Language ideologies in the shared signing community of Adamorobe

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2889542
AutoresA Kusters (0000-0001-5228-7363, Max Planck Society, autor correspondente)
Ano2014
Volume43
Fascículo2
Páginas139-158
Data de publicação2014-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404514000013
OpenAlexW2124406408
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas20
Referências citadas17

This article analyzes language ideologies with regard to sign language in Adamorobe, a "shared signing community" in southern Ghana. Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL) is a "shared sign language," used by all deaf people and a large number of hearing Akan-speaking people. Deaf schoolchildren from Adamorobe attend a school where Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL) is taught. Hearing interviewees have experiential knowledge that everything can be said in AdaSL, emphasise the shared roots of AdaSL and Akan, and called AdaSL "natural." Deaf interlocutors describe Akan, AdaSL, and GSL as three distinct but equivalent languages. AdaSL is said to be a "hard" language, more pleasant to use, and more expressive than GSL, but sign bilingualism is highly valued. These findings are compared and contrasted with accounts on language ideologies with regard to other shared sign languages and larger urban/national sign languages. (Language ideologies, language practices, Ghana, Ghanaian Sign Language, Adamorobe Sign Language, Akan, shared sign languages, shared signing communities, village sign languages

Ideology · Language interpretation · Lingua franca · Linguistics · Manually coded language · Neuroscience of multilingualism · Political science · Sign (mathematics) · Sign language · Sociolinguistics of sign languages · Sociology · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Mathematics · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism