Semantic fields in sign languages : : colour, kinship and quantification / / edited by Ulrike Zeshan, Keiko Sagara.

• Superior document: Sign Language Typology, 6
• Author: Zeshan, Ulrike
• TeilnehmendeR: Zeshan, Ulrike,; Sagara, Keiko,
• Place / Publishing House: Boston, [Massachusetts] ;, Berlin, Germany ;, Lancaster, England : : De Gruyter Mouton :, Ishara Press,, 2016.; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Sign language typology series ; 6.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (400 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Typological studies require a broad range of linguistic data from a variety of countries, especially developing nations whose languages are under-researched. This is especially challenging for investigations of sign languages, because there are no existing corpora for most of them, and some are completely undocumented. To examine three cross-linguistically fruitful semantic fields in sign languages from a typological perspective for the first time, a detailed questionnaire was generated and distributed worldwide through emails, mailing lists, websites and the newsletter of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD). This resulted in robust data on kinship, colour and number in 32 sign languages across the globe, 10 of which are revealed in depth within this volume. These comprise languages from Europe, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region, including Indonesian sign language varieties, which are rarely studied. Like other volumes in this series, this book will be illuminative for typologists, students of linguistics and deaf studies, lecturers, researchers, interpreters, and sign language users who travel internationally.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Semantic fields in sign languages – A comparative typological study -- Colour terms, kinship terms and numerals in Estonian Sign Language -- Colours and Numerals in Spanish Sign Language (LSE) -- A typological look at kinship terms, colour terms and numbers in Finnish Sign Language -- Kinship terminology in Czech Sign Language -- Why is the SKY BLUE? On colour signs in Icelandic Sign Language -- Numeral signs and compounding in Chinese Sign Language (CSL) -- Colour terms in Indonesian sign language varieties: A preliminary study. -- Aspects of number and kinship terms in Japanese Sign Language -- Kinship and colour terms in Mexican Sign Language -- Number, colour and kinship in New Zealand Sign Language -- Language index -- Subject index