Scientific American.com-- In Nicaragua, a Language Is Born
Many linguists regard Nicaraguan Sign Language, or NSL, as an important test case, because the language developed almost in isolation, and the first "speakers" are still alive. Until the government opened a school for the deaf in 1977, deaf children in Nicaragua had been socially isolated. The students had little exposure to written language, and the school did not teach signing. Instead, the children invented the language largely on their own, with each generation building on what they learned from preceding students.
