Today (Friday 2 August 2024), we hosted an online meeting for our research hubs in India, Indonesia and the Caribbean, connecting over 20 deaf people who work with iSLanDS in different ways.
This built on the success of previous online meetings, during the pandemic, between the hubs in India and Indonesia.
The first meeting was led by the Indonesian hub, PUPET, which shared information about its work documenting endangered sign languages in Java and Bali.
They explained how they used their own networks to record the sign languages used by older deaf people linked with some of the first deaf schools to be founded in Indonesia.
This includes Cicendo school in Bandung, West Java, which was founded in the 1930s, and the deaf school in Singajara, north Bali (founded in the 1950s).
The Indonesia team then took questions and comments from deaf colleagues in India, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica.
Seven different time zones
With members in seven different time zones, there is only really one time when we can hold this meeting, with Caribbean colleagues joining first thing in the morning (8 and 9am), and those in Indonesia joining late at night (8 and 9pm).
Going forward, we plan to hold these meetings every month, led by a different hub each time. Next month’s meeting will be hosted by the India hub, and we look forward to seeing what they have to share with us!
Support our training programme for Caribbean deaf people
Things are as busy as ever here at iSLanDS, with preparations for SIGN10 well under way.
Before SIGN10 begins, we are running five days of training, in conjunction with the Deaf Caribbean Academic Network (DeafCAN) and the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). This training will take place from 3-7 December 2024 at UTT.
Participants will learn about research, sign language policy, deaf education & advocacy from a fantastic international team of trainers who are experts in their fields.
We have 20 training places available, and we have received applications from Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, San Andreas and Providence, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago.
About the training
The training is free of charge for deaf people, but travel within the Caribbean is expensive, and not all deaf participants have access to funds to cover the expenses. We are therefore raising funds to support as many deaf participants as possible who need help covering their flights, accommodation and meals. In addition, those taking part in the training will participate in the SIGN10 conference with a fully waived registration fee.
Our training creates a regional deaf space with content that matches the needs of deaf Caribbean people, and training in sign languages allows direct communication without barriers. The outcome will be an experience that nurtures the next generation of deaf leaders from across the Caribbean.
Can you help?
The organising team has set up a fundraising page at GoFundMe – we would appreciate it if you could share this, and consider making a donation if you are able. To visit the GoFundMe page, click here!
The training is free of charge for deaf people, but travel within the Caribbean is expensive, and not all deaf participants have access to funds to cover the expenses. We are raising funds to support as many deaf participants as possible who need help covering their flights, accommodation and meals. In addition, those taking part in the training will participate in the SIGN10 conference with a fully waived registration fee.
Should we exceed the outgoings associated with the training, leftover money will be used to increase the number of deaf participants from the Caribbean or other countries of the Global South to attend the SIGN10 conference through grants to support travel and registration fees.
And finally…
Just to remind anyone planning to attend SIGN10 that the deadline for early bird registration is Wednesday 31 July 2024!
Notes
- DeafCAN Network members have been working since February 2023 to establish a sustainable academic network of deaf researchers across the Caribbean, and has plans to grow over the coming years.
- SIGN10 is the tenth edition of the Sign Conference series, one of the few conferences that centres deaf people and sign languages. SIGN10 will be held completely in sign language, prioritising the accessibility of deaf people and their hearing allies. The SIGN10 website is https://sites.google.com/view/sign10/home
Registration for SIGN10 is now open!
Join us in Trinidad & Tobago this December for our next SIGN conference!
The programme for SIGN10, which takes place from 9-12 December 2024, is one of the strongest we have seen so far in the SIGN conference series. Contributions by researchers from many countries will cover a great range of topics from sign language linguistics to deaf education, by way of anthropology, sociolinguistics, language acquisition and more!
Further details of the conference can be found on the dedicated SIGN10 website.
As well as three brilliant keynote presenters – Claudia Gordon, Marianne Rossi Stumpf and Lina Hou – we have a range of different formats, with flashtalks, workshops, posters and stage presentations.
