second call for participation

[Ulrike Zeshan]

SECOND CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

Project 'Interrogatives and Negatives in Signed and Spoken
Languages'
Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, Australian National
University, Canberra
Project Coordinator: Ulrike Zeshan
----NOTE: CONTACT
ADRESSES ARE NOT THE SAME AS IN THE FIRST CALL----

BACKGROUND
The Australian National Univeristy is going to start a
cross-linguistic research project on signed and spoken languages within the
framework of their typological project 'The categories of human languages',
headed by Prof. R.M.W. Dixon and Prof. A.Y. Aikhenvald. This project has so
far studied a number of grammatical categories in spoken languages only.
Beginning in April, a sign language section will be added to the project.
This is the very first time that signed languages figure in a large
typological project, and it is a significant step towards making the
results of sign language research known to the larger linguistic
community.

THE PROJECT
The typological project is going to investigate
interrogatives and negatives in as many signed languages as possible, and
to compare the results to spoken language structures. The most important
purpose is to gather comparative data in a limited grammatical domain from
various sign languages that are goegraphically and genetically unrelated.
This would lead to a better understanding and differentiation of
modality-specific factors that are common to all sign languages and
arbitrary factors that are language specific and not shared across
different sign languages. This issue is still largely unexplored.

YOUR
PARTICIPATION
The success of the project is entirely dependent on the
participation of sign linguists around the world. We invite everybody who
can provide information about how questions and negations are formed in a
particular sign language to participate. The results of the project will be
published. Contributions from countries outside Europe and Northern America
are especially encouraged. Even a limited amount of information (from sign
languages that have not been studies in detail) is valuable for us. The
information you provide can be stated informally, without reference to a
particular theoretical framework.

HOW WE WILL PROCEED
Detailed
questionnaires will be developed in April and May and will then be mailed
to the participants. We will ask you to provide information about questions
such as the following:
- What are the question words (wh-words) that exist
in your sign language?
- How many negative signs (no, not etc.) exist and
how are they used?
- What kind of facial expressions (if any) are used with
questions and negations?
- What are the possible positions of interrogative
and negative signs in the sentence?
- We will ask you to provide example
sentences.
Depending on the amount of information you will provide, you can
expect from a few hours up to a week for completion of the
questionnaire.
It is not necessary to fill out all sections, just do as much as you
can.

CONTACT
If you are interested in the project, if you want to
participate or want further information, please contact:

Ulrike
Zeshan
Research Centre for Linguistic Typology
OAA.block F (building 4F)
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200
Australia

Phone: 0061-2-6249 5108
Fax:   0061-2-6249 0332

e-mail: ulrike.zeshan at anu.edu.au

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