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There are different kinds of word/sign聽formation processes in languages but this study only focuses on word formation of the聽compounding type. The study was conducted in Addis Ababa where 6 (3 male and 3 female)聽deaf native signers have participated who were purposively selected. The main data collecting聽method used for the study was elicitation/video recording. The EthSL dictionary was also聽consulted as source of data. The data were presented and interpreted in the descriptive fashion.</p> <p>The findings showed that compounding is one of the word/sign formation processes in EthSL.聽Compounding creates new word/sign units by combining two (or more) simple words of the聽same and/or different lexical categories. These compounds fulfill the criteria applied to other聽sign languages such as American Sign Language (ASL), British Sign Language (BSL) and Israel聽Sign Language (ISL).</p> <p>Out of 1321 list of sign entries in EthSL dictionary, 42 are compound signs. There are also other聽compound signs used by deaf signers that are not found in EthSL dictionary. Most EthSL聽compounds are not found in counterpart spoken languages, for instance, Amharic. EthSL聽compounds are seen as sequential and/or simultaneous in their formation. There are also three聽types of compounds: endocentric (of which one is a head), exocentric (neither of constituents is a聽head, meaning is not predictable and coordinate (each of the constituents is a head and both聽contribute the meaning of the compound). Like compounds of other sign languages, EthSL聽compounds also display word-like characteristics and in many cases they are not transparent in聽their word formation processes. EthSL compounds also involve different formation changes in聽their formational process.</p> <p> </p> <h4>The role of hearing signers in the use of iconic structures in sign languages</h4> <p><span style="font-size: small;">(NWO, VENI) 2012-2016.<br /> Project leader: Victoria Nyst聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽</span></p> </div> <div>Sign languages of deaf communities share formal characteristics specific to signing (Aronoff et al. 2004). Recent studies on emerging sign languages shed light on how these features emerge (Kegl et al. 1999). These studies claim that the language capacity of聽children was crucial for the development of language-like features. Sharing structural features with the early stages of emerging sign languages, the sign language of Adamorobe, a village with a long history of hereditary deafness, shows that the multi-generational acquisition by children is no guarantee for the development of the typical sign language structures (Nyst, 2007). In Nyst (2007), I propose it is rather the sociolinguistic setting of Adamorobe Sign Language that accounts for its structural features.</div> <div>In this project, I will investigate the hypothesis that language contact crucially impacts the development of spatial grammar and phonology. To this end, I will look at three sign languages, each used in a different sociolinguistic setting, with varying patterns of<br /> language contact as a result. Like AdaSL, the three sign languages have arisen in West Africa outside the context of deaf education, and as such form a group of severely understudied sign languages. Data for these languages are available in online corpora (Nyst et al. forthcoming a,b). For each language, those grammatical and phonological features will be analyzed that set AdaSL and emerging sign languages apart from sign languages of large deaf communities. Subsequently, I will investigate to what extent:</div> <div> <ul> <li>there is a correlation between the grammatical and phonological aspects analyzed.</li> <li>structural patterns in the languages can be interpreted in the light of their sociolinguistic settings, in particular the language contact situation.</li> </ul> </div> <div></div> <div>This project will shed light on the interplay of two major factors impacting sign language structure; channel-inherent tendencies and sociolinguistic features allowing or impeding their emergence.</p> <h4><b> Documentation and description of the Tabora variety of Tanzanian Sign Language<br /> </b></h4> <div>Project leader: Eugen Phillip,聽Leiden University / Archbishop Mihayo University College of TaboraTanzanian Sign Language (LAT) is the first language of the Tanzanian Deaf community. However, there is no yet an official policy that gives the language a national status. The Tabora school for the deaf has maintained the tradition of oralism since its establishment in 1963. It is in this linguistic environment that the Tabora variety of Tanzanian Sign Language sign language emerged. Lexically, this variety differs significantly from the variety of LAT as documented in the latest edition of the Tanzanian Sign Language dictionary (Muzale, 2004).</div> <div>This project will conduct a documentation, description, comparison and analysis of lexical items of Tabora variety of Tanzanian Sign Language (TVTSL) and LAT. The data will include digital corpus that features a representative sample of signed discourse, a lexical database, description and analysis of selected features.</div> </div> <div> <h4>Documentation and description of sign language in C么te d鈥橧voire</h4> <p><strong><a href="http://www.africansignlanguages.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/couverture-Tano.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-80" src="http://www.africansignlanguages.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/couverture-Tano-150x150.jpg" alt="couverture Tano" width="150" height="150" srcset="http://www.africansignlanguages.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/couverture-Tano-150x150.jpg 150w, http://www.africansignlanguages.