Deaf people are one, as they say

Articulating 'deaf space' and deaf-hearing communication in a Ugandan market

Bibliographic Data

ID2867937
AuthorsJulia Modern (0000-0002-4571-1557, University of London, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume54
Issue4
Pages869-895
Publication date2025-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404524000447
OpenAlexW4402688147
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited34

This article investigates visual communication practices among members of a disabled people's organisation (DPO) in a market in Uganda. Deaf members and many of the hearing members are proficient in Ugandan Sign Language (UgSL) and use it daily. I examine three communicative settings within the market, identifying varied modes of visual communication in use, ranging from loosely conventionalised multimodal improvisation to standard UgSL. Deaf stallholders value the varied forms of linguistic community accessed through these different modes, which are complementary rather than opposing, except at key moments of tension. By combining 'deaf space' theory with Silverstein's distinction between speech and language communities, I link the visual communication practices of deaf and hearing marketgoers to the varying forms of solidarity that underly linguistic communities. Deaf marketgoers creatively articulate different visual communication potentialities and the communities they arise from and index, including negotiating linguistic access through strategically opposing deaf and hearing communities. (Deaf space, sign language, language communities

Audiology · Deaf blind · Deaf community · Deaf culture · Deaf education · Linguistics · Sign language · Sociology · Space (punctuation) · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Medicine · Philosophy · Psychology

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