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Urban and rural sign language in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Jill Jepson
Jill Jepson
Affiliation:
Program in Medical Anthropology, University of California, San Francisco
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Abstract

A comparison is presented of Indian urban and rural sign languages of the deaf. The structures of both languages are designed for efficient communication but have developed differently in response to different sociolinguistic environments. The urban form transmits information primarily by means of appeal to a shared linguistic code; the rural form mainly by appeal to communal nonlinguistic knowledge. Both languages employ effective and appropriate means given their environments. The relationship between language usage and structure is explored. (Sign language, deafness, India)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , March 1991 , pp. 37 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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