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Sign networks: Nucleated network sign languages and rural homesign in Papua New Guinea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2021

Lauren W. Reed Open the ORCID record for Lauren W. Reed [Opens in a new window]
Lauren W. Reed*
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Lauren W. Reed Australian National University ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language Australian National University HC Coombs Building 9 Fellows Road Canberra ACT 2600, Australia lauren.reed@anu.edu.au
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Abstract

The sociodemographic typology of sign languages classifies them based on the characteristics and configurations of their users. When considering homesign and sign languages in rural areas, this typology needs further refinement. Here, I present new concepts to enable this. The study is based on fieldwork with twelve deaf people in Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea, and review of studies worldwide. Sign language communities can be mapped as sign networks. Using this mapping, I propose a new typological category for languages with one central deaf user and many fluent hearing signers: nucleated network sign language. I use sign base analysis to determine lexical consistency between unconnected deaf signers in Western Highlands. The high level of consistency among largely unconnected deaf people is explained by a regional sign network connecting deaf and hearing signers. This research emphasises the role of both deaf and hearing signers in sign language emergence and maintenance. (Sign languages, social networks, sign networks, typology, homesign, rural sign languages, Papua New Guinea)*

Type
Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , September 2022 , pp. 627 - 661
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

This article is based on my Master's thesis (Reed 2019), supervised by Alan Rumsey. This work is intellectually indebted to many fruitful conversations and correspondence with Alan. I thank Alan for generously sharing his 2011, 2015, and 2017 data with me. I thank all of the signers I worked with in Western Highlands and Port Moresby, and I refer readers to the acknowledgements section of Reed (2019). I thank two anonymous reviewers whose feedback greatly improved this article. I also thank Jenny Cheshire, Francesca Merlan, Ronald Planer, and Alan Rumsey for helpful comments on drafts. A version of Sign networks and Nucleated network sign languages was presented as a poster by myself and Rumsey at the 13th annual Theoretical Issues in Sign Linguistics Research in 2019. A version of Lexical similarity among Nebilyer/Kaugel sign languages was presented as a paper at the Australian Linguistic Society annual conference in 2019. This work was funded by a Research Grant from the Australian Linguistic Society, and a Language Documentation Grant from the Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. I thank the Centre of Excellence for loans of field equipment.

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