Investigation of an endangered village sign language in India: a pilot study
The Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) provides grants worldwide for the documentation of endangered languages and knowledge. Grantees create audiovisual collections with transcription and translations of endangered languages and practices. These collections are preserved and made freely available through the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR).
The pilot study investigates an endangered sign language in a southern Indian village in Karnataka. 250 people in the village are deaf out of a population of 14,000. The sign language used in the village is different from the Indian Sign Language (ISL) used in urban areas. The project will produce a corpus of digital video with time-aligned transcriptions and translations, a documentation of the sociolinguistic setting, and pedagogical materials. The project also investigates approaches to the complex research ethics of documenting this particular situation, including ways of supporting the sign language users inside and outside the village community.
Primary investigator: Sibaji Panda
Project Details
Location: India, Southern Asia, Asia
Organiser(s):
Endangered Languages Documentation Programme
Project partner(s): University of Central Lancashire
Funder(s):
Arcadia
Funding received: £6,108.00
Commencement Date: 01/2004
Project Status: Completed
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