"Deaf people have their own complex language, their own folkways, jokes, stories," said Carmel, who is himself deaf. "Deaf people are becoming increasingly aware of their culture and traditions and increasingly proud of them."
Deaf people do not consider themselves to be flawed or handicapped, he said - just different and, in some ways, better off than those who do not live in the crystal clarity of perfect silence.
That is part of the message that Carmel will bring in a lecture today at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, 100 W. School House Lane. The lecture, on Jewish deaf culture and folklore, is sponsored by the Hebrew Association of the Deaf Inc. Voice interpretation will be provided for those unfamiliar with Carmel's language, American Sign Language (ASL).
"Before 1960, ASL was considered to be just a primitive method of communication," Carmel said in a telephone-teletype interview from his home in Washington this week. "Hearing people just assumed it was a simple system of signs with no grammar or syntax or the like."
Now, linguists recognize ASL as a true language, he said. It is similar to Chinese or Russian in that it has no definite articles or to-be verbs, but, Carmel said, that does not make it any less effective than other languages.
"It is the instrument for conveying our culture," he said. "It is capable of communicating complex ideas, subtle differences.
"Culture means the lifestyle of a particular people - their values, beliefs, folklore, shared understanding and patterns of behavior. Deaf culture permits us to live harmoniously with the larger community and, at the same time, separate ourselves from it."
It is a visual culture that binds them in subtle ways, he said.
Carmel, who received his doctorate in cultural anthropology from American University in May, said his current project was collecting examples of culture in various deaf communities. To that end, he has traveled widely in the United States and elsewhere.
