This volume is the first to bring together researchers studying a range of different types of emerging sign languages in the Americas, and their relationship to the gestures produced in the surrounding communities of hearing individuals.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Olivier Le Guen, Marie Coppola and Josefina Safar
Introduction: How Emerging Sign Languages in the Americas contributes to the study of linguistics and (emerging) sign languages
Part I: Emerging sign languages of the Americas. Descriptions and analysis
John Haviland
Signs, interaction, coordination, and gaze: interactive foundations of "Z"—an emerging (sign) language from Chiapas, Mexico
Laura Horton
Representational strategies in shared homesign systems from Nebaj, Guatemala
Josefina Safar and Rodrigo Petatillo Chan
Strategies of noun-verb distinction in Yucatec Maya Sign Languages
Emmanuella Martinod, Brigitte Garcia and Ivani Fusellier
A typological perspective on the meaningful handshapes in the emerging sign languages on Marajó Island (Brazil)
Ben Braithwaite
Emerging sign languages in the Caribbean
Olivier Le Guen, Rebeca Petatillo and Rita (Rossy) Kinil Canché
Yucatec Maya multimodal interaction as the basis for Yucatec Maya Sign Language
Marie Coppola
Gestures, homesign, sign language: Cultural and social factors driving lexical conventionalization
Part II: Sociolinguistic sketches
John B. Haviland
Zinacantec family homesign (or "Z")
Laura Horton
A sociolinguistic sketch of deaf individuals and families from Nebaj, Guatemala
Josefina Safar and Olivier Le Guen
Yucatec Maya Sign Language(s): A sociolinguistic overview
Emmanuella Martinod, Brigitte Garcia and Ivani Fusellier
Sign Languages on Marajó Island (Brazil)
Ben Braithwaite
Sociolinguistic sketch of Providence Island Sign Language
Kristian Ali and Ben Braithwaite
Bay Islands Sign Language: A Sociolinguistic Sketch
Marie Coppola
Sociolinguistic sketch: Nicaraguan Sign Language and Homesign Systems in Nicaragua