The Deaf Heritage Collective: Collaboration with Critical Intent

Abstract The paper reflects upon the Deaf Heritage Collective, a collaborative project led by Edinburgh Napier University’s Design for Heritage team and Heriot Watt’s Centre for Translation And Interpreting Studies. The project aimed to advance discussion around the British Sign Language Act (Scottish Government 2015) and bring into being a network of Deaf communities and cultural heritage organisations committed to promoting BSL in public life. The aim of this paper is to contextualise the project and its creative approach within the distinctly Scottish context, and the ideals of critical heritage, critical design and the museum activist movement. This paper presents the context and creative processes by which we engaged participants in debate and the struggles we encountered. We describe these processes and the primacy of collaborative making as a mode of inquiry. We argue that by curating a workshop space where different types of knowledge were valorised and where participants were encouraged to “think with” materials (Rockwell and Mactavish 2004) we were able to challenge the balance of power between heritage professionals and members of the Deaf community. By harnessing the explanatory power of collaborative making we debated the assemblages of epistemic inequality, and the imagined futures of Deaf heritage in Scotland.

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Frequency distribution and spreading behavior of different types of mouth actions in three sign languages

Sign Language & Linguistics ◽

10.1075/sll.11.1.04cra ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 45-67 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Onno A. Crasborn ◽

Els van der Kooij ◽

Dafydd Waters ◽

Bencie Woll ◽

Johanna Mesch

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Sign Language ◽

Frequency Distribution ◽

Sign Languages ◽

Spreading Behavior ◽

British Sign Language ◽

Different Types ◽

Primary Focus ◽

British Sign

In this paper, we present a comparative study of mouth actions in three European sign languages: British Sign Language (BSL), Nederlandse Gebarentaal (Sign Language of the Netherlands, NGT), and Swedish Sign Language (SSL). We propose a typology for, and report the frequency distribution of, the different types of mouth actions observed. In accordance with previous studies, we find the three languages remarkably similar — both in the types of mouth actions they use, and in how these mouth actions are distributed. We then describe how mouth actions can extend over more than one manual sign. This spreading of mouth actions is the primary focus of this paper. Based on an analysis of comparable narrative material in the three languages, we demonstrate that the direction as well as the source and goal of spreading may be language-specific.

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Explanatory Power for Medical Expert Systems: Studies in the Representation of Causal Relationships for Clinical Consultations

Methods of Information in Medicine ◽

10.1055/s-0038-1635400 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 21 (03) ◽

pp. 127-136 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

J. W. Wallis ◽

E. H. Shortliffe

Keyword(s):

Explanatory Power ◽

Prototype System ◽

Inference Rules ◽

Medical Expert ◽

Comprehensive Knowledge ◽

Different Types ◽

Medical Expert Systems ◽

Explanation System ◽

Systems Studies

This paper reports on experiments designed to identify and implement mechanisms for enhancing the explanation capabilities of reasoning programs for medical consultation. The goals of an explanation system are discussed, as is the additional knowledge needed to meet these goals in a medical domain. We have focussed on the generation of explanations that are appropriate for different types of system users. This task requires a knowledge of what is complex and what is important; it is further strengthened by a classification of the associations or causal mechanisms inherent in the inference rules. A causal representation can also be used to aid in refining a comprehensive knowledge base so that the reasoning and explanations are more adequate. We describe a prototype system which reasons from causal inference rules and generates explanations that are appropriate for the user.

