Is Sinasina Sign Language an Isolate?: a Call for Further Sign Language Documentation & Description in Papua New Guinea
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Sign Language Typology Series
SIGN LANGUAGE TYPOLOGY SERIES The Sign Language Typology Series is dedicated to the comparative study of sign languages around the world. Individual or collective works that systematically explore typological variation across sign languages are the focus of this series, with particular emphasis on undocumented, underdescribed and endangered sign languages. The scope of the series primarily includes cross-linguistic studies of grammatical domains across a larger or smaller sample of sign languages, but also encompasses the study of individual sign languages from a typological perspective and comparison between signed and spoken languages in terms of language modality, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to sign language typology. Interrogative and Negative Constructions in Sign Languages Edited by Ulrike Zeshan Sign Language Typology Series No. 1 / Interrogative and negative constructions in sign languages / Ulrike Zeshan (ed.) / Nijmegen: Ishara Press 2006. ISBN-10: 90-8656-001-6 ISBN-13: 978-90-8656-001-1 © Ishara Press Stichting DEF Wundtlaan 1 6525XD Nijmegen The Netherlands Fax: +31-24-3521213 email: [email protected] http://ishara.def-intl.org Cover design: Sibaji Panda Printed in the Netherlands First published 2006 Catalogue copy of this book available at Depot van Nederlandse Publicaties, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Den Haag (www.kb.nl/depot) To the deaf pioneers in developing countries who have inspired all my work Contents Preface........................................................................................................10 -
Sign Language Endangerment and Linguistic Diversity Ben Braithwaite
RESEARCH REPORT Sign language endangerment and linguistic diversity Ben Braithwaite University of the West Indies at St. Augustine It has become increasingly clear that current threats to global linguistic diversity are not re - stricted to the loss of spoken languages. Signed languages are vulnerable to familiar patterns of language shift and the global spread of a few influential languages. But the ecologies of signed languages are also affected by genetics, social attitudes toward deafness, educational and public health policies, and a widespread modality chauvinism that views spoken languages as inherently superior or more desirable. This research report reviews what is known about sign language vi - tality and endangerment globally, and considers the responses from communities, governments, and linguists. It is striking how little attention has been paid to sign language vitality, endangerment, and re - vitalization, even as research on signed languages has occupied an increasingly prominent posi - tion in linguistic theory. It is time for linguists from a broader range of backgrounds to consider the causes, consequences, and appropriate responses to current threats to sign language diversity. In doing so, we must articulate more clearly the value of this diversity to the field of linguistics and the responsibilities the field has toward preserving it.* Keywords : language endangerment, language vitality, language documentation, signed languages 1. Introduction. Concerns about sign language endangerment are not new. Almost immediately after the invention of film, the US National Association of the Deaf began producing films to capture American Sign Language (ASL), motivated by a fear within the deaf community that their language was endangered (Schuchman 2004). -
Anastasia Bauer the Use of Signing Space in a Shared Signing Language of Australia Sign Language Typology 5
