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Programme: accepted abstracts

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Abstract ID: 1153

Part of Session 180: New Speakers in the City (Other abstracts in this session)

Schools, dialects and school dialects: New perspectives on regional variation in German Sign Language.

Authors: Eichmann, Hanna; Rosenstock, Rachel
Submitted by: Eichmann, Hanna (University of Hamburg, Germany)

The emergence of regional dialects in many European and North-American sign languages has traditionally been linked to the cities where schools for the deaf were located (Vanhecke and De Weerdt 2004). Having been born into hearing families, it is these settings that facilitate the necessary communicative conditions for the vast majority of deaf children to form community ties through experiencing their first encounters with native sign language users (Lane et al. 1996). Examining sign language data in relation to three schools for the deaf within the region of Saxony (south-east Germany), the research presented raises the question whether schools for the deaf still function as cradles of German Sign Language dialects.

Our research is theoretically located in the context of perceptual dialectology (Preston 1989), which is nowadays a well-established domain within sociolinguistics (Anders et al. 2010). Moreover, our study breaks new ground as perceptual sign language dialectology is to date virtually non-existent. Through exploring sign language users’ perception of regional distribution of language features, the research provides insights into native signers’ cognitive language maps, examining which specific linguistic features are particularly salient markers of regional variation and clarifying which features are specifically associated with a given DGS dialect, whether de facto present or not.

Quantitative data derived from the analysis of two data corpora, consisting of biographic narratives provided by approximately 50 deaf adults and 32 deaf pupils from within the region, were compared and contrasted with interviews collecting native signers’ meta-linguistic perceptions of different dialectal features assigned to the three different schools dialects.

 

Our initial analysis indicates that adult users of German Sign Language have clear notions of distinguishable dialects that developed within each of the regional schools for the deaf. Moreover, there is evidence that school dialects are traceable in the language use of adult signers. However, whilst schools for the deaf are still often perceived as cradles of regional sign language dialects, the child language data collected cannot necessarily be described as distinctly micro-regionally (i.e. school-specifically) marked.

 

There are a number of explanations for this finding. Arguably the most influential factor contributing to this development are relatively recent, yet significant, migration patterns within the educational landscape. Political trends towards social inclusion and mainstreaming have resulted in deaf students moving away from closed community settings of the schools for the deaf towards mainstream schools whilst schools for the deaf are increasingly attended by children with learning disabilities, including attention deficit disorders.

 

References:

Anders, C. A., Hundt, M., & Lasch, A. 2010, Perceptual Dialectology. Neue Wege der Dialektologie.Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin.

Lane, H., Hoffmeister, R. & Bahan, B. 1996. Journey into the Deaf-world. DawnSign Press, San Diego.

Preston, D. R. 1989, Perceptual Dialectology. Nonlinguists' Views of Areal Linguistics. Foris Publications Holland, Dordrecht.

Vanhecke, E. & De Weerdt, K. 2004, Regional Variation in Flemish Sign Language. In: Mieke van der Herreweghe and Myriam Vermeerbergen (Eds.): To the Lexicon and Beyond. Gallaudet University Press, Washington. 27-38.