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Crosslinguistic similarity and variation in the simultaneous morphology of sign languages

The Linguistic Review ◽

10.1515/tlr-2020-2055 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 37 (4) ◽

pp. 571-608

Author(s):

Diane Brentari ◽

Laura Horton ◽

Susan Goldin-Meadow

Keyword(s):

American Sign Language ◽

Sign Language ◽

Optimality Theory ◽

Sign Languages ◽

British Sign Language ◽

Verb Phrases ◽

Classifier Predicates ◽

Crosslinguistic Variation ◽

Hong Kong Sign Language ◽

British Sign

Abstract Two differences between signed and spoken languages that have been widely discussed in the literature are: the degree to which morphology is expressed simultaneously (rather than sequentially), and the degree to which iconicity is used, particularly in predicates of motion and location, often referred to as classifier predicates. In this paper we analyze a set of properties marking agency and number in four sign languages for their crosslinguistic similarities and differences regarding simultaneity and iconicity. Data from American Sign Language (ASL), Italian Sign Language (LIS), British Sign Language (BSL), and Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) are analyzed. We find that iconic, cognitive, phonological, and morphological factors contribute to the distribution of these properties. We conduct two analyses—one of verbs and one of verb phrases. The analysis of classifier verbs shows that, as expected, all four languages exhibit many common formal and iconic properties in the expression of agency and number. The analysis of classifier verb phrases (VPs)—particularly, multiple-verb predicates—reveals (a) that it is grammatical in all four languages to express agency and number within a single verb, but also (b) that there is crosslinguistic variation in expressing agency and number across the four languages. We argue that this variation is motivated by how each language prioritizes, or ranks, several constraints. The rankings can be captured in Optimality Theory. Some constraints in this account, such as a constraint to be redundant, are found in all information systems and might be considered non-linguistic; however, the variation in constraint ranking in verb phrases reveals the grammatical and arbitrary nature of linguistic systems.

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Interpersonal Grammar in British Sign Language

Interpersonal Grammar ◽

10.1017/9781108663120.008 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 227-256

Author(s):

Luke A. Rudge

Keyword(s):

Sign Language ◽

British Sign Language ◽

British Sign

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Learning & Using British Sign Language: Current Skills & Training of Hearing Professionals

Sign Language Studies ◽

10.1353/sls.1982.0010 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 1031 (1) ◽

pp. 155-178

Author(s):

James G. Kyle ◽

Bencie Woll ◽

Peter Llewellyn-Jones

Keyword(s):

Sign Language ◽

British Sign Language ◽

British Sign

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Monitoring Different Phonological Parameters of Sign Language Engages the Same Cortical Language Network but Distinctive Perceptual Ones

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_00872 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 20-40 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Velia Cardin ◽

Eleni Orfanidou ◽

Lena Kästner ◽

Jerker Rönnberg ◽

Bencie Woll ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sign Language ◽

Action Observation ◽

Sign Languages ◽

Signed Languages ◽

Phonological Structure ◽

British Sign Language ◽

Action Observation Network ◽

Native Signers ◽

British Sign ◽

Phonological Rules

The study of signed languages allows the dissociation of sensorimotor and cognitive neural components of the language signal. Here we investigated the neurocognitive processes underlying the monitoring of two phonological parameters of sign languages: handshape and location. Our goal was to determine if brain regions processing sensorimotor characteristics of different phonological parameters of sign languages were also involved in phonological processing, with their activity being modulated by the linguistic content of manual actions. We conducted an fMRI experiment using manual actions varying in phonological structure and semantics: (1) signs of a familiar sign language (British Sign Language), (2) signs of an unfamiliar sign language (Swedish Sign Language), and (3) invented nonsigns that violate the phonological rules of British Sign Language and Swedish Sign Language or consist of nonoccurring combinations of phonological parameters. Three groups of participants were tested: deaf native signers, deaf nonsigners, and hearing nonsigners. Results show that the linguistic processing of different phonological parameters of sign language is independent of the sensorimotor characteristics of the language signal. Handshape and location were processed by different perceptual and task-related brain networks but recruited the same language areas. The semantic content of the stimuli did not influence this process, but phonological structure did, with nonsigns being associated with longer RTs and stronger activations in an action observation network in all participants and in the supramarginal gyrus exclusively in deaf signers. These results suggest higher processing demands for stimuli that contravene the phonological rules of a signed language, independently of previous knowledge of signed languages. We suggest that the phonological characteristics of a language may arise as a consequence of more efficient neural processing for its perception and production.

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