Anastasia Bauer The Use of Signing Space in a Shared Signing Language of Australia Sign Language Typology 5 Editors Marie Coppola Onno Crasborn Ulrike Zeshan Editorial board Sam Lutalo-Kiingi Irit Meir Ronice Müller de Quadros Roland Pfau Adam Schembri Gladys Tang Erin Wilkinson Jun Hui Yang De Gruyter Mouton · Ishara Press The Use of Signing Space in a Shared Sign Language of Australia by Anastasia Bauer De Gruyter Mouton · Ishara Press ISBN 978-1-61451-733-7 e-ISBN 978-1-61451-547-0 ISSN 2192-5186 e-ISSN 2192-5194 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. ” 2014 Walter de Gruyter, Inc., Boston/Berlin and Ishara Press, Lancaster, United Kingdom Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck Țȍ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Acknowledgements This book is the revised and edited version of my doctoral dissertation that I defended at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Cologne, Germany in January 2013. It is the result of many experiences I have encoun- tered from dozens of remarkable individuals who I wish to acknowledge. First of all, this study would have been simply impossible without its partici- pants. The data that form the basis of this book I owe entirely to my Yolngu family who taught me with patience and care about this wonderful Yolngu language. -
Listening with Your Eyes
Listening with your Eyes (Photo from terptopics.com) Abby BradleyGilbert Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public School Eighth Grade Project January 7 June 6, 2014 “You need to focus on a deaf person’s abilities. Not their disabilities. The only thing I can’t do is hear.” ~ Marlee Matlin Marlee Beth Matlin is an American actress. Being deaf since eighteen months old, she is the only deaf performer to win an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which she won for the movie Children of a Lesser God. At the age of twenty one, she became the youngest woman in history to win that award. She has been in both film and television resulting in a Golden Globe, with two other nominations, and four Emmy nominations. (Wikipedia Marlee Matlin) I had the pleasure of meeting her briefly, after I saw her sign in Boston, at Bunker Hill Community College. I feel privileged that I got to be in her presence, and I loved what she had to say. She connected with the audience through her sense of humor and it felt like I was with a friend and not a famous actress. Marlee Matlin, Marlee Matlin (Photo: http://www.omahahomeforboys.org/) like many deaf people, serves as a reminder to us that deaf people can rise to great heights, when they refuse to be held back. Introduction Deaf people can do anything hearing people can do except hear. They have American Sign Language for this. You don’t have to listen to understand ASL, because more than anything it’s a visual form of communication. -
What Sign Language Creation Teaches Us About Language Diane Brentari1∗ and Marie Coppola2,3
Focus Article What sign language creation teaches us about language Diane Brentari1∗ and Marie Coppola2,3 How do languages emerge? What are the necessary ingredients and circumstances that permit new languages to form? Various researchers within the disciplines of primatology, anthropology, psychology, and linguistics have offered different answers to this question depending on their perspective. Language acquisition, language evolution, primate communication, and the study of spoken varieties of pidgin and creoles address these issues, but in this article we describe a relatively new and important area that contributes to our understanding of language creation and emergence. Three types of communication systems that use the hands and body to communicate will be the focus of this article: gesture, homesign systems, and sign languages. The focus of this article is to explain why mapping the path from gesture to homesign to sign language has become an important research topic for understanding language emergence, not only for the field of sign languages, but also for language in general. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. How to cite this article: WIREs Cogn Sci 2012. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1212 INTRODUCTION linguistic community, a language model, and a 21st century mind/brain that well-equip the child for this esearchers in a variety of disciplines offer task. When the very first languages were created different, mostly partial, answers to the question, R the social and physiological conditions were very ‘What are the stages of language creation?’ Language different. Spoken language pidgin varieties can also creation can refer to any number of phylogenic and shed some light on the question of language creation. -
Negation in Kata Kolok Grammaticalization Throughout Three Generations of Signers
UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM Graduate School for Humanities Negation in Kata Kolok Grammaticalization throughout three generations of signers Master’s Thesis Hannah Lutzenberger Student number: 10852875 Supervised by: Dr. Roland Pfau Dr. Vadim Kimmelman Dr. Connie de Vos Amsterdam 2017 Abstract (250 words) Although all natural languages have ways of expressing negation, the linguistic realization is subject to typological variation (Dahl 2010; Payne 1985). Signed languages combine manual signs and non-manual elements. This leads to an intriguing dichotomy: While non-manual marker(s) alone are sufficient for negating a proposition in some signed languages (non- manual dominant system), the use of a negative manual sign is required in others (manual dominant system) (Zeshan 2004, 2006). Kata Kolok (KK), a young signing variety used in a Balinese village with a high incidence of congenital deafness (de Vos 2012; Winata et al. 1995), had previously been classified as an extreme example of the latter type: the manual sign NEG functions as the main negator and a negative headshake remains largely unused (Marsaja 2008). Adopting a corpus-based approach, the present study reevaluates this claim. The analysis of intergenerational data of six deaf native KK signers from the KK Corpus (de Vos 2016) reveals that the classification of KK negation is not as straightforward as formerly suggested. Although KK signers make extensive use of NEG, a negative headshake is widespread as well. Furthermore, signers from different generations show disparate tendencies in the use of specific markers. Specifically, the involvement of the manual negator slightly increases over time, and the headshake begins to spread within the youngest generation of signers. -
Children Who Are Deaf Deserve Researched Based Education Cheryl Ann Hermann University of Missouri-St
University of Missouri, St. Louis IRL @ UMSL Dissertations UMSL Graduate Works 5-4-2016 Children Who are Deaf Deserve Researched Based Education Cheryl Ann Hermann University of Missouri-St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Hermann, Cheryl Ann, "Children Who are Deaf Deserve Researched Based Education" (2016). Dissertations. 119. https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation/119 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the UMSL Graduate Works at IRL @ UMSL. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of IRL @ UMSL. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Running Head: CHILDREN WHO ARE DEAF DESERVE RESEARCH BASED EDUCATION Children Who are Deaf Deserve Researched Based Education Cheryl Ann Hermann Ed.S. in Educational Administration, University of Missouri-St. Louis, December, 2014 M.Ed. in Educational Administration, University of Missouri–St. Louis, August, 2012 Associate in Applied Science: Deaf Communication/Interpreter - St. Louis Community College, August 2006 B.A. in Deaf Education, Fontbonne University - St. Louis, May, 1979 A Dissertation in Practice Proposal Submitted to The Graduate School at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Educational Practice May, 2016 Doctoral Committee Kathleen Sullivan-Brown, Ph.D. Chairperson Carole G. Basile, Ed.D. Co-Chair Gerard Buckley, Ed.D James Shuls, Ph.D. Copyright, Cheryl Ann Hermann - May, 2016 CHILDREN WHO ARE DEAF DESERVE RESEARCH BASED EDUCATION Page 2 Table of Contents Page I. Dedication 4 II. -
Chapter 2 Sign Language Types
Chapter 2 Sign language types This chapter defines four different sign language types, based on the infor- mation available in the respective sources. Before introducing the types of sign languages, I first report on the diachronic developments in the field of typological sign language research that gave rise to the distinction of the various sign language types. Sign language research started about five decades ago in the United States of America mainly due to the pioneering work of Stokoe (2005 [1960]), Klima and Bellugi (1979), and Poizner, Klima and Bellugi (1987) on American Sign Language (ASL). Gradually linguists in other countries, mainly in Europe, became interested in sign language research and started analyzing European sign languages e.g. British Sign Language (BSL), Swedish Sign Language (SSL), Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) and German Sign Language (DGS). Most of the in-depth linguistic descrip- tions have been based on Western sign languages. Therefore, it has long been assumed that some fundamental levels of linguistic structure, such as spatial morphology and syntax, operate identically in all sign languages. Recent studies, however, have discovered some important variations in spatial organization in some previously unknown sign languages (Washabaugh, 1986; Nyst, 2007; Marsaja, 2008; Padden, Meir, Aronoff, & Sandler, 2010). In the context of growing interest in non-Western sign languages towards the end of the 1990s and more recently, there have been efforts towards developing a typology of sign languages (Zeshan, 2004ab, 2008, 2011b; Schuit, Baker, & Pfau, 2011). Although it has been repeatedly emphasized in the literature that the sign language research still has too little data on sign languages other than those of national deaf communities, based in Western or Asian cultures (Zeshan, 2008). -
Toponyms in Ban Khor Sign Language | Angela M
Toponyms in Ban Khor Sign Language | Angela M. Nonaka 66 Toponyms in Ban Khor Sign Language Angela M. Nonaka The University of Texas at Austin (USA) [email protected] Introduction Ban Khor Sign Language (BKSL) is a rare language variety known as a ‘village’ (Zeshan 2004) or ‘indigenous’ (Woodward 2000) sign language. This type of sign language develops in small face-to-face communities where historically there are/were: 1) demographically `1#$%%%%}`` #####$}`T$ } ~` $ #} ` %T$!;# characteristics of the language ecologies of signing village communities, however, involve their local language ideologies and practices. In such communities, there are no sign language interpreters. Instead, it is common not only for deaf people but also for hearing residents to acquire and use the village sign language. Because it is widely used by both deaf and hearing people in the course of everyday life, the village sign language facilitates the inclusion (vs. exclusion) of deaf members of the community. Villages with indigenous sign languages are unusual but have been found elsewhere: in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia and Oceania, the Caribbean, and the Middle East (Branson & ^}@!}#$$}}} }@}X;}$¥}}¨}¨ }~}=#}=$}=~¥ $}=¥}=}+#¢^$}+ }^+¥}^}^%#¢<}^!} ~$}¥}!}\ !}}*!}*$}*#};! }@}$¥}`!* communities’ alternative social constructions of and communicative responses to deafness is enriching anthropological understanding of cultural variation, and research on the local sign languages is expanding knowledge of linguistics in areas such as: documentary linguistics, typological linguistics, historical linguistics, language universals, and so on. In anthropological linguistics, there is a robust literature on onomastics—the study of the origin and forms of proper names (personal, place, brand, etc.). Names are interesting and useful phenomena for linguistic and cultural analysis because naming systems and practices mirror and order the social world. -
The Size of Signing Space
Chapter 7 The size of signing space Research on a broad range of DCSLs suggests, that the signs are articulated on or in front of the body, in the area between the waist and the head. This area is called “signing space” (Klima & Bellugi, 1979, p. 51) and is typically extended vertically from the waist to the space above the signer’s head and transversely from elbow to elbow when both arms are kept loosely bent as depicted in Figure 50. Figure 50. Signing space in DCSLs Shared sign languages, on the other hand, are known to extend beyond signing space described above and use a much larger signing space (Nyst, 2012). The signing space in sign languages such as Enga Sign Language, Urubú Kaapor Sign Language, Konchri Sain, Adamorobe Sign Language and Kata Kolok may extend to the whole body of the signer88 (Kendon, 1980; Ferreira- Brito, 1984; Dolman, 1986; Nyst, 2007; Marsaja, 2008; De Vos, 2012). In AdaSL there are signs which are articulated on the foot (insult), the thigh (summon, trousers) and at the back (younger-sibling) (Nyst, 2007). In KK, signs may also be performed below the waist or behind the body. The sign injection is, for example, articulated on the buttocks, and the sign offspring on the crotch (Marsaja, 2008). This is not the case in any reported DCSL, in which the body parts that are lower than the waist do not normally function as locations for signs. YSL patterns with other documented shared sign languages in the size of the signing space and a proliferation of locations. -
The Kata Kolok Corpus: Documenting a Shared Sign Language
accepted for Sign Language Studies, 16 (2), Winter 2016 Sampling shared sign languages Connie de Vos Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmgen, the Netherlands Abstract This paper addresses some of the theoretical questions, ethical considerations, and methodological decisions that underlie the creation of the Kata Kolok Corpus as well as the Kata Kolok Child Signing Corpus. This discussion is relevant to the formation of prospective sign corpora that aim to capture the various sociolinguistic landscapes in which sign languages, whether rural or urban, may emerge and evolve. Keywords: corpus construction, shared sign languages, linguistic fieldwork, first language acquisition, Kata Kolok 1. Introduction1 Whether stated or implied, the emergence of sign languages has often taken to be directly linked to the establishment of formal deaf education, and other cultural centres where deaf individuals may convene. Over the past ten years, more attention has been given to the emergence of signing varieties in rural and urban areas with a high incidence of deafness, where both deaf and hearing community members form social networks, using visual-gestural forms of communication (Nyst 2012). This latter sociolinguistic category of sign language, being used by both deaf and hearing community members, is known as a shared sign language. Shared signing communities vary in detail with respect to various social factors such as the causes and incidence of deafness, community size, the ratio of deaf and hearing signers, time depth, as well as the socio-cultural construction of deafness (Kisch 2008; Kusters 2010). The linguistic and anthropological documentation and description of shared signing communities are still in their initial stages (Zeshan & de Vos 2012). -
The Effectıveness of Vısual Materıals in Teachıng Vocabulary to Deaf
ĠNGĠLĠZCEYĠ YABANCI DĠL OLARAK ÖĞRENEN ĠġĠTME ENGELLĠ ÖĞRENCĠLERE KELĠME ÖĞRETĠMĠNDE GÖRSEL MATERYALLERĠN ETKĠLĠLĠĞĠ THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VISUAL MATERIALS IN TEACHING VOCABULARY TO DEAF STUDENTS OF EFL Fatma Gülengül BĠRĠNCĠ Hacettepe Üniversitesi Lisansüstü Eğitim-Öğretim ve Sınav Yönetmeliğinin Yabancı Diller Eğitimi Anabilim Dalı, İngiliz Dili Eğitimi Bilim Dalı İçin Öngördüğü Yüksek Lisans Tezi olarak hazırlanmıştır. 2014 Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü'ne, Fatma Gülengül BİRİNCİ‘nin hazırladığı ―The Effectiveness of Visual Materials in Teaching Vocabulary to Deaf Students of EFL‖ başlıklı bu çalışma jürimiz tarafından Yabancı Diller Eğitimi Anabilim Dalı, Ġngiliz Dili Eğitimi Bilim Dalı’nda Yüksek Lisans Tezi olarak kabul edilmiştir. Başkan Prof. Dr. Mehmet DEMİREZEN Üye (Danışman) Doç. Dr. Arif SARIÇOBAN Üye Prof. Dr. İsmail Hakkı MİRİCİ Üye Doç. Dr. Tevfik Paşa CEPHE Üye Yard. Doç. Dr. Hüseyin ÖZ ONAY Bu tez Hacettepe Üniversitesi Lisansüstü Eğitim-Öğretim ve Sınav Yönetmeliği‘nin ilgili maddeleri uyarınca yukarıdaki jüri üyeleri tarafından 10 /01/2014 tarihinde uygun görülmüş ve Enstitü Yönetim Kurulunca ...../...../......... tarihinde kabul edilmiştir. Prof. Dr. Berrin AKMAN Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü Müdürü ii ĠNGĠLĠZCEYĠ YABANCI DĠL OLARAK ÖĞRENEN ĠġĠTME ENGELLĠ ÖĞRENCĠLERE KELĠME ÖĞRETĠMĠNDE GÖRSEL MATERYALLERĠN ETKĠLĠLĠĞĠ Fatma Gülengül BĠRĠNCĠ ÖZ Bu çalışmanın amacı işitme engelli öğrencilere kelime öğretiminde çeşitli görsel materyaller kullanılmasının etkililiğini araştırmaktır. Bu amaçla Kemal Yurtbilir Özel Eğitim Meslek Lisesi‘nden 80 öğrenci çalışmaya katılmıştır. Çalışmaya katılan öğrencilerin hepsi yaşamları boyunca ilk defa İngilizce dersi almaktadırlar, bu yüzden ön test uygulanmamıştır. Öğrenciler iki gruba ayrılarak deney ve kontrol grupları oluşturulmuştur. Öğrencilere her hafta 10 kelime öğretilmiş ve bu çalışmada toplamda 50 kelime kullanılmıştır. Bu kelimeler deney grubuna öğretilirken işaret dilinden başka görsel materyallerden de yararlanılmıştır.