SignGram Blueprint
SignGram Blueprint

Author: Josep Quer

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2017-11-20

Total Pages: 1009

ISBN-13: 1501516086

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We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union. Current grammatical knowledge about particular sign languages is fragmentary and of varying reliability, and it appears scattered in scientific publications where the description is often intertwined with the analysis. In general, comprehensive grammars are a rarity. The SignGram Blueprint is an innovative tool for the grammar writer: a full-fledged guide to describing all components of the grammars of sign languages in a thorough and systematic way, and with the highest scientific standards. The work builds on the existing knowledge in Descriptive Linguistics, but also on the insights from Theoretical Linguistics. It consists of two main parts running in parallel: the Checklist with all the grammatical features and phenomena the grammar writer can address, and the accompanying Manual with the relevant background information (definitions, methodological caveats, representative examples, tests, pointers to elicitation materials and bibliographical references). The areas covered are Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, Syntax and Meaning. The Manual is endowed with hyperlinks that connect information across the work and with a pop-up glossary. The SignGram Blueprint will be a landmark for the description of sign language grammars in terms of quality and quantity.

Morphological Complexity within and across Boundaries
Morphological Complexity within and across Boundaries

Author: Aslı Gürer

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2020-07-15

Total Pages: 429

ISBN-13: 9027261121

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This volume brings together a collection of original articles investigating state-of-the-art themes in morphology. The papers in the volume provide an in-depth analysis for spoken and sign languages within morphological word domain, morphosyntax and morphophonology. Bringing data from a variety of languages including Turkish, some understudied ones (e.g. Turkish Sign Language, Late Ottoman Turkish) and also endangered languages (e.g. Karachay-Balkar, Sauzini, Cappadocian, Aivaliot and Pharasiot Greek), the volume will be of special interest to a wide audience ranging from typologists to theoretical linguists and graduate students in linguistics and is expected to generate further research on the above mentioned languages, as well as to contribute to the cross-linguistic literature on the themes explored in the volume.

Signs and Structures
Signs and Structures

Author: Paweł Rutkowski

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2015-09-15

Total Pages: 151

ISBN-13: 9027268495

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As sign language linguistics has become an important and prodigious field of research in the last few decades, it comes as no surprise that the repertoire of methodological approaches to the study of the communication of the Deaf has also expanded considerably. While earlier work on sign languages was often focused on providing arguments for them being full-fledged linguistic systems, current debates do no longer center on whether visual-spatial grammars are worth being researched, but on how this type of research should be conducted. This book contains a selection of papers that could be thought of as a good representative sample of current trends in formal approaches to the study of sign language syntax. It illustrates how generative research on the communication of the Deaf may contribute to our understanding of the syntax of natural languages in general and indicates to what extent it is possible to integrate advances in the analysis of visual-spatial grammar with current spoken language research. Originally published in Sign Language & Linguistics 16:2 (2013).

Our Lives – Our Stories: Life Experiences of Elderly Deaf People
Our Lives – Our Stories: Life Experiences of Elderly Deaf People

Author: Roland Pfau

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2021-01-18

Total Pages: 427

ISBN-13: 3110701901

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Sign languages are non-written languages. Given that the use of digital media and video recordings in documenting sign languages started only some 30 years ago, the life stories of Deaf elderly signers born in the 1930s-1940s have – except for a few scattered fragments in film – not been documented and are therefore under serious threat of being lost. The chapters compiled in this volume document important aspects of past and present experiences of elderly Deaf signers across Europe, as well as in Israel and the United States. Issues addressed include (i) historical events and how they were experienced by Deaf people, (ii) issues of identity and independence, (iii) aspects of language change, (iv) experiences of suppression and discrimination. The stories shared by elderly signers reveal intriguing, yet hidden, aspects of Deaf life. On the negative side, these include experiences of the Deaf in Nazi Germany and occupied countries and harsh practices in educational settings, to name a few. On the positive side, there are stories of resilience and vivid memories of school years and social and professional life. In this way, the volume contributes in a significant way to the preservation of the cultural and linguistic heritage of Deaf communities and sheds light on lesser known aspects against an otherwise familiar background. This publication has been made possible within the SIGN-HUB project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

Imperatives and Directive Strategies
Imperatives and Directive Strategies

Author: Daniël Van Olmen

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2017-04-11

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9027265933

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Imperatives and directive strategies have intrigued both formalists and functionalists. They continue to search for the answers to questions like “what are the semantics of the imperative?”, “how is it used (in the world’s languages)?” and “which factors determine the choice between imperatives and other directive strategies?”. This volume takes a broadly functional-typological perspective and contributes to the literature in several respects. It presents new data from a variety of languages, some of which have not been studied in depth before. It exemplifies the benefits of traditional methodologies as well as the potential of more innovative ones. In addition, the volume sheds new light on the imperative as a typological notion, its meaning and uses and its interaction with other grammatical categories. It also offers new insights into the relation between different directive strategies within and across languages and into the (dis)similarities between equivalent directive strategies in a language family.

