5 Tajik Sign Language in context
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Justin M. Power
Abstract
Tajik Sign Language is a unique contributor to the linguistic diversity of Tajikistan. Articulated and perceived in the gestural-visual modality and relatively young in age, Tajik Sign Language differs in many ways from Tajik, from other Tajik languages, and from all other languages spoken in Tajikistan. This chapter takes a historical sociolinguistic approach to trace the emergence and early evolution of Tajik Sign Language from its origins in Russian Sign Language, which had been imported to Tajik schools for the deaf beginning in the mid-twentieth century. The chapter also reports the results of a lexical comparison of Russian Sign Language, Tajik Sign Language, and another Central Asian signed language - namely, Afghan Sign Language - to understand the linguistic effects of the divergent linguistic ecologies within which the two Central Asian signed languages have emerged. The lexical comparison introduces a novel application of a computational methodology adapted to the features of signed languages and of a theoretically- informed quantitative model of historical change in the sign modality.
Abstract
Tajik Sign Language is a unique contributor to the linguistic diversity of Tajikistan. Articulated and perceived in the gestural-visual modality and relatively young in age, Tajik Sign Language differs in many ways from Tajik, from other Tajik languages, and from all other languages spoken in Tajikistan. This chapter takes a historical sociolinguistic approach to trace the emergence and early evolution of Tajik Sign Language from its origins in Russian Sign Language, which had been imported to Tajik schools for the deaf beginning in the mid-twentieth century. The chapter also reports the results of a lexical comparison of Russian Sign Language, Tajik Sign Language, and another Central Asian signed language - namely, Afghan Sign Language - to understand the linguistic effects of the divergent linguistic ecologies within which the two Central Asian signed languages have emerged. The lexical comparison introduces a novel application of a computational methodology adapted to the features of signed languages and of a theoretically- informed quantitative model of historical change in the sign modality.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of contributors VII
- 1 How Tajik was made into a national language 1
- 2 Standard Tajik phonology 45
- 3 Modality and mood in Tajik 109
- 4 Aspect in Tajik 183
- 5 Tajik Sign Language in context 229
- 6 Tajik dialects of Badakhshan and Shughnani: A comparative perspective 275
- 7 Linguistic landscape of Bukhara: The ambiguous future of Tajik 371
- 8 Terminology in Tajik 389
- Index 403
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of contributors VII
- 1 How Tajik was made into a national language 1
- 2 Standard Tajik phonology 45
- 3 Modality and mood in Tajik 109
- 4 Aspect in Tajik 183
- 5 Tajik Sign Language in context 229
- 6 Tajik dialects of Badakhshan and Shughnani: A comparative perspective 275
- 7 Linguistic landscape of Bukhara: The ambiguous future of Tajik 371
- 8 Terminology in Tajik 389
- Index 403
