About the Project

 
 

The objectives of this four-year project are :

 

  1. to create a filmed corpus of conversational Black ASL as it is used in the South. The focus is on the structure and history of Southern Black ASL because that region is where the most radical segregation occurred in the education of Black and White deaf children, creating the conditions for the development of a separate language variety.

 

  1. to provide a description of the linguistic features that make Black ASL recognizable as a distinct variety of ASL and of the history of the education of Black Deaf children.

 

  1. to disseminate the project findings in the form of teaching materials and instructional resources.

Collaborators on the project

Project Co-Director Gallaudet University, Department of ASL and Deaf Studies


Project Co-Director

Gallaudet University,

Department of Linguistics



Project Co-Director University of California -Davis,

Department of Linguistics