Registration is now open – the table of fees is shown below. Fees include a free lunch from Monday to Thursday inclusive, and early bird registration fees are in effect until 31 July 2024.
To register, complete the SIGN10 registration form and pay the conference fees. Please read the following information, explaining the process, available here in English or Spanish.
If you have any questions about this, you please email us at signconference10 (at) gmail (dot) com.
Before the SIGN10 conference, we are running five days of training for deaf people from across the Caribbean – this will cover topics such as research, sign language teaching, and advocacy, and is lead by an international team of trainers. If you are interested in taking part, the deadline is 15 June 2024. More details can be found here!
SIGN10 announcement and Call for Papers
iSLanDS is excited to report that the next SIGN conference, SIGN10, will take place in Trinidad & Tobago from Monday 9 to Friday 12 December 2024.
More information about the conference, including the keynote presenters and the Scientific Committee, can be found at the SIGN10 website: https://sites.google.com/view/sign10/home. Information about SIGN10 is also available in French and Spanish.
The SIGN10 conference covers topics related to sign languages and deaf communities, such as
- sign language rights, recognition and laws
- sign languages in education
- sign languages and linguistics
- deaf studies and deaf anthropology
- deaf researchers and academics
- deaf advocacy and policy
As usual, signed abstracts can be submitted instead of written ones, and the deadline for submitting abstracts is Wednesday 31 January 2024. These should be submitted by email to signconference10 [at] gmail [dot] com.
In recent years, SIGN conferences have taken place in Turkey, India, China, Brazil and Poland, and have proven popular with researchers and community members alike, thanks in part to the delivery of all presentations in sign language only (International Sign or a local sign language).
iSLanDS co-Director Nick Palfreyman explained: “Originally SIGN10 was due to take place in Nijmegen, but due to the Covid pandemic the arrangements had to be cancelled. We remain hugely grateful to the team that planned to deliver SIGN10 in Nijmegen, and we are delighted that the SIGN conference series will resume again”.
If you need some tips of how to write an abstract, you can use this template.
Prior to SIGN10, there will be a training event for deaf people from across the Caribbean on topics such as research skills, sign language teaching, curriculum design and policy/advocacy. Further details about this will be shared soon.
iSLanDS hosts an international workshop for our CrossMoGram project
Why did the creolist, the sign language linguist and the typologist go to Preston? To attend our CrossMoGram workshop, of course!
Last week we were delighted to welcome experts to our cross-modal workshop, where we discussed the outcomes of the first, conceptual stage of our project Cross-modal perspectives on grammaticalisation: Aspect markers in creoles and sign languages (CrossMoGram).
We invited three sign language linguists, two creolists and a language typologist to join us for discussions about our plans for measuring how creoles and sign languages change. The experts who joined us for the workshop on 3-4 October were:
- Kearsy Cormier (DCAL, UCL)
- Christian Rathmann (Humboldt University, Berlin)
- Hannah Lutzenberger (Tilburg University)
- Stephanie Hackert (LMU, Munich)
- Peter Bakker (Aarhus University)
- Östen Dahl (Stockholm University)
The experts joined the core CrossMoGram team to discuss three sets of parameters that have been developed over the conceptual stage of the project: aspect marker parameters, grammaticalisation parameters, and sociolinguistic parameters. In the second, investigative stage of our CrossMoGram project (November 2023-April 2025) we will be applying these parameters to the creole and sign languages in our samples.
Additionally, we shared the first drafts of our CrossMoGram Database, which we will use to present our findings. This database will become the first ever cross-modal database in the integrated network of databases using Cross Linguistic Data Formats – which includes the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS), the Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures (APiCS), and the Electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English (E-WAVE).
Nick Palfreyman, PI for the UK team, said: “We are hugely grateful to our colleagues for their feedback on our work so far. They have given us much to reflect on as we prepare to begin the next stage of our project. Above all, it was a real treat to have two days to discuss linguistics – as several participants noted, it is very rare to have such opportunities these days”.
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