Transcript The researchers of Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language

A New Emerging Sign Language
by Laurie Jacobvitz
In a Remote Village where everyone signs…..
Linguists are discovering the essential
Ingredients of all human language
and uncovering the workings of the human
mind.
The researchers of Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign
Language (ABSL) —all linguists
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Carol Padden (D) UC San Diego. Only Deaf person on the team.
Expert in ASL and Deaf culture
Mark Aronoff (H) Stony Brook University New York.
Internationally renowned. Specialist in morphology and
Semitic languages
Dr. Wendy Sandler (H) Lead researcher and Director of Sign
Language Research Laboratory in Haifa, Israel Proficient in
ASL and ISL.
Irit Meir (H) Israeli linguist. Speaks some Arabic. Former
student of Wendy Sandler. They wrote a book together on
Israeli Sign Language.
All have a fierce protectiveness for the ABSL community. Their location
and identities are kept confidential. Clips of ABSL are not circulated.
Al Sayyid Bedouin live in the Negev Desert Region
Bedouin Population
110,000 in the Negev
10,000 in the central region
50,000 in the north
The excitement of the research
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Young language—only 70 years old
Third generation
In a population of 3500 people ---150 are
Deaf—That is forty times the incidence of the
general population.
Most hearing villagers also sign. Deaf people
integrated into society.
ABSL has arisen on its own outside the
influence of other languages—no linguistic
model.
It offers a living demonstration of “language
instinct”
The Study of ABSL
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Focus on the second generation—20 Deaf people between
the ages of 30 and 40 who use ABSL
They have no formal education and do not speak Hebrew,
Arabic or Israeli Sign Language
No language contact with people outside of the village—
hearing or Deaf
The researchers have permission to photograph them. Ask
them to sign objects, describe events, and tell stories.
Comparing ASL, ABSL and ISL
Token variation in different
generations
Token similarity in one family
GRAMMAR
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No verb agreement /Limited use of spatial morphology
Man gives tennis ball to a woman
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Word order subject--object--verb (SOV)-strong syntax
James Jan kiss
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Different than Israel’s spoken languages which use
subject-verb-object (SVO)
ABSL in between home signs and a fully mature language
Three ingredients for organic sign
language
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Hereditary deafness—recessive gene
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Isolation
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Intermarriage
Is ABSL an endangered language?
Genetic counseling—discouraging
intermarriage
Encouraging marriage outside the community
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Children learning Israeli Sign Language at
school and parents wanting their children to
know the national sign language.
References
Ben-David, Dr. Yosef. “The Bedouin in Israel.” Jewish Virtual Library
http://www.jewishlibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/Bedouin, 2007
Fox, Margalit. Talking Hands. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007
Fox, Margalit. “ Lingua Ex Machina: Deaf Bedouin Children Created a Complete Language”
Discover Magazine. 03 July 2007 http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/village-of-thedeaf/article_village
Goldin-Meadow, Susan. “Watching Language Grow.” National Academy of Sciences
2005 February 9 http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fegi?artid=549019
Hopkin, Michael. “Sign Language Reveals Fast Track to Grammar.” Deccan Herald 07 Feb 2005.
Sa’ar, Tsafi. “Born to Sign.” http://sandlersignlag.haifa.ac.il
Sandler, Wendy. “Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language.”
http://sandlersignlab.haifa.ac.il/html_eng/al_sayyid.html
Sandler, Wendy and Aronoff, Mark. “Is Phonology Necessary for Language?”
Emergence of Language Structures Workshop Center for Research in Language and the
Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind UCSD 06 Feb 2007.
http://crl.ucsd.edu/workshops/20070206/pdf/sandler-aranoff.pdf
Sandler, Wendy, Meir, Irit, Padden, Carol and Aronoff, Mark. (2005) “The Emergence of Grammar
in a New Sign Language.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vol 102, No. 7
2661-2665.
Wade, Nicolas. “A New Language Arises, and Scientists Watch it Evolve.” Science
February 1, 2005
http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Sayyid_Bedouin_Sign_Language