Structure of a language: British Sign Language

Aims

Aims

The module is a course in descriptive linguistics. It will develop understanding of grammatical properties of a language unfamiliar to the students, and develop techniques for inquiring into its structure. It provides an opportunity to apply principles of phonological, morphological, syntactic and sociolinguistic analysis to a particular language, and opportunity for systematic, detailed comparison of the grammar of English with that of another language.

The choice of language will vary from year to year. In this case, British Sign Language.

The aims of this module are:

• To familiarise students with some linguistic properties of a language other than English
• To develop skills in comparative linguistics
• To allow students to apply principles of linguistic analysis to a language unfamiliar to them

At the end of this module, students will typically:

• Have an understanding of a small number of linguistic-theoretical problems discussed in current literature on a language other than English
• Have an experience of working in small groups of mixed background, offering one another mutual support
• Have experience of applying some aspect or aspects of linguistic theory to the analysis of data from a language other than English, and as a result, gain a better understanding of the relationship between data and analysis

This module will be capped at 35.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites

• L09I Intermediate phonetics and phonology (LAN00009I) AND/OR
  
• L16I Intermediate syntax (LAN00016I)

Programme

Programme

Contact hours

Two hours per week.

Teaching programme

The module will be a linguistic overview of British Sign Language. It will cover the following topics:

• The social context and background of BSL (including issues related to Deaf awareness, the sociolinguistic background of BSL, social variation in BSL)
• The lexicon of BSL (frozen and productive word formation; loans from English; visual motivation of signs)
• The basics of BSL morphology (including inflexion, aspect, manner, mood, negation)
• The basics of BSL syntax (including the use of grammatical space, incorporation of signs, classifiers, basic sentence types in BSL)
• The basics of BSL phonology (including distinctive features such as handshape, movement, location)

The module is not intended as an introduction to BSL, and students on this module will not learn how to use BSL, although they will learn some signs and some basics of sign language.

The module will be taught in one two-hour lecture each week, with a two-hour practical/discussion in smaller groups.

Teaching materials

Students must buy the following book, which will be used as a textbook for the module:

• Sutton-Spence, Rachel & Bencie Woll (1998). The Linguistics of British Sign Language. Cambridge: CUP.

Students will also find it invaluable to have a dictionary of BSL. The best one available, with a linguistically-informed introduction is:

• Brien, David & Mary Brennan (1984). Dictionary of British Sign Language. Faber.

Please note

Deals where you can buy both these books for a discount are often available from Amazon.co.uk.

Other, simpler dictionaries of BSL are perfectly appropriate for this module, though they are not linguistically informed and won't provide you with as much useful background information.

Websites

Students should also register as a user of two websites which will be used during the module. These contain much useful information in and about BSL, including dictionaries and phrasebooks.

• http://www.signstation.org.uk
• http://www.deafstation.org

Other materials relating to deafness and sign languages are available in the library and from Forest books.

Suggestions for reading before the module starts

• Rachel Sutton-Spence & Bencie Woll. 1999. The Linguistics of British Sign Language. Cambridge, CUP.

This is the course textbook, but it would be good to be a grounding in the topic soon, so you can move on to original papers on sign language linguistics. If you want to learn a bit of BSL before the course, try the Teach Yourself BSL book (+ DVD).

Assessment and feedback

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on formative work

• Fortnightly seminar activities which relate to the assignments for the course
• Discussion and oral feedback to students individually or in groups
• Opportunity to meet with course instructor in weekly surgery hour

Assessment and feedback

• A dossier of work to be submitted in weeks 5 and 10 of the spring term, and week 5 of the summer term.
• Length: Approximately 4000 words for all three pieces combined.
• Feedback: Written feedback by the end of Spring Week 7 (assignment 1), Summer Week 1 (assignment 2) and Summer Week 8 (assignment 3). This returned work must be retained for resubmission. Mark on University mark scale. Opportunity to see scripts at an appointed time before the end of Summer term.

Skills

Transferable skills developed in this module

All modules provide an opportunity to work on general oral/written communication skills (in class and in assessments) and general self management (organising your studies), alongside the specific skills in language or linguistics that the module teaches.

In addition, this module will allow you to particularly develop skills in the application of data analysis skills. This module provides you with an opportunity to learn how to integrate prior knowledge and skills, to solve new problems and tackle new questions by applying your all-round skills of linguistic analysis (learned in core modules in linguistics) to a new language whose structures will be largely unfamiliar to you.

Follow this link to hear how past students use transferable skills from their degree in their current jobs.