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A quick overview of sign languages

Basic Background:

Sign languages are different from both spoken languages and from each other. There is no universal sign language. Because Deaf people can’t hear the spoken language of the country, a sign language like American Sign Language has a different grammar from spoken language. It is also different from other sign languages—even British Sign Language—because of the separate histories of American and British Deaf communities. Sign languages are also not spelled out words, although fingerspelling can be used if you want to translate a written words like the name of an unfamiliar town into sign language.

Constructed languages on film

According to Ben Zimmer, various aliens in Star Wars spoke Quechua, one of the most widely spoken indigenous languages in South America, and Haya, a Bantu language spoken in Tanzania.
The new film Avatar features Na’vi, a constructed language said to “out-Klingon Klingon.”

Still learning from Dell Hymes

I was particularly moved by a memorial at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association for Dell Hymes. Hymes founded the ethnography of speaking, developed the concept of communicative competence, and pioneered the study of ethnopoetics.

15th ANNUAL CONFERENCE on Language, Interaction, and Social Organization University of California, Santa Barbara May 14-16, 2009*

Conference Announcement, Conference Registration Now Open 15th ANNUAL CONFERENCE on Language, Interaction, and Social Organization University of California, Santa Barbara May 14-16, 2009* The annual… Read More »15th ANNUAL CONFERENCE on Language, Interaction, and Social Organization University of California, Santa Barbara May 14-16, 2009*