A New Emerging Sign Languageby Laurie Jacobvitz

In a Remote Village where everyone signs…..

Linguists are discovering the essential

Ingredients of all human language

and uncovering the workings of the human mind.

The researchers of Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) —all linguists

Carol Padden (D) UC San Diego. Only Deaf person on the team. Expert in ASL and Deaf culture

Mark Aronoff (H) Stony Brook University New York. Internationally renowned. Specialist in morphology and Semitic languages

Dr. Wendy Sandler (H) Lead researcher and Director of Sign Language Research Laboratory in Haifa, Israel Proficient in ASL and ISL.

Irit Meir (H) Israeli linguist. Speaks some Arabic. Former student of Wendy Sandler. They wrote a book together on Israeli Sign Language.

All have a fierce protectiveness for the ABSL community. Their location and identities are kept confidential. Clips of ABSL are not circulated.

Al Sayyid Bedouin live in the Negev Desert RegionBedouin Population

110,000 in the Negev10,000 in the central region

50,000 in the north

The excitement of the research

Young language—only 70 years old Third generation In a population of 3500 people ---150 are

Deaf—That is forty times the incidence of the general population.

Most hearing villagers also sign. Deaf people integrated into society.

ABSL has arisen on its own outside the influence of other languages—no linguistic model.

It offers a living demonstration of “language instinct”

The Study of ABSL

Focus on the second generation—20 Deaf people between the ages of 30 and 40 who use ABSL

They have no formal education and do not speak Hebrew, Arabic or Israeli Sign Language

No language contact with people outside of the village—hearing or Deaf

The researchers have permission to photograph them. Ask them to sign objects, describe events, and tell stories.

Comparing ASL, ABSL and ISL

Token variation in different generations

Token similarity in one family

GRAMMAR

No verb agreement /Limited use of spatial morphologyMan gives tennis ball to a woman

Word order subject--object--verb (SOV)-strong syntaxJames Jan kiss

Different than Israel’s spoken languages which use subject-verb-object (SVO)

ABSL in between home signs and a fully mature language

Three ingredients for organic sign language

Hereditary deafness—recessive gene

Isolation

Intermarriage

Is ABSL an endangered language?

Genetic counseling—discouraging intermarriage

Encouraging marriage outside the community

Children learning Israeli Sign Language at school and parents wanting their children to know the national sign language.

References

Ben-David, Dr. Yosef. “The Bedouin in Israel.” Jewish Virtual Library http://www.jewishlibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/Bedouin, 2007

Fox, Margalit. Talking Hands. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007Fox, Margalit. “ Lingua Ex Machina: Deaf Bedouin Children Created a Complete Language”

Discover Magazine. 03 July 2007 http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/village-of-the-deaf/article_village

Goldin-Meadow, Susan. “Watching Language Grow.” National Academy of Sciences 2005 February 9 http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fegi?artid=549019Hopkin, Michael. “Sign Language Reveals Fast Track to Grammar.” Deccan Herald 07 Feb

2005.Sa’ar, Tsafi. “Born to Sign.” http://sandlersignlag.haifa.ac.ilSandler, Wendy. “Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language.”

http://sandlersignlab.haifa.ac.il/html_eng/al_sayyid.htmlSandler, Wendy and Aronoff, Mark. “Is Phonology Necessary for Language?” Emergence of Language Structures Workshop Center for Research in Language and the

Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind UCSD 06 Feb 2007. http://crl.ucsd.edu/workshops/20070206/pdf/sandler-aranoff.pdf

Sandler, Wendy, Meir, Irit, Padden, Carol and Aronoff, Mark. (2005) “The Emergence of Grammar in a New Sign Language.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vol 102, No. 7 2661-2665.

Wade, Nicolas. “A New Language Arises, and Scientists Watch it Evolve.” Science February 1, 2005http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Sayyid_Bedouin_Sign_Language