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Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL) was a village sign-language that was once widely used on the island of Martha's Vineyard from the early 18th century to 1952. It was used by both deaf and hearing people in the community; consequently, deafness was not a barrier to participation in public life.
Martha's Vineyard constitutes the bulk of Dukes County, Massachusetts, which also includes the Elizabeth Islands and the island of Nomans Land. The island's year-round population has considerably increased since the 1960s. In the 2023 Martha's Vineyard Commission report, the year-round population was 20,530, an increase from 16,460 in 2010. [3]
The history of Martha's Vineyard, when looking specifically at Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, supports this notion. At one point in time, the deaf population on the island was so great that it was commonplace for hearing residents to know and use both signed and spoken language to communicate with their neighbors.
Martha's Vineyard had more than average deaf people who had created their own Martha's Vineyard Sign Language. The French Sign Language and the Sign Language that was already in use, became American Sign Language. Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities are closely drawn together due to their culture and use of Sign Language.
As settlers of the Martha's Vineyard communities of Tisbury and Chilmark in Massachusetts migrated from the Kentish Weald, Nora Groce (1985) speculates that OKSL may be the origin of Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, which is, in turn, one of the precursors of American Sign Language (ASL).
Martha’s Vineyard is an island south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts and is about a 43-minute flight from Boston. Population is about 15,000, although the summer population can swell by tens of ...
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Martha's Vineyard, an island in Massachusetts, USA was settled by people carrying a gene causing deafness in the late 17th century. Limited outside contact and high inter-marriage on the island led to a high density of deaf individuals on the island, peaking around 1840. [ 11 ]