3L Consortium - Lyon, Leiden, London  

International Summer School on
Language Documentation and Description

Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden

5 July - 17 July 2010
Instructors:
Angela Nonaka
University of Texas

Erin Wilkinson
University of Manitoba

Course days:
Monday 5 July 2010
Tuesday 6 July 2010
Wednesday 7 July 2010
Thursday 8 July 2010
Friday 9 July 2010

Course time:
09.30-12.00

Back to the programme

Introduction to (Documentary) Sign Linguistics

Most of the world’s sign languages are endangered, although only a few of them have been documented or studied to any significant extent. Linguists working on spoken languages sometimes encounter a sign language in a fieldwork setting but are uncertain about how to study language expressed in the manual-visual channel. This course offers an introduction into the linguistics of sign languages. Topics that will be discussed include the sociolinguistic setting of sign languages, the use of iconicity, space and simultaneity, as well as issues in sign language endangerment and documentation. The course aims at students with no prior knowledge of sign linguistics.

NB. This is an introductory level course.