Classifications and typologies: Labeling sign languages and signing communities

Hou, Lynn; Vos, Connie De

doi:10.1111/josl.12490

Cited by 23 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 66 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Previously, Irish references to the definitions of the Deaf community were often uncritically examined or left unproblematised. For example, Mathews (2017) refers to the definition of the deaf community in Ireland, which relies on the literature on the social model of deafness with a strong emphasis on the d/Deaf dichotomy (p. 3–5). Leeson and Saeed (2012) view the Irish Deaf community from a linguistic perspective, significantly showing how the ISL was evolved and been handled internally and externally.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Leeson and Saeed (2012) view the Irish Deaf community from a linguistic perspective, significantly showing how the ISL was evolved and been handled internally and externally. Like Mathews (2017), they recognise that the composition of community memberships is changing over time. For instance, an increasing number of hearing people gain reasonable skills in ISL and participate in community events more frequently than before.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, the numbers involved in the deaf community's social, sports, and cultural activities have fallen. Changes such as technological advances (Mathews, 2017), the consolidation of educational policies for deaf children in mainstream education (Mathews, 2017), and an increase in individualisation and social mobility (Snoddon and De Meulder, 2020) have been documented as having affected the community membership.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

How to sign on and stay there: Snapshot of the feeling of belonging within the Irish Deaf Community

Conama

2022

Irish Journal of Sociology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article seeks to explore the notion and strength of community belonging amongst the deaf community in Ireland. The article outlines the results from the online and anonymous survey that took place in June 2020. Three hundred ninety-nine responses were made, and 270 out of them are fully completed and analysed before a commentary is made. Concepts such as the “community” and “deaf community” are briefly theorised to see if they are compatible with the community beliefs held by the respondents. Key issues that are perceived to unite or divide the deaf community include solidarity, cultural affinity, sense of belonging, lack of trustworthiness, feelings of exclusion and dissent regarding leadership. The theoretical concept of ‘sense of community’ adapted is that proposed by McMillian and Chavis (1986), who define it as “a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to being together.” It is envisaged to have the research expanded into specific issues such as the long-term sustainability of the community.

show abstract

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

How to sign on and stay there: Snapshot of the feeling of belonging within the Irish Deaf Community

Conama

2022

Irish Journal of Sociology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Often, emerging sign languages are contrasted with established ones, which, although young, are more difficult to trace back to their first generations (e.g., BSL). Recently, scholars have problematized the different ways in which researchers classify sign languages (e.g., Hou and de Vos 2021). The term "emerging", for example, is a rather broad classification, grouping together sign languages in terms of their relative youth ("emerging" vs. "established") (Fenlon and Wilkinson 2015;Le Guen et al 2020;Zeshan and de Vos 2012), regardless of their different social circumstances.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Vulnerability of Emerging Sign Languages: (E)merging Sign Languages?

Jaraisy

Stamp

2022

Languages

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Emerging sign languages offer linguists an opportunity to observe language emergence in real time, far beyond the capabilities of spoken language studies. Sign languages can emerge in different social circumstances—some in larger heterogeneous communities, while others in smaller and more homogeneous communities. Often, examples of the latter, such as Ban Khor Sign Language (in Thailand), Al Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (in Israel), and Mardin Sign Language (in Turkey), arise in communities with a high incidence of hereditary deafness. Traditionally, these communities were in limited contact with the wider deaf community in the region, and so the local sign language remained relatively uninfluenced by the surrounding signed language(s). Yet, in recent years, changes in education, mobility, and social communication patterns have resulted in increased interaction between sign languages. Rather than undergoing language emergence, these sign languages are now facing a state of “mergence” with the majority sign language used by the wider deaf community. This study focuses on the language contact situation between two sign languages in Kufr Qassem, Israel. In the current situation, third-generation deaf signers in Kufr Qassem are exposed to the local sign language, Kufr Qassem Sign Language (KQSL), and the dominant sign language of the wider Israeli deaf community, Israeli Sign Language (ISL), both of which emerged around 90 years ago. In the current study, we analyzed the signing of twelve deaf sign-bilinguals from Kufr Qassem whilst they engaged in a semi-spontaneous task in three language conditions: (1) with another bilingual signer, (2) with a monolingual KQSL signer, and (3) with a monolingual ISL signer. The results demonstrate that KQSL-ISL sign-bilinguals show a preference for ISL in all conditions, even when paired with a monolingual KQSL signer. We conclude that the degree of language shift in Kufr Qassem is considerable. KQSL may be endangered due to the risk of social and linguistic mergence of the KQSL community with the ISL community in the near future.

show abstract

“… 2 See Hou and de Vos (2022) for a recent discussion of terminological distinctions in sign language research. …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Acquisition of turn-taking in sign language conversations: An overview of language modality and turn structure

Horton

Singleton

2022

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The task of transitioning from one interlocutor to another in conversation – taking turns – is a complex social process, but typically transpires rapidly and without incident in conversations between adults. Cross-linguistic similarities in turn timing and turn structure have led researchers to suggest that it is a core antecedent to human language and a primary driver of an innate “interaction engine.” This review focuses on studies that have tested the extent of turn timing and turn structure patterns in two areas: across language modalities and in early language development. Taken together, these two lines of research offer predictions about the development of turn-taking for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) acquiring sign languages. We introduce considerations unique to signed language development – namely the heterogenous ecologies in which signed language acquisition occurs, suggesting that more work is needed to account for the diverse circumstances of language acquisition for DHH children. We discuss differences between early sign language acquisition at home compared to later sign language acquisition at school in classroom settings, particularly in countries with national sign languages. We also compare acquisition in these settings to communities without a national sign language where DHH children acquire local sign languages. In particular, we encourage more documentation of naturalistic conversations between DHH children who sign and their caregivers, teachers, and peers. Further, we suggest that future studies should consider: visual/manual cues to turn-taking and whether they are the same or different for child or adult learners; the protracted time-course of turn-taking development in childhood, in spite of the presence of turn-taking abilities early in development; and the unique demands of language development in multi-party conversations that happen in settings like classrooms for older children versus language development at home in dyadic interactions.

show abstract

Classifications and typologies: Labeling sign languages and signing communities

Cited by 23 publications

References 66 publications

How to sign on and stay there: Snapshot of the feeling of belonging within the Irish Deaf Community

How to sign on and stay there: Snapshot of the feeling of belonging within the Irish Deaf Community

The Vulnerability of Emerging Sign Languages: (E)merging Sign Languages?

Acquisition of turn-taking in sign language conversations: An overview of language modality and turn structure

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About