Sign Language Typology: The Contribution of Rural Sign Languages

Abstract

Since the 1990s, the field of sign language typology has shown that sign languages exhibit typological variation at all relevant levels of linguistic description. These initial typological comparisons were heavily skewed toward the urban sign languages of developed countries, mostly in the Western world. This review reports on the recent contributions made by rural signing varieties, that is, sign languages that have evolved in village communities, often in developing countries, due to a high incidence of deafness. With respect to a number of structural properties, rural sign languages fit into previously established typological classifications. However, they also exhibit unique and typologically marked features that challenge received views on possible sign languages. At the same time, the shared features of geographically dispersed rural signing varieties provide a unique window into the social dynamics that may shape the structures of modern human languages. 265

Language Emergence

“…Differences between these two types of emerging languages have, in fact, been found in kinship terms and pointing gestures (de Vos & Pfau 2015). …”

“…The languages that arise in this context are called “village” (Meir et al 2010b) or “rural” (de Vos & Pfau 2015) sign languages, and often have a high proportion of hearing users. Examples of this type include Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language, used in the United States between 1750 and 1900 (Groce 1985); Kata Kolok, currently in use in Bali (de Vos 2012); and Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL), used by a group that was previously nomadic and has settled in Israel (Sandler et al 2005; Padden et al 2010; Sandler et al 2011a,b).…”

“…Such languages are often referred to as “community” (Meir et al 2010b) or “urban” (de Vos & Pfau 2015) sign languages. Community sign languages include ASL, BSL, Italian Sign Language (LIS), French Sign Language, DGS, Russian Sign Language, Polish Sign Language, and Hong Kong Sign Language, among others.…”

One Village, Two Sign Languages: Qualia, Intergenerational Relationships and the Language Ideological Assemblage in Adamorobe, Ghana

“…(2) International migration and mobility (e.g., Quinto‐Pozos ; Zeshan and Panda ). And (3) The context of “ shared sign languages” (Nyst ), which are the languages that emerged in shared signing communities (Kisch ) like Adamorobe, where intergenerational hereditary deafness in close‐knit (often rural) communities constituted the breeding grounds for the emergence of local sign languages, i.e., shared sign languages (De Vos and Pfau ; Zeshan and De Vos ). In some shared signing communities, such as Adamorobe, some or all deaf signers have learned a majority (national) sign language in addition to the shared sign language, and this can trigger language endangerment of the shared sign language.…”

The Time Depth and Typology of Rural Sign Languages

“…This special issue of Sign Language Studies is focused on recent developments in the study of rural sign languages, which have arisen from the spontaneous interactions between deaf and hearing individuals in rural communities with high incidences of deafness. With the exception of a few preliminary studies, such as the ones on the now-extinct Martha's Vineyard community (Groce 1985) and the work on Providence Island Sign Language (Washabaugh, Woodward & DeSantis, 1978), the linguistic documentation and description of these sign languages did not really take off until the early 2000s (de Vos & Pfau 2015). Importantly, rural sign languages are only one part of the linguistic landscape, including the urban sign languages of national deaf communities whether they have emerged recently, as happened in the case of Nicaragua (Senghas & Coppola 2001), or are in fact presumed to have a long-standing history (Palfreyman & Zeshan 2017).…”