Lexical iconicity in Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL) and Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL)

Abstract

shows that negation is a complex process involving diff erent grammatical categories, such as person and number marking, as well as the syntactic organisation of the sentence. There are more irregularities and asymmetries between affi rmative and negative sentences than the presence or the absence of the negation marker. For example, completely diff erent TAM markers or copulas are used in negative and affi rmative clauses. The heterogeneity of the negative strategies and their interactions in Atlantic languages shed more light on internal clustering of the Atlantic group. Judith Mgbemena in "Linguistic Repertoires of Refugees in Internally Displaced Peoples' (IDP) Camps in North East Nigeria" shows a linguistic situation in Nigeria from the perspective of endangered languages. In reports and publications referring to the impact of terrorism and violent confl ict on national development, the language component is usually ignored. In a similar vein, humanitarian groups helping the people in need focus on social, economic, religious or medical aid, leaving the problem of language and communication aside. The paper focuses on language use spectrum in two Internally Displaced Persons' camps situated in east-north Nigeria showing how forced mobility resulting from violent attacks aff ects linguistic ecology of Nigeria. It is shown that indigenous languages are rarely used at the camps and the IDP people are exposed to other languages like Hausa and English. It poses a threat to the sustenance of the displaced languages not only locally, but also globally, as many of these languages are endangered.The forms of direct communication involving gestures are discussed in "The function of nonverbal regulators in Hausa face-to-face interaction" by Aisha Umar Adamu. She analyses the use of nonverbal signals called regulators in Hausa social interactions taking place in schools and at wedding ceremonies. The research shows that various gestures and body postures act as conversational regulators that help to keep the fl ow of the conversation. Regulators mark the beginning or the end of the conversations (e.g. turning the head aside)

Child language acquisition research on indigenous African sign languages: A commentary on Kidd and Garcia (2022)

“…Our understanding of sign language acquisition has been framed based on research on ASL, British Sign Language and few other sign languages used in Europe, America and Asia, as identified in Kidd and Garcia’s (2022) survey. Research on different African sign languages has revealed typological differences between different sign languages classified as urban and rural sign languages (Asonye et al, 2018; Edward, 2021). Urban sign languages refer to national sign languages and sign languages of education, while rural sign languages refer to sign languages that are used in communities with high incidences of genetic deafness and are typically used for communication between deaf people and between deaf and hearing people.…”

“…Will research on children’s acquisition of indigenous African sign languages influence theories about language acquisition? Research on different rural/indigenous sign languages have identified specific representations of linguistic features such as number, kinship and colour, negation, use of space, classifiers (De Vos & Pfau, 2015; Edward, 2021; Nyst, 2007; Zeshan, 2006). For example, whereas the use of entity classifiers for motion and location has been identified in several languages, Nyst (2007) identified that the signers of Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL), an indigenous sign language of Adamorobe (Ghana), do not use entity classifiers to express motion and location.…”

“…For example, whereas the use of entity classifiers for motion and location has been identified in several languages, Nyst (2007) identified that the signers of Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL), an indigenous sign language of Adamorobe (Ghana), do not use entity classifiers to express motion and location. A few years after Nyst’s research, Edward (2021) identified that the older signers of Adamorobe are gradually introducing entity classifiers for motion events. However, we are unable to compare if similar acquisition patterns exist among children using AdaSL as their first language since there has been no research on AdaSL acquisition.…”