Sign language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sign language - Essay Example Sometimes, sign is confused with the practice of pantomime, but sign language does not include its environment. This paper aims to review sign language in general. Firstly, the nature of signs will be described. Secondly, the similarities and differences between sign and spoken language will be presented. Finally, a conclusion shall synthesize the main points of the paper. Sign takes place in 3-D space also known as "signing space," which is usually close to the trunk of the body and the head. Signs can be wither one or two-handed. When only one-handed a dominant hand performs the sign, and in two-handed signing, the non-dominant hand comes into play. It has only lately been realized that the non-manual forms of sign are able to effectively express the feelings of the signer (Weaver and Pentland 1). This is similar to verbal speaker's ability to transmit meaning through non-verbal means. However, for signers, non-manual channels are also critical to communicate the grammar of the language. Unfortunately, not much is known as yet about non-manual forms as compared to manual forms, however current research interests into this topic may change this. It is not unusual for a child to learn sign from... Studies have implicated many equivalent learning processes between sign and spoken language learning. Primarily for sign, inflection is of more importance than word positioning. Using a visual-gestic mode for the arrangement of inflexion, sign is very similar to Navajo or Latin language. The hand configuration used in signs means that each sign has numerous parts consisting of; the configuration, place of articulation, orientation, path of movement and non-sign components that include facial expressions (Braem 1). Some sign languages have up to 18-19 handshapes, 24 movements and 12 locations. Visual and kinetic aspects of sign make it difficult or can make it impossible for a person from learning the language from a book, such as its movement aspects. As such, a teacher is required who is more proficient in the language. Hence, a model is required to be observed by the learner, and as it is some of the best teachers are those who originated this language, that is the "deaf and dumb" (Braem 4). There are many common linguistical features to sign languages; these include the extensive use of classifiers, a high level of use of inflection and a topic-comment syntax. Mostly, the linguistical characteristics of sign language are its ability to produce meaning in different areas of the visual field simultaneously. That is, the receiver of the communication may be able to read the meaning of the signs that the hands make, whilst reading the facial expression and the positioning of the body. This is in stark contrast to oral languages, wherein sounds that make up words tend to spoken sequentially, although the use of tone takes exception to this.The body and facial expressions are essential to communication in sign. The

Kants Ethical Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kants Ethical Theory - Essay Example A number of great philosophers presented their views in the field of ethics. This paper intends to analyze only one of them, Kan Immanuel. (Hunt, 2009) As stated by Banham (2003), Immanuel Kant was a famous deontologist and holds a famous status during 18th and 19th centuries. Kant was a moderate rationalist, who based his ethical conclusions on reason rather than on empirical research or on introspection into the actual workings of the mind. He refused previous theories and attempted to find a middle way between the empiricists, who thought that all true judgments were either probable or analytic (true by definition), and the extreme rationalists, who thought that all true judgments were analytic. He argued in the Critique of Pure Reason (1781) for the existence of a class of judgments that were synthetic rather than analytic and also a priori rather than a posteriori. Synthetic a priori judgments played a large role in all his thinking. Kant held a theory of value according to which the only thing good in itself and without qualification is a good will. That will is good which acts out of a sense of duty. When we turn to his theory of obligation we find that an act is not judged right by virtue of its consequences, actual or intended; rather it is right if it is done out of respect for moral law. (Banham, 2003) Dickerson (2003) affirms that during 1785 in his Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant claimed to be seeking "the supreme principle of morality." This he discovered in the "Categorical Imperative": "Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." This principle is called an imperative because it tells us what kinds of actions we should perform, and it is called categorical rather than merely hypothetical because it commands actions of a certain kind without any regard for the practical effects they will have. For example, we should not make a deceitful promise to extricate ourselves from a difficulty not because we are likely to be found out or because lying causes harm to ourselves, but because it is logically impossible to will that everyone in such a situation should behave in the same way. It is logically impossible because universal adherence to the maxim to lie under such circumstances would destroy the institu tion of promise keeping. (Dickerson, 2003) Another formulation of the Categorical Imperative, which Kant called the "universal imperative of duty," is this: "Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will a universal law of nature." A third formulation, based on the assumption that rational nature exists as an end in itself, is the following: "Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any others, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end." Kant identified the Categorical Imperative as an a priori, synthetic, practical proposition that is, a proposition that is necessarily true, though not true by definition, and that pertains to conduct. (Dickerson, 2003) Kant presented two types of free will; 'Autonomy' and 'heteronomy'. Autonomy is the liberty to operate autonomously without any