Josep Quer

Ambiguities in sign languages

Abstract Natural languages come in two different modalities – the aural-auditory modality of spoken languages and the visual-gestural modality of sign languages. The impact of modality on the grammatical system has been discussed at great length in the last 20 years. By contrast, the impact of modality on semantics in general and on ambiguities in particular has not yet been addressed in detail. In this paper, we deal with different types of ambiguities in sign languages. We discuss typical lexical and structural ambiguities as well as modality-specific aspects such as ambiguities in the use of the signing space and non-manual markers. In addition, we address the questions how sign languages avoid ambiguities and to what extent certain kinds of ambiguities and non-ambiguities depend on the visual-manual modality of sign languages. Since gestures use the same articulatory channel that is also active in the production of signs, we also discuss ambiguities between gestures on the one hand and grammaticalized gestures and signs on the other.

SignGram Blueprint : A Guide to Sign Language Grammar Writing

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.

La Llengua de Signes Catalana, Una Llengua Pròpia Més de Catalunya

Sign languages (SLs) used by Deaf communities have been traditionally deprived of the status of full-fledged natural languages till the 2nd half of the 20th century, when the conjunction of linguistic research into them and sociopolitical emancipation of those communities started to slowly change the situation. Their users have constituted minorized linguistic communities within larger hearing societies with one ore more dominant spoken languages and their linguistic identity is usually concealed under the label of disability. Consequently, signers remain mostly invisible to the mainstream society, which poses very specific challenges to the recognition, maintenance and regulation of SLs from the broader perspective of minority language policies. In Mediterranean Europe partial legal recognition of SLs has been granted in the last decades through specific policies related to Deaf education or public media, but no full recognition had been achieved till recently. In this paper, I present and analyze the re...