Warlpiri Sign Language
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Warlpiri Sign Language is a sign language used by the Warlpiri, an Aboriginal community in the central desert region of Australia.
While many neighbouring language groups such as Arrernte and the Western Desert Language have limited auxiliary sign languages, Warlpiri Sign Language is more elaborate, possibly due to the Warlpiri tradition that widows should not speak during an extended mourning period; during this time they communicate solely by sign language. In Warlpiri communities, widows tend to live away from their families, with other widows or young single women. As a result, it is typical for Warlpiri women to have a better command of the sign language than men, although men often use it when hunting.
British linguist Adam Kendon (1988) argues that Warlpiri Sign Language is a manual representation of the spoken Warlpiri language, rather than a separate language, with individual signs representing morphemes from spoken Warlpiri, which are expressed in the same word order. However, "markers of case relations, tense, and cliticised pronouns are not signed."
See also
References
- WRIGHT C.D. 1980. Walpiri Hand Talk: An Illustrated Dictionary of Hand Signs used by the Walpiri People of Central Australia. Darwin: N.T. Department of Education.
- MEGGITT M.J. 1954. Sign language among the Warlpiri of Central Australia. Oceania, 25(1), p. 2-16. (reprinted (1978) in "Aboriginal sign languages of the Americas and Australia." New York: Plenum Press, v.2, p.409-423.)
- KENDON A. 1985. Iconicity in Warlpiri Sign language. In Bouissac P., Herzfeld M. & Posner R. (eds), Inconicity: Essay on the Nature of Culture . TÅbingen: Stauffenburger Verlag. In press, p. .
- KENDON A. 1988. Parallels and divergences between Warlpiri sign language and spoken Warlpiri: analyses of signed and spoken discourses. Oceania, 58, p. 239-54.