[PapuanLanguages] Have you encountered any deaf/hearing signers and/or sign languages/systems in your fieldwork?

[Alexandra Aikhenvald]

Dear Lauren (if I may)

Thanks for your question! There was a similar query from Alan Rumsey some time ago; and I replied to that, based on my work with the Manambu and the Yalaku people in the Sepik.

I encountered deaf people in two communities - Yuanamb (Yambun: an outlier Manambu community, of the four major ones) and Yalaku (the main village where Yalaku is spoken (Yalaku was misheard by Laycock who spent a day or so there as Yelogu; people get offended by the term Yelogu; I have never shown them Laycock's notes because of the offensive remarks he made there about a speaker he 'worked' with).

I did witness a set of home signs (used to a girl in Yuanamb who was deaf): these included directions with the hand, and deictic gestures. The man in Yalaku was hearing, but he could not speak; so he was the one using homesigns (very similar). I wrote down more descriptions, and if need more, I could dig them u. My e-mail is a.aikhenvald at cqu.edu.au

What I found interesting is the way the deaf are referred to in Manambu (and Yalaku): Manmabu kwa:m, same as 'crazy, non-thinking', Yalaku hom (same meaning). The idea of thinking is associated with the 'ear' (I published a paper which mentions this which I could share), and a crazy person (incluidng a disobedient child) will be referred to as 'the one who does not have (an) ear'; this may be the link.

It would be nice to get the attachments!

Best wishes

Sasha

Professor Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, PhD, Dlitt, FAHA, FQAAS, MAE
Adjunct Professor and Australian Laureate Fellow
Foundation Director of the Language and Culture Research Centre (JCU)
Consultant OED (South American Indian languages)
http://www.aikhenvaldlinguistics.com/; https://staff-profiles.cqu.edu.au/home/view/25682
https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Aikhenvald_Alexandra
Centre for Indigenous Health Equity Research,
CQUniversity Australia, 42-52 Abbott Street & Shields Street, Cairns City QLD 4870
 Mobile 0400305315
Landline 61 07 40379178 (or ext. 59178)
| E-mail:  a.aikhenvald at cqu.edu.au<mailto:a.aikhenvald at cqu.edu.au>

I respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and learn, and pay respect to the First Nations Peoples and their elders, past, present and future.

From: PapuanLanguages <papuanlanguages-bounces at anu.edu.au> On Behalf Of Lauren Reed
Sent: Saturday, 12 February 2022 6:25 PM
To: Papuan languages discussion list <papuanlanguages at anu.edu.au>
Subject: [PapuanLanguages] Have you encountered any deaf/hearing signers and/or sign languages/systems in your fieldwork?

Dear colleagues,

I am contributing a chapter on sign languages to Nick Evans and Sebastian Fedden's upcoming Oxford Guide to the Papuan Languages. I'm seeking your impressions, however anecdotal or cursory, on any experiences you may have had encountering deaf and/or hearing signers in your fieldwork in areas where Papuan languages are spoken.

Alan Rumsey and I previously wrote a chapter on sign languages in Papua New Guinea (Reed & Rumsey 2020), and anecdotal impressions were a rich source of information. I attach a couple of screenshots from Alan and my chapter, to give you a sense of the kind of valuable information fellow linguists and anthropologists contributed. From these impressions, we were able to build up some robust assumptions about the types of sign languages found across rural Papua New Guinea. I hope to be able to do the same for the Papuan language region.

I note that the absence of any encounters is still very useful data, so I am equally interested to hear of any of them.

Please don't hesitate to email me directly via lauren.reed at anu.edu.au<mailto:lauren.reed at anu.edu.au>.

Kind regards, Lauren



Lauren Reed
Research Officer

ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language
HC Coombs Building
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2600

CRICOS Provider 00120C | ABN: 52 234 063 906

laurenwreed.com<http://laurenwreed.com<http://laurenwreed.com>>
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