The creation of terms for physics concepts in NSL

In the academic years 1984 ­ 88, two classes of deaf students had science at our high school, with physics as their major. These were the first Norwegian deaf students to get a physics education at that level. Consequently, the signs for most physics concepts did not exist, as no one had needed them before.

In NSL, fingerspelling is not common, except as a first introduction of foreign names (Schrøder 1999). The students needed to be able to talk about the physics concepts both in class and when doing homework. So we needed a terminology in NSL.

It has been pointed out (Caccamise, Smith et al. 1981) that artificial creation of signs is something to be very wary about, and had better not be done at all. If it is done, it should be done with the utmost care, and preferably by a large group of native signers versed in the area in question. On the other hand, terminology for specific use is made by small groups of people in most languages, and may be a necessary means of obtaining a domestic vocabulary for a new subject field (Picht and Draskau 1985; Myking 1998). In fact, fundamental work on terminology in a field has been done by single persons, like Lavoisier in chemistry and Linné in botany and zoology (Picht 1996).

We did not have a large group of native signers who knew physics, and I myself as the teacher, was at that time barely adequate as a signer (Roald 2000, submitted). But the students and I worked together in class to find ways to sign the concepts that would neither clash with the concept itself, nor with ordinary ways of using NSL (the latter constriction was eased in a few instances, when the concept and the word for it was so outlandish we thought the sign might be outlandish as well). The former students are now adults, most of them teachers themselves, with responsible positions in the Norwegian Deaf Association, and they state that for the purpose of creating a terminology for use in a special field, the procedure we followed was fully acceptable (Roald 2000, submitted).

Before attempting to come up with signs in NSL, I had tried to find out what was available in American Sign Language (ASL), in Finnish Sign Language (FSL) and in Gestuno, the sign equivalent to Esperanto (Oglia, Caccamise et al. 1990; Komiteanmietintø 1975; norsk/nordisk tegnspråkutvalg 1976); Gestuno (1975). Of course I had also sought the advice of experienced deaf signers of NSL. In the course of this research, I had been invited to partake in a group appointed by the Norwegian Deaf Association, finding appropriate sign terms for mathematics. Results from this work can be found in a booklet (Tegspråkutvalget 1985) and is incorporated in the official NSL dictionary "Norsk Tegn-ordbok" (Tegnspråksutvalget 1988).