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https://theconversation.com/tradition-and-innovation-how-we-are-documenting-sign-language-in-a-gurindji-community-in-northern-australia-194524>
"Some people are surprised when they first hear about Australian Indigenous
sign languages.
While the broader community is increasingly aware of the richness of First
Nations spoken languages, sign has generally been below the radar until
recently. Yet sign languages are widespread, culturally valued and of great
antiquity.
Sign appears in records that go back to the early days of colonisation. Some
even speculate that the handshapes found in some forms of rock art in Australia
and other parts of the world may be evidence of age-old forms of signing or
signalling.
Indigenous sign languages are mainly used by hearing people. They vary across
the country, and there are differences in the size of their vocabularies, with
an upper limit of well over 1,000 signs, as Adam Kendon found for the Warlpiri
people from the Tanami Desert."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