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/couverture-Tano-225x225.jpg 225w, http://www.africansignlanguages.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/couverture-Tano-60x60.jpg 60w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /></a>Project Details:</strong></p> <p>Individual Graduate Studentship. Duration: 2010-2013. Funded by聽<a href="http://www.hrelp.org/grants/projects/index.php?projid=232">ELDP</a>.<br /> Project leader: Tano Angoua Jean-Jacques</p> <p><strong>Project Summary:</strong></p> <p>Like in several countries in West Africa, at least two sign languages are used in Ivory Coast. American Sign Language (ASL) is used in Deaf education and by educated Deaf adults. Deaf people with no formal schooling use various forms of Ivorian Sign Language. ASL is spreading in the Ivorian Deaf community at the cost of Ivorian Sign Language or Langue des Signes de C么te d鈥橧voire (LSCI). This project will carry out the documentation and analysis of LSCI. It will include a digital corpus that features a representative sample of signed discourse, a lexical database and a description and analysis of selected features of the language.</p> </div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">聽</span></span></p> <h4>Documentation and Analysis of West African Sign Languages</h4> <p><strong>Project data (closed)</strong></p> <table border="0" width="654"> <thead></thead> <tbody> <tr> <td><strong>Full title</strong></td> <td>Documentation and analysis of West-African sign languages</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>Nature</strong></td> <td>EuroBABEL (ESF EUROCORES Program)</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>Duration</strong></td> <td>2009-2012</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>Project leader</strong></td> <td>Victoria Nyst</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>Project members</strong></td> <td>Shane Gilchrist, BA<br /> Wouter Bolier, MA<br /> Moustapha Magassouba<br /> Kara Sylla<br /> Aichata Diabat茅</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h4></h4> <h4>Documentation and description of Langue des Signes Malienne</h4> <p><strong>Project data (closed)</strong></p> <table> <tbody valign="top"> <tr> <td>Full title</td> <td></td> <td>Documentation and description of Langue des Signes Malienne</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Duration</td> <td></td> <td>2007-2010</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Nature</td> <td></td> <td>ELDP/SOAS</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Project leader<br /> <a href="http://www.hum.leiden.edu/lucl/research/past-projects/lasima.html">For more information, click here</a></td> <td></td> <td><a href="http://www.hum.leiden.edu/lucl/organisation/members-m-z/nystvas.html"><span style="color: #0066cc; font-size: medium;">Victoria Nyst</span></a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div> <h4></h4> <h4><b>Descriptive analysis of Adamorobe Sign Language</b><b></b></h4> <p><span style="font-size: small;">PhD thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam. 2000-2007聽<a href="http://www.lotpublications.nl/publish/issues/Nyst/index.html%E2%80%8E">PDF</a><br /> A summary of the thesis in NGT (Sign Language of the Netherlands) can be found聽<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwa4KdB7oV4">here</a>.</span></p> </div> <div></div> <h4><strong>Variation in handshapes in Ugandan Sign Language</strong><span style="font-size: small;">聽</span></h4> <div><span style="font-size: small;">(MA thesis, Universiteit Leiden) 1998-1999.</span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;">聽</span></p> </div> </div> <div id="comments"> </div> </section> <section id="sidebar" class="secondary clearfix" role="complementary"> <aside id="search-3" class="widget widget_search"><h3 class="widgettitle">Search page</h3> <form role="search" method="get" id="searchform" action="http://www.africansignlanguages.org/"> <input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s" placeholder="Search..." /> <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="" /> </form> </aside> </section> </div> <footer id="footer" class="clearfix" role="contentinfo"> 2014, All rights reserved. <div id="credit-link"> <a href="http://themezee.com/themes/zeenoble/">zeeNoble Theme</a> </div> </footer> </div> <script type='text/javascript' src='http://www.africansignlanguages.org/wp/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js?ver=5.7.12' id='wp-embed-js'></script> <script type="text/javascript"> (function zedityResponsive() { var old_resize = window.onresize || function () { }; window.onresize = (function resize() { old_resize.apply(this, arguments); var e = document.querySelectorAll('.zedity-editor.zedity-responsive'); for (var i = e.length - 1; i >= 0; --i) { var pw = e[i].parentNode.offsetWidth; var origW = e[i].getAttribute('data-origw'); var origH = e[i].getAttribute('data-origh'); var ph, s; if (origH && origW > pw) { var r = pw / origW; s = 'scale(' + r + ')'; ph = origH * r + 'px'; } else { ph = s = ''; } e[i].style.webkitTransform = e[i].style.MozTransform = e[i].style.msTransform = e[i].style.OTransform = e[i].style.transform = s; e[i].parentNode.style.height = ph; } e = document.querySelectorAll('.zedity-responsive > iframe'); for (var i = e.length - 1; i >= 0; --i) { var pw = e[i].parentNode.offsetWidth; var ow = e[i].parentNode.getAttribute('data-origw'); var oh = e[i].parentNode.getAttribute('data-origh'); if (oh && ow && pw < ow) { e[i].style.width = pw + 'px'; e[i].style.height = Math.round(oh * pw / ow) + 'px'; } } return resize; })(); })(); </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.africansignlanguages.org/wp/wp-content/plugins/zedity/zedity/zedity-responsive.min.js?8.0.5" async></script> </body> </html>