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A New Emerging Sign Language by Laurie Jacobvitz

A New Emerging Sign Language by Laurie Jacobvitz. In a Remote Village where everyone signs….. Linguists are discovering the essential Ingredients of all human language and uncovering the workings of the human mind . The researchers of Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) —all linguists

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A New Emerging Sign Language by Laurie Jacobvitz

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  1. A New Emerging Sign Languageby Laurie Jacobvitz

  2. In a Remote Village where everyone signs….. Linguists are discovering the essential Ingredients of all human language and uncovering the workings of the human mind.

  3. The researchers of Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) —all linguists Carol Padden (D) UC San Diego. Only Deaf person on the team. Expert in ASL and Deaf culture Mark Aronoff (H) Stony Brook University New York. Internationally renowned. Specialist in morphology and Semitic languages Dr. Wendy Sandler (H) Lead researcher and Director of Sign Language Research Laboratory in Haifa, Israel Proficient in ASL and ISL. Irit Meir (H) Israeli linguist. Speaks some Arabic. Former student of Wendy Sandler. They wrote a book together on Israeli Sign Language. All have a fierce protectiveness for the ABSL community. Their location and identities are kept confidential. Clips of ABSL are not circulated.

  4. Al Sayyid Bedouin live in the Negev Desert RegionBedouin Population110,000 in the Negev10,000 in the central region50,000 in the north

  5. The excitement of the research • Young language—only 70 years old • Third generation • In a population of 3500 people ---150 are Deaf—That is forty times the incidence of the general population. • Most hearing villagers also sign. Deaf people integrated into society. • ABSL has arisen on its own outside the influence of other languages—no linguistic model. • It offers a living demonstration of “language instinct”

  6. The Study of ABSL • Focus on the second generation—20 Deaf people between the ages of 30 and 40 who use ABSL • They have no formal education and do not speak Hebrew, Arabic or Israeli Sign Language • No language contact with people outside of the village—hearing or Deaf • The researchers have permission to photograph them. Ask them to sign objects, describe events, and tell stories.

  7. Comparing ASL, ABSL and ISL

  8. Token variation in different generations

  9. Token similarity in one family

  10. GRAMMAR • No verb agreement /Limited use of spatial morphology Man gives tennis ball to a woman • Word order subject--object--verb (SOV)-strong syntax James Jan kiss • Different than Israel’s spoken languages which use subject-verb-object (SVO) • ABSL in between home signs and a fully mature language

  11. Three ingredients for organic sign language • Hereditary deafness—recessive gene • Isolation • Intermarriage

  12. Is ABSL an endangered language? • Genetic counseling—discouraging intermarriage Encouraging marriage outside the community • Children learning Israeli Sign Language at school and parents wanting their children to know the national sign language.

  13. References Ben-David, Dr. Yosef. “The Bedouin in Israel.” Jewish Virtual Library http://www.jewishlibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/Bedouin, 2007 Fox, Margalit. Talking Hands. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007 Fox, Margalit. “ Lingua Ex Machina: Deaf Bedouin Children Created a Complete Language” Discover Magazine. 03 July 2007 http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/village-of-the-deaf/article_village Goldin-Meadow, Susan. “Watching Language Grow.”National Academy of Sciences 2005 February 9 http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fegi?artid=549019 Hopkin, Michael. “Sign Language Reveals Fast Track to Grammar.” Deccan Herald 07 Feb 2005. Sa’ar, Tsafi. “Born to Sign.” http://sandlersignlag.haifa.ac.il Sandler, Wendy. “Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language.” http://sandlersignlab.haifa.ac.il/html_eng/al_sayyid.html Sandler, Wendy and Aronoff, Mark. “Is Phonology Necessary for Language?” Emergence of Language Structures Workshop Center for Research in Language and theKavli Institute for Brain and Mind UCSD 06 Feb 2007. http://crl.ucsd.edu/workshops/20070206/pdf/sandler-aranoff.pdf Sandler, Wendy, Meir, Irit, Padden, Carol and Aronoff, Mark. (2005) “The Emergence ofGrammar in a New Sign Language.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vol 102, No. 7 2661-2665. Wade, Nicolas. “A New Language Arises, and Scientists Watch it Evolve.” Science February 1, 2005 http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Sayyid_Bedouin_Sign_Language

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