Important Things
Arabic Sign Language: A Perspective
M. A. Abdel-Fattah Department of Languages and Translation, Birzeit University
Sign language in the Arab World has been recently recognized and documented. Many efforts have been made to establish the sign language used in individual countries, including Jordan, Egypt, Libya, and the Gulf States, by trying to standardize the language and spread it among members of the Deaf community and those concerned. Such efforts produced many sign languages, almost as many as Arabic-speaking countries, yet with the same sign alphabets. This article gives a tentative account of some sign languages in Arabic through reference to their possible evolution, which is believed to be affected by the diglossic situation in Arabic, and by comparing some aspects of certain sign languages (Jordanian, Palestinian, Egyptian, Kuwaiti, and Libyan) for which issues such as primes, configuration, and movement in addition to other linguistic features are discussed. A contrastive account that depicts the principal differences among Arabic sign languages in general and the spoken language is given.
spread, forming acknowledged sign languages. By and ` large, the view held vis-a-vis disability, including hearing, in the Arab society is still one of accommodation rather than assimilation.
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Arabic Sign Languages: Evolution and Relationship With Diglossia Arabic Diglossia: A Brief Account The term diglossia was first introduced by Charles Ferguson (1959, p. 336) in his article ‘‘Diglossia.’’ There, he defined the concept as A relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language (which may include a standard or regional standards), there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more complex) superposed variety. The vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another
M. A. Abdel-Fattah Department of Languages and Translation, Birzeit University
Sign language in the Arab World has been recently recognized and documented. Many efforts have been made to establish the sign language used in individual countries, including Jordan, Egypt, Libya, and the Gulf States, by trying to standardize the language and spread it among members of the Deaf community and those concerned. Such efforts produced many sign languages, almost as many as Arabic-speaking countries, yet with the same sign alphabets. This article gives a tentative account of some sign languages in Arabic through reference to their possible evolution, which is believed to be affected by the diglossic situation in Arabic, and by comparing some aspects of certain sign languages (Jordanian, Palestinian, Egyptian, Kuwaiti, and Libyan) for which issues such as primes, configuration, and movement in addition to other linguistic features are discussed. A contrastive account that depicts the principal differences among Arabic sign languages in general and the spoken language is given.
spread, forming acknowledged sign languages. By and ` large, the view held vis-a-vis disability, including hearing, in the Arab society is still one of accommodation rather than assimilation.
Downloaded from http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/ by guest on November 23, 2012
Arabic Sign Languages: Evolution and Relationship With Diglossia Arabic Diglossia: A Brief Account The term diglossia was first introduced by Charles Ferguson (1959, p. 336) in his article ‘‘Diglossia.’’ There, he defined the concept as A relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language (which may include a standard or regional standards), there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more complex) superposed variety. The vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another
References: Arabic Sign Language (KSL). (2004). Retrieved July 7, 2004, from http://www.dd2000.4mg.com Bellis, M. (2004). Innovations for the hearing impaired. Retrieved April 20, 2004, from http://inventors.about.com/library/ inventors/bltty.htm Brennan, M. (1987). British Sign Language: The Language of the Deaf Community. In T. Booth and W. Swann (Eds.), Including Pupils with Disabilities: Curricula for All. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press. Deuchar, M. (1977). Sign language in a British Deaf community. Sign Language Studies, 17, 347–356. London: Open University Press. Ferguson, C. (1959). Diglossia. Word, 15, 325–340. Introduction to Manual English. (1971). Vancouver, WA: Washington State School for the Deaf. Lawson, L. (1981). The role of sign in the structure of the Deaf community. In B. Woll, J. Kyle and M. Deuchar (Eds.), Perspectives on British sign language and deafness (pp. 166– 177). London: Groom Helm. The National Center for Hearing Studies, Jordanian Sign Language (Lughat AI-Isharah Al-Aurdiniyah) (n.d.). Amman, Jordan: Al Markiz AI-Watani Lil-Sam’iyat. Miller, C. (1996). Disc: Arabic Sign Language, Re: 7.1101. Retrieved March 14, 2004, from http://www.linguislist. org/issues/7/7–1110.html Signs in Palestine. (1994). Ramallah, West Bank: Benevolent Society for the Deaf. Stokoe, W. C. (1969). Sign language diglossia. Studies in Linguistics, 21, 27–41. Suwed, A. A. (1984). Lughat AI-Isharah Al-’Arabiyah: Laughat As-Sum [Arabic Sign Language, Deaf language as in Libya]. Tripoli, Libya: AI-Mansha’ah AI Aamah Lin-Nasher wal I’lam. Wilcox, S. P., & Kreeft, J. (1999). American Sign Language as a foreign language. ERIC Digest. Retrieved April 20, 2004, from http://www.ericfacility.net/databases/ERIC_Digest/ ed49464.html Received July 12, 2004; revisions received August 24, 2004; accepted August 24, 2004 Downloaded from http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/ by guest on November 23, 2012 Note 1 Figure Duration. 2. The terms synosigns, antosigns, and homosigns, in my opinion, better express what they refer to because after all the unit described is a sign rather than a word or a sound. It is unfair, for example, to use the term homophones to describe homosigns. The list can also be extended to include other terms that describe sounds and/or words. These should use sign(s) as a root. 3. I believe that sign languages exhibit more speech act features than spoken languages. Of course, such a claim should be thoroughly investigated and deeply scrutinized through analysis of a sign language. I have not come across any reference that discusses sign language from a pragmatic point of view.