This study aims to understand the extinction, variation, and generation of Korean Sign Language from a diachronic perspective. Until now, many volumes of synchronic study and literature study on Korean sign language have been conducted. However, as the first generation of sign language users, who experienced the Japanese colonial rule and the Korean War, have become aged, the volume of such studies has been decreasing. As such, the field lacks in-depth study on how the culture of deaf people has been reflected in Korean sign language or how its identity have been formed.
In this regard, this study was based on sign language words that were collected in sign language interviews of three deaf people in their 70s to 80s, two in their 50s, two in their 40s, and two in their 20s, all of whom were born in Seoul.
The results were analyzed in three categories of extinction, variation, and generation. Four cases fell under the extinction category: that deaf people do not use sign language since they do not know about it well, that they do not use sign language even though they know about it, that they do not need to use sign language due to socioeconomic development, and that they use finger spelling since they do not know about Korean sign language. Three cases fell under the variation category: that the meaning remains the same but its previous form has become extinct, that the meaning has been narrowed down, and that the meaning has been expanded. Lastly, one case fell under the generation category: that words that sign language providers did not use in the 1970s and 1980s are now used.
As a result, 44 words were collected and analyzed into the three categories of extinction, variation, and generation. The results are set forth below.
First, 19 sign language words became extinctive: 4 movie theater-related words, 1 theater-related word, 1 department store-related word, 1 finger language word, 4 people-related words, 3 military-related words, 1 medical word, 2 school-related words, 1 transportation-related word, and 1 place name.
Second, 11 sign language words were transformed: 9 nouns (3 school-related words, 3 building names, 1 country name, and 1 the other), 1 political word, and 1 adjective.
The meaning of 5 sign language words was narrowed down due to semantic change: 2 nouns and 3 verbs. The meaning of 4 words was expanded: 3 nouns and 1 adjective.
Third, 5 sign language words were created: 1 verb, 2 nouns, 1 adverb, and 1 other.
The results above show that Korean sign language, as well as other general languages, is organic and full of life energy and as time progresses, it goes through the process of transformation, growth, and generation. It is also understood that sign language reflects the culture of deaf people and aspects of society in different times and forms its identity in the community of deaf people.