How the deaf community is preserving Maritime Sign Language

The deaf community in Nova Scotia is rallying to preserve a sign language that's unique to the region.

Maritime Sign Languageis still used by older peoplein Atlantic Canada, but it hasn't been passed down to younger people, who aretaught American Sign Language.

Now, there's a push to document MSL before it's lost.

"The language itself has so many stories, has history, has perspectives of what's important to the community, what was important at that timeall of that is in the language," said Linda Campbell, a professor in the department of science at Saint Mary's University.

Ashley Campbell, an ASL-English interpreter, facilitated communication in both languages for the interview with Campbell.

"If we lose MSL, that means we are losing the culture, the stories, the perspectives, those will all be lost. And it's not a nice loss to have," she said.

The colour pink in MSL

5 years ago

Duration 0:11

Linda Campbell shows the difference between the sign for pink in MSL and ASL.

MSL is a descendant of British Sign Language, which wasused in the region during the 1800s.

When Betty MacDonaldattended the Halifax School for the Deaf from 1959-1961, and then the Amherst School for the Deaf for nine years after that, MSL was the language used.

MacDonald said students who came to Amherst from Montreal had never seen the MSL signs before.

"The young generation today, they should be able to look at the history of the older deaf generation and also of the language, because a lot of them are not aware of it," MacDonald said.

Debbie Johnson-Powellwas the ASL-English interpreter forthe interview with MacDonald.

Documenting the language

Now, people in the deaf community are documenting MSL on video, including it in plays and teaching it to interpreting students whenever possible, but there's no formal class for MSL.

MacDonalddoes occasionally teach the language, but said it's difficult to find the time, which is another reason they want to make videos that students can access.

A number of years ago, the Nova Scotia Cultural Society of the Deaf was given a grant to travel around the province and filmpeople conversing inMSL.

But those are now in a stack of VHStapes and the community is struggling to decide how best to use them. Some of these have been posted online.

Anothervideo featuring MSL was the 2017documentary film, Halifax Explosion: The Deaf Experience.

"It's really fabulous to see first-hand storytelling in MSL of their experiences, it's very powerful," Campbell said.

Campbell said another project was a theatre performance about two friends travelling across Eastern Canada, one American and one Nova Scotian, and the misunderstandings that take place between MSL and ASL.

It was performed in Edmonton at the Sound Off Theatre Festival earlier this year.

"The audience was just laughing so much and we were able to feed them MSL throughout the performance," she said.

There is also a project to document the names of places in Atlantic Canada anidea Campbell had after moving to Nova Scotia in 2011.

"There is no dictionary for the sign names of these cities and communities. So I would ask people, 'What's the sign name for this place?' And there's so many places that I couldn't remember them all," she said.

The interactive mapsallow the user to click on different communities and a video shows the place name, some in ASL and others in MSL.

The importance of facial expressions

5 years ago

Duration 0:44

Betty MacDonald explains the role of facial expressions in Maritime Sign Language.

Campbell saidthat while the number of fluent MSL speakers is in decline, the language is still used to some degree in the community.

"So many people here, when they come to Nova Scotia for the first time, and they go, 'Hmm, they don't understand this dialect.' And it's because MSL is being used and it's been blended with ASL," she said.

Campbell saidbecause there's no universal sign language, people in the community are skilled at finding a way to communicate even if they're using different sign languages.

"They're very talented in observing different languages and incorporating the language into their signing, and to support the learning process for other people that are not native to their language."

MORE TOP STORIES