Black American Sign Language (BASL) is a dialect of American Sign Language (ASL) used most commonly by deaf Black Americans in the United States. The divergence from ASL was influenced by the segregation of schools in the American South based on race, creating a language community among Black deaf signers at black schools. As of the mid- 2010s, BASL is used by signers in the South despite public schools having been desegregated since 1954. BASL differs from other varieties of ASL in its phonology, syntax, and vocabulary. BASL tends to have a larger signing space, and some signs are produced further away from the body than in other dialects. Signers of BASL also tend to prefer two- handed variants of signs, and some signs differ from other dialects because they borrow from African-American English. Younger signers are more likely to have a positive perception of the dialect, as they are less likely to be influenced by perceptions that segregated schools imprinted upon the dialects. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_American_Sign_Language> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1935: The USS Macon, one of the largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sank. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Macon_%28ZRS-5%29> 1993: Two-year-old James Bulger was led away from New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, England, and murdered by two 10-year-old boys, who became the youngest convicted murderers in modern English history. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger> 2001: The NASA space probe NEAR Shoemaker touched down on Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEAR_Shoemaker> 2016: In the first meeting between the leaders of the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow signed the Havana Declaration at José Martí International Airport in Cuba. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Declaration_of_Pope_Francis_and_Patriarch_Kirill> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: Darwinism: 1. (evolutionary theory, uncountable) Charles Darwin's theory regarding the evolution of living organisms through natural selection (set out chiefly in his works On the Origin of Species, 1859; and The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, 1871); also, belief in this theory. 2. (uncountable) Short for neo-Darwinism (“the synthesis of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection with the modern genetic understanding of heredity”). 3. (by extension) Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word. 4. (biology, uncountable) Any of various theories in biology which apply aspects of Darwin's theory (noun sense 1) such as adaptation, competition, or gradual evolution; also, belief in such a theory. 5. (pseudoscience, uncountable) Any of various theories, now generally discredited, which apply aspects of Darwin's theory (noun sense 1) to other situations such as the development of ideas, organizations, or social groups. 6. (generally, countable, uncountable) A process of gradual evolution; also, ruthless competition for achievement or survival. 7. (biology, poetic, historical) Erasmus Darwin's poetic style, or theory of natural philosophy suggesting that living organisms developed from simpler lifeforms (set out in his work Zoonomia, 1794–1796). 8. About Word of the Day 9. Nominate a word 10. Leave feedback <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Darwinism> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered — that of neither has been answered fully. --Abraham Lincoln <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe write to: [email protected] Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
