Myth IX- The grammatical structure of sign language and spoken language is the same.
There are structural differences in the sentences for both languages.
There are more than 4000 languages spoken in the world and they are divided into two types; those that have the verb in the beginning such as Spanish, English and French; and those that have the verb at the end like Japanese, Quechan and sign language.
This means that the same phrase should be composed in a different way depending on if itâs in Spanish or sign language.
A simple phrase like:
âAre you coming to my house this afternoon?â
Should be formulated in sign language as:
âHouse mine afternoon you come yes/noâ
This is one of the reasons why many deaf people donât have good reading-writing skills, due to Spanish not being their native tongue.
In many occasions we see people doing what is called: âsigned Spanishâ. This is, words in signs structured with Spanish grammar. Its use is common amongst people (and interpreters) with little knowledge of sign language