting English into signs rather than relying on ASL as a fully independent language.
Wordplay - or sign play, as the case may be - has a special significance within the Deaf community because it offers a form of resistance against . . .
The historical ‘linguistic rigidity’ imposed upon Deaf people.
According to Douglas, jokes mirror . . .
the incongruity of a society or societies.
Fluent hearing signers may miss the true humor of Deaf joes because they lack…
A lived experience as a deaf person or personal experience of Deaf life as a part of Deaf culture.
Deaf students were often labeled as unintelligent due to…
Failure to succeed in oral education.
The “Combined Method” of language education for Deaf children that Gallaudet and Clerc established and popularized utilized both . . .
French Sign Language (FSL) and speech instruction.
The dramatized indifference of the hearing gate officer and the Deaf individual’s forced attempt to communicate through English in response reflect the idea that humor within the Deaf community helps to . . .
Establish cultural standards of how a Deaf individual should behave and interact with a cultural majority of hearing people.
Rutherford claims that within the context of the ‘railroad’ joke, Deaf aggression towards the hearing majority in the form of exaggerated, derogatory portrayals of the hearing railroad crossing officer is . . .
safely concealed or made appropriate by the surrounding humor.
Understanding Deaf jokes signals a membership by demonstrating a…
Shared cultural knowledge and experience.
Why is the 1880 Milan Conference significant to Rutherford’s analysis?
It displays the exclusion of Deaf people from institutional decisions that directly affect the Deaf community and their language and education.
Members of the Deaf community experience a unique ‘linguistic ambiguity’ that arises from . . .
The spectrum of functional language between ASL and English, with most Deaf individuals having a poor grasp of English but also having been taught to regard ASL as a fragmented or simplistic language system.
Rutherford cites an ‘informant’ that explored the inwardly abrasive nature of the popular ‘railroad’ joke within the Deaf community through the lens that . . .
‘People blame sign language, so we have jokes that blame sign language.’ The influence of the majority culture is reflected in the aspects of the minority culture that said minority culture chooses to emphasize in humor, satire, and stereotypes.
Rutherford argues that continued use of the ‘railroad’ joke reflects a persistence of…
Blocked communication, negative structural barriers against Deaf people, and/or lack of Deaf control within hearing institutions/societies.
Deaf humor allows deaf people to make light of...
Shared nuisances about language, power, identity, & visibility.
Oral-only education restricted Deaf people’s access to…
Language and institutional authority