Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia
Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia
Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives
Adam Kendon
March 2013
Available
Paperback
9781107414211
£46.99
GBPPaperback
Originally published in 1988, this was the first book-length study ever to be published on the subject of sign language as a means of communication among Australian Aborigines. The work presented in this book filled an important gap in Aboriginal ethnography and linguistics. It also marked a major advance in the understanding of the relationship between medium of expression, code structure and communication; the processes by which spoken language may be represented in a non-vocal medium; and native speaker awareness of spoken language structure. Based on fieldwork conducted over a span of nine years, the volume presents a thorough analysis of the structure of sign languages and their relationship to spoken languages.
Product details
March 2013Paperback
9781107414211
562 pages
229 × 152 × 32 mm
0.82kg
Available
Table of Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface
- Orthographic conventions and descriptive terms
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Aboriginal sign languages observed: a history
- 3. Aboriginal sign languages observed: geographical review
- 4. North central desert background
- 5. Sign structures
- 6. Sign forming and sign meaning
- 7. Sign organization and word structure
- 8. Signing spoken language grammar
- 9. Discourse in sign and speech
- 10. Signing and speaking simultaneously
- 11. Signs of kinship
- 12. Comparing Aboriginal sign languages
- 13. Australian Aboriginal sign languages and other semiotic systems
- 14. Aboriginal interaction and Aboriginal sign language
- Appendix I. Sign notation symbols
- Appendix II. Two versions of a Warlpiri story
- References
- Index of signs
- General index.
