Warlmanpa Sign Language
| Warlmanpa Sign Language | |
|---|---|
| Region | Central Northern Territory |
|
Native speakers
|
None |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
Warlmanpa Sign Language is a highly developed Australian Aboriginal sign language used by the Warlmanpa people of northern Australia
The first recorded documentation of Warlmanpa Sign Language was carried out by British linguist Adam Kendon. In 1978, Kendon began his initial work on gathering Aboriginal sign language material. During this time, he travelled to many areas within the North Central Territory, documenting the sign languages of the Warlpiri, Waramungu, Mudbura, Anmatyerre, Kaytej, and Djingili, including trips to Tennant Creek, an area where Warlmanpa is located.
On his second visit to Tennant Creek, Kendon, along with fellow researchers, gathered a vocabulary of about 900 Warlmanpa signs.
Simultaneous use of sign and speech have been observed in daily situations among Warlmanpa speakers.
Banka Banka Station, which lies to the west of their original traditional area, has been a center for Warlmanpa people for several generations.
Out of the 41 emic handshapes recorded in Central Northern sign languages, 29 are used in Warlmanpa Sign Language.
In contrast to American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL), Warlmanpa (and sign languages in the North Central Territory) makes almost no use of facial action and/or cues in sign formation. In addition, the majority of signs are performed with only one hand and the range of handshapes and body locations used are significantly different.
In documentation of Warlmanpa signs, Kendon and researchers followed the approach originally developed by William Stokoe for the description of signs in ASL. In this sense, signs are regarded as actions which can be viewed in terms of three aspects: what is performing the action, the action taken and where the action is done. These aspects are named Sign Actor, Sign Action, and Sign Location, respectively.
...
Wikipedia