Review Article: The World Turned Inside Out

REVIEW ARTICLE: 1 THE WORLD TURNED INSIDE OUT David F. Armstrong InDeafinAmerica, Padden and Humphries have created a much needed addition to the literature on deafness and deafpeople --an account of the language and culture of Deaf people grounded in modem social science theory but produced by deaf people. In doing this they have accomplished, in Harlan Lane's terms, a look at "Deaf culture from inside out and from outside in at the same time -- a miracle and a delight" (from the book's dust jacket). Part of the delight of this book is the balance it strikes between the technical observation of the social scientist and the clear writing needed for a general audience. It also advocates in a non-strident but exceedingly effective way the right of Deaf people to create a way of life appropriate to their biological makeup. As a hearing person, I found two of their analyses to be particularly compelling: their explication of the central origin myth of North American Deaf society, and their analysis of the culturally based meaning of sound to deaf people. This latter analysis, as well as being compelling is also highly entertaining. (Incidentally, since the invention of the modem water closet, hearing boys have shared one of the dilemmas faced by their deaf counterparts, as described in DeafinAmerica:whether to urinate directly into the water or to aim for the side of the porcelain bowl, though the former do have hearing for monitoring the performance. The explication of the origin myth had a particular personal meaning for me, in that it reinforced something I had come to realize only recently. Several years ago I wrote a review of Lane's When the Mind Hears (SLS 48, 1985). I have come to realize that I misread the book: Lane there is recounting in detail the historical roots of that myth, and that was why the book had such resonance for many deaf people, despite its having been written by a hearing person. The word myth here is intended in the same way that Padden and Humphries apparently intend it, not as something that is 1Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture, by Carol Padden and Tom Humphries. Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-19423-3. vii & 134 pgs. (Cloth) $17.95. [So important a book that itdrew this immediate response from our reviews editor, DeafinAmerica will also be reviewed soon by the former director ofthe Human Relations Area File. Ed.] @ 1988 Linstok Press. See note inside front cover 419 ISSN 0302-1475 SLS 61 untrue but in its anthropological sense as a sacred history, or the apotheosis of a deep organizational principle central to the society that creates it. Central to an understanding of this book is Lane's comment that it is a look at "DeafCulture from inside out and from outside in at the same time. . ."As well as being deaf, Padden and Humphries are professionally trained in linguistics. It is to be assumed that in addition to their commitment to the Deaf community they also have a commitment to viewing the phenomenon of language in a particular way. I believe this is reflected in their discussion of the evolution of ASL poetry and its conscious reflection of the emerging linguistics of ASL. Particular stress is given to the sublexical structuring of ASL and to its structural similarities to other natural (i.e. spoken) languages. We are unlikely to see this material better presented for a general audience, and the message for that audience is made abundantly clear: in all respects that matter, ASL is a natural human language, deserving of the dignity usually accorded the members of that class. The argument is full and complete and the approach entirely supportable, given the authors' intellectual and social backgrounds. However, I believe there is another way of looking at the issues of language and culture that might form the subject of a second book. In addition to the ways in which signed languages are like spoken languages there are equally interesting ways in which they are different, and this difference deserves fuller treatment. To make my case I intend to resort to the time-honored...