The Linguistics of Sign Languages

Instructors: Ryan Lepic, Corrine Occhino

The study of signed languages holds important lessons for linguistics. Research findings from studies of signers and signed languages has supported some and challenged other working theories of language. To better understand the human capacity for language, linguists must understand how language operates across modalities. As such, modern linguists are expected to know some basic information about how sign languages are structured and used. This course, designed for advanced undergraduates and graduate students, provides students a usage-based introduction to the linguistic structure of American Sign Language (ASL). Throughout the course, students will engage with current linguistic research in phonology, morphosyntax, typology, and sociolinguistics. We will compare ASL with spoken languages to find what types of structures and functions seem to be independent of modality and with other sign languages to learn about modality specific features of signed languages. The course structure combines reading of academic articles and in-class discussion with hands-on analysis of primary ASL data. Ultimately, students will develop a short research proposal for a potential research project on a signed language, aligned with their interests in linguistics. Upon completing the course, students will have a foundation in signed language linguistics and an understanding of how signed language research connects to larger questions within the field of linguistics.

Keywords: Sociolinguistics, Morphosyntax, Phonology, Typology

When/Where:
Tuesdays and Fridays, July 8-August 8, 9:00am - 10:20am

Terms:
Both Terms (July 7 - August 8)

Days:
Tuesdays and Fridays

Instructors

Ryan Lepic

Gallaudet University

Ryan Lepic is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Gallaudet University. Gallaudet is a bilingual (ASL-English) liberal arts university located in Washington, DC. Ryan is interested in how languages change as a result of how they are used, such as the creation of new words and creativity in fixed expressions. He is also interested in linguistic typology as it relates to the comparison of signed and spoken languages. He teaches courses in undergraduate Syntax and graduate Cognitive Linguistics at Gallaudet, and his recent research projects use online videos to study the grammatical structure of American Sign Language.

Corrine Occhino

University of Texas at Austin

Corrine Occhino is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on how our experiences with language and with our communities shape the organization and processing of language. She has published articles on language experience and iconicity effects in language processing and on how our construal of visual objects/events in the world, shapes phonology in signed languages. Current projects include the documentation of sociolinguistic variation across diverse groups of signers of American Sign Language (ASL) and describing the phonological processes active in 'one-handed signing' In an online corpus of ASL. In addition to her work on ASL, Corrine collaborates on projects related to the phonological and lexical description of Libras (Brazilian Sign Language), the perception of iconicity and lexical processing in Norwegian and Russian Sign Language, and on computer-vision approaches to sub-lexical feature categorization of signs in Nicaraguan Sign Language.