The Routledge Handbook of Sign Language Pedagogy
The Routledge Handbook of Sign Language Pedagogy

Author: Russell S. Rosen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-09-17

Total Pages: 485

ISBN-13: 1315406802

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The Routledge Handbook of Sign Language Pedagogy is the first reference of its kind, presenting contributions from leading experts in the field of sign language pedagogy. The Handbook fills a significant gap in the growing field of sign language pedagogy, compiling all essential aspects of current trends and empirical research in teaching, curricular design, and assessment in one volume. Each chapter includes historical perspectives, core issues, research approaches, key findings, pedagogical implications, future research direction, and additional references. The Routledge Handbook of Sign Language Pedagogy is an essential reference for sign language teachers, practitioners, and researchers in applied sign linguistics and first, second, and additional language learning.

Syllable, Stress, and Sign
Syllable, Stress, and Sign

Author: Jeroen van de Weijer

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2023-03-20

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 3110730081

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Representing Phonological Detail Part I: Segmental Structure and Representations Part II: Syllable, Stress and Sign Part II of Representing Phonological Detail focuses on the latest phonological research on suprasegmental structure and sign language. The first main theme in this volume is syllable structure, touching on phonotactics, syllabification, gemination, syllable weight, diphthongization, and other rules. The other main theme is tone and stress, including issues in data collection, the assignment of primary and secondary stress, resolution of stress clashes, lexical accent, and syntax-tone interaction. The final section is on sign language, with special attention paid to iconicity, phonological processes, and the relation between phonetic and phonological representation.

East Asian Sign Linguistics
East Asian Sign Linguistics

Author: Kazumi Matsuoka

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2022-12-05

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 150151024X

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This book is one of the first references of linguistic research of sign languages in East Asia (including China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong). The book includes the basic descriptions of aspects of Chinese (Shanghai, Tianjin) sign language, Hong Kong Sign Language, Japanese Sign Language, Korean Sign Language, Taiwanese Sign Language, and Tibetan Sign Language. Table of contents Introduction Kazumi Matsuoka, Onno Crasborn and Marie Coppola Part 1: Manuals: Numerals, classifiers, modal verbs Historical relationships between numeral signs in Japanese Sign Language, South Korean Sign Language and Taiwan Sign Language Keiko Sagara Phonological processes in complex word formation in Shanghai Sign Language Shengyun Gu Classifiers and gender in Korean Sign Language Ki-Hyun Nam and Kang-Suk Byu Causative alternation in Tianjin Sign Language Jia He and Gladys Tan Epistemic modal verbs and negation in Japanese Sign Language Kazumi Matsuoka, Uiko Yano and Kazumi Maegawa Part 2: Non-manuals and space The Korean Sign Language (KSL) corpus and its first application on a study about mouth actions Sung-Eun Hong, Seong Ok Won, Hyunhwa Lee, Kang-Suk Byun and Eun-Young Lee Negative polar questions in Hong Kong Sign Language Felix Sze and Helen Le Analyzing head nod expressions by L2 learners of Japanese Sign Language: A comparison with native Japanese Sign Language signers Natsuko Shimotani Composite utterances in Taiwan Sign Language Shiou-fen Su Time and timelines in Tibetan Sign Language (TSL) interactions in Lhasa Theresia Hofer

Advances in Sign Language Corpus Linguistics
Advances in Sign Language Corpus Linguistics

Author: Ella Wehrmeyer

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2023-04-03

Total Pages: 413

ISBN-13: 9027253307

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This collected volume showcases cutting-edge research in the rapidly developing area of sign language corpus linguistics in various sign language contexts across the globe. Each chapter provides a detailed account of particular national corpora and methodological considerations in their construction. Part 1 focuses on corpus-based linguistic findings, covering aspects of morphology, syntax, multilingualism, and regional and diachronic variation. Part 2 explores innovative solutions to challenges in building and annotating sign language corpora, touching on the construction of comparable sign language corpora, collaboration challenges at the national level, phonological arrangement of digital lexicons, and (semi-)automatic annotation. This unique volume documenting the growth in breadth and depth within the discipline of sign language corpus linguistics is a key resource for researchers, teachers, and postgraduate students in the field of sign language linguistics, and will also provide valuable insights for other researchers interested in corpus linguistics, Construction Grammar, and gesture studies.

The Phonology of Shanghai Sign Language
The Phonology of Shanghai Sign Language

Author: Jisheng Zhang

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2024-09-02

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 3111046532

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Applying the framework of the Prosodic Model to naturalistic data, this book presents a systematic study of the phonological structure of Shanghai Sign Language (SHSL). It examines the handshape inventory of SHSL in terms of its underlying featural specifications, phonetic realization and phonological processes such as assimilation, epenthesis, deletion, coalescence, non-dominant hand spread and weak drop. The authors define the role of the prosodic hierarchy in SHSL and analyze the linguistic functions of non-manual markers. This systematic investigation not only contributes to our understanding of SHSL itself, but also informs typological research on sign languages in the world.