| CODE | LLT1361 | ||||||||
| TITLE | The Deaf Community in Socio-Historical Context | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Institute of Linguistics and Language Technology | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will cover an introduction to sociolinguistics and how this interacts with Sign Language culture and history. Including the role of status for linguistic minority communities, and a range of other social factors, such as age, gender, and bilingualism. We will explore the status of LSM and other sign languages and how this has changed over time, with recognition of their status both by linguists and by governments. We will also build a theoretical foundation for discussing the basics of pragmatics and culture in signed and spoken language communities, for example discussion of proxemics, eye contact, turn taking, politeness conventions, and cultural taboos. Study-unit Aims: This study-unit aims to develop students’ awareness of the effects that social issues such as social status, age, gender, education, minority community membership, and bilingualism have on language in minority cultural contexts. We will particularly discuss the background to and status of signed languages as minority languages, with particular reference to LSM, and the inevitable effect that majority languages have on smaller language communities that they are in contact with, specifically Maltese and English. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Describe the difference between contact forms of signing (for example, signed English/Maltese) and native varieties of signing; - Recognise and describe different forms of signing on the basis of field, mode, and register. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Explore the effects of status on minority languages in general, and LSM in particular; - Recognise pragmatic differences between the Deaf and Hearing communities; - Students will gain an understanding of Deaf cultural concepts and pragmatics, e.g. the idea of Deaf space, and how this is created, maintained, and developed; - Students will be able to critically evaluate the historical context for the natural development of signed languages. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts - Bauman, H. D. L., & Murray, J. J. (Eds.). (2014) Deaf gain: Raising the stakes for human diversity. - Ladd, P. (2003). Understanding deaf culture: In search of deafhood. Multilingual Matters. Supplementary Readings - Valli, C., Lucas, C., Mulrooney, K.J., Villanueva M. (2011) Linguistics of American Sign Language: An Introduction. University of Northern Colorado. - Johnston, J. & Schembri, A. (2007) Australian Sign Language: An Introduction to Sign Language Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. - Sutton-Spence, R. & Woll, B. (1999) The linguistics of British Sign Language: An introduction. Cambridge University Press. - Groce, N. (1985) Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha's Vineyard. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. - Lane, H. (2013). When the mind hears : a history of the deaf. New York : Vintage Books. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Tutorial | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Marie Alexander Luigi Lerose Benjamin Matthews (Co-ord.) Junhui Yang |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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