second call for participation

[Adam Schembri]

Apologies to subscribers to SLLING-L. My last message was intended for
Ulrike only. Hit the send button before I realised what I had done.
Sorry about that.

Apologies,

Adam Schembri


>From: Ulrike Zeshan <ulrike.zeshan at ANU.EDU.AU>
>Reply-To: "For the discussion of linguistics and signed languages."
  <SLLING-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA>
>To: SLLING-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA
>Subject: second call for participation
>Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 16:02:18 +1000
>
>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
>
>Please forward this message to colleagues who don't have access to
>slling-l.
>Thank you all for your help.


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