SIGN4 Report by Hidam Gourashyam Singh

A Report on SIGN4

by Hidam Gourashyam Singh

SIGN4 was held at the conference centre of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU, New Delhi) from 17/12/2009 to 19/12/2009. The three-day conference was jointly organized by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU, New Delhi), International Centre for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies (iSLanDS, Preston, UK), Ishara Foundation of Mumbai and Deaf Empowerment Foundation of the Netherlands. SIGN4 successfully concluded after three days of interactive presentations and discussions focusing on sign language, deaf culture, deaf education in sign language, deaf communities, Sociolinguistics of sign language and typological studies etc.

SIGN4 was the fourth conference of its kind for sign language users across the globe. Hosting the conference in India was a matter of pride for people like Ulrike Zeshan and Shibaji Panda who are working in this line for years. SIGN4 was very special for several reasons i.e. It was for the first time that this conference was held outside Europe. SIGN1, SIGN2 & SIGN3 were held in Netherlands and UK. Therefore, the conference marked progress for one of its main aims was to broaden the development/ awareness/ research works related to sign language and deaf. The 150 participants (app.) were from Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burundi, China, Dominican Republic, France, India, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Uganda, and UK etc.

It is worth to mention at this point that IGNOU has opened a centre for B.A. programme for deaf students in collaboration with the University of Central Lancashire, UK. The students will get a degree from the University of Central Lancashire, UK. The programme had already attracted students from Asia, Africa and South-American countries.

Topics presented in the conference

1. Karin Hoyer: Dictionary work on undocumented sign languages
2. Shibaji Panda: The number and counting system in Alipur village sign language
3. Holly Williams: A sociolinguistic survey of the Dominican Republic Deaf community
4. Sujit Sahasrabudhe: Confidence building through a deaf association – a participant interview study
5. Mellissa Wallang: Shillong Sign Language (ShSL): A Multi-media Lexicon
6. Steve Emery: Putting the World to Rights: the case of group rights and sign language people
7. Mo. Shafique: Sign language interpreting and interpreting issues
8. Christian Ramirez: Theme and Rheme in Costa Rican Sign Language: Four studies for the thematic realization
9. Cedric Moreau: Lexique LSF: Towards a Web Based Academy of the French Sign Language.
10. Dharmesh Kumar, Sunil Sahasrabudhe & Ulrike Zeshan: Applied Sign Linguistics in India – the link between theory, research and implementation
11. Ulrike Zeshan: Sign language Typology: The Cross-linguistic Study of sign languages.
12. Annelies Kusters: Deaf meetings on the lifeline of Mumbai
13. Neil Fox: Integration between the hands and the mouthing for lexical signs in BSL
14. Arkady Belozovsky: Learning Foreign, Linguistically related Sign Languages: What are the Benefits to ASL/Deaf Studies Instructors?
15. K. Murali & Kajal Dhawan: Deaf Education for changing times: Need for parallel thinking and resourceful persons

Discussions

16. Deaf leadership and international co-operation
17. Models of literacy teaching and peer education
18. The role of deaf adults in deaf education

The conference concluded successfully after a plenary discussion on sign language research ethics.

4th IPSL Workshop

For a change this was held at IGNOU since the forthcoming SIGN4 international conference has attracted many renowned personalities to IGNOU. We had a couple of presentations by well known experts, Clark Denmark and Ulrike Zeshan from the UK. There was lively discussions at both the talks. Clark presented on the current situation with deaf movement in Britain and Ulrike spoke on SL typology methods. I hope to be able get both the presentations and upload them here.