How the Alphabet Came to Be Used in a Sign Language

T  is so often linked to writing that we need to remember that its achievement has two parts—the written symbols found on a page and also the symbols that represent a cluster of sound units, or phonemes. Once committed to a page, language becomes visible and permanent and can be regarded on a plane apart from the intimate interaction of speakers. David Olson, among others, argues that the act of writing on a page has transformed thought about language because it suspends and turns language into a representation in space, one whose content we can study, review, and reconsider (). The second feature of the alphabet—that it enables us to break down the fluidity of speech into units that we can transfer to a visible medium—is a monumental achievement. This aspect is particularly useful to certain groups of language users—religious and deaf signers, who appear to have little in common, except that both need a tool for converting speech to silent and visible forms. Additionally, the two communities have discovered that the alphabet can alternatively be represented on the body instead of on a page. In Greek and Roman antiquity there are recorded references to the use of the body and hands to represent the alphabet, presumably as a representational alternative to the use of paper.