Algerian Jewish Sign Language

Algerian Jewish Sign Language (AJSL) originated in Ghardaia, a Berber town located in the M’zab (sub-Saharan) region of Algeria. The Jewish community there was socially isolated from the other town residents. Consanguineous marriage resulted in a high percentage of deafness (2.5%), and a sign language developed there, going back at least five generations. By the 1960s, the entire Jewish community had fled Ghardaia and emigrated to Israel or to France, where deaf people continued to use the sign language among themselves and with their hearing family members. The older members of the community are fully bilingual in AJSL and ISL. The descendants of the original group from Ghardaia know some signs from AJSL, but are not fluent, and the language is endangered.

In our research, we investigate the socio-linguistic conditions that led to the emergence of the language in Ghardaia and to its survival in Israel, unlike the other sign languages that immigrants brought to Israel from other countries and abandoned. Additionally, we document the vocabulary of Algerian Jewish Sign Language (see AJSL dictionary) and its linguistic structure.

link to Dictionary (under construction…)

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Linksאוניברסיטת חיפההמכון לקידום החרש בישראל(אגודת החרשים בישראל (אח"אמיח"אשמעסיינפדיה – מילון שס"יסימן טוב – מילון שס"ינא לגעתהזמנה לשקט, חולוןהדקדוק של הגוף The Grammar of the Body GRAMBY

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Israeli Sign Language

Israeli Sign Language (ISL) is the major sign language in Israel. It came into existence in the 1930s and 1940s, with the formation of the Deaf community in Israel, which today numbers about 10,000 people. The present day ISL community consists of four generation of signers: from the very first generation, those who contributed to the earliest stages of the language, to the fourth generation, whose members have acquired ISL as a full-fledged system. ISL is the language of the national Deaf Association, the education system, and sign language interpreting throughout Israel.

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Kafr Qasem Sign Language

Kafr Qasem Sign Language (KQSL) arose in the town of Kafr Qasem in central Israel. Of its 20,000 residents, approximately 100 are deaf. From reports and interviews with residents of the town we have learned that deafness goes back to the beginning of the 20th century, making the language about one hundred years old.

We are investigating several aspects of the lexical and linguistic structure of KQSL, including its word order, sentence structure, and use of space. We are also compiling vocabulary items to create an on-line dictionary of the language.

link to Dictionary (under construction…)

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AJSL Dictionary

הקהילה והשפה שפת הסימנים של יהודי אלג'יריה התפתחה בקרב הקהילה היהודית בעיר גרדאיה שבחלקו הצפוני של מדבר סהרה באלג'יריה, באזור המזאב. גרדאיה נוסדה במאה האחת-עשרה על ידי ברברים מכת האבאדיה,…

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Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language

Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) is a young language which arose spontaneously in the village of Al-Sayyid in southern Israel, as a result of a high incidence of deafness in the community (about 3.5%). It is different in vocabulary and structure from other sign languages in the region. Since it arose spontaneously, with hardly any influence of other languages, it offers us the rare opportunity to trace the emergence of a language almost from the beginning, and to discover its essential ingredients. Today, there are about 130 deaf signers and a large number of hearing signers in the village.

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Read more about the article Diachronic development of Israeli Sign Language

Diachronic development of Israeli Sign Language

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CAMERA old, young ISL
The historical development of Israeli Sign Language (ISL), from its earliest days to the present, is the focus of this research project, conducted by Irit Meir. Since ISL is a young language, having come into existence as the local Deaf community coalesced, beginning about 80 years ago, it provides a natural laboratory for investigating the formation of a national sign language language change in a culturally and linguistically diverse community. The project systematically investigates the language of four generations of signers, and the ways in which each contributed to the development of the full contemporary system.

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Read more about the article Al Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language: Emergence of linguistic form in a new sign language

Al Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language: Emergence of linguistic form in a new sign language

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While all extant spoken languages are thousands of years old or descended from old languages, only sign languages can be born at any time, allowing researchers a glimpse of human language in its most essential form.  Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) arose spontaneously a mere 80 years ago in a stable existing community in southern Israel with a high incidence of genetically transmitted deafness – well over 130 of the 4,000 villagers are deaf. The language continues to be used by deaf and hearing people, offering the research team an opportunity to chart its development over time.  Investigations by researchers Wendy Sandler and Irit Meir (University of Haifa), Carol Padden (University of California San Diego/CRL), and Mark Aronoff (SUNY-Stony Brook) reveal how a language begins, and how it slowly but surely accrues linguistic structure.

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Prosody

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The investigation of prosody in Israeli Sign Language demonstrates that sign languages have comparable prosodic systems to those of spoken languages, although the phonetic medium is completely different.  The research led by Wendy Sandler has presented evidence for prosodic constituents in ISL and established that facial expression in sign language plays a role similar to that of intonation in spoken language.  Similarities as well as interesting formal differences between the intonation of spoken and signed language offer a new perspective on the relation between the phonetic basis of language, its phonological organization, and its communicative content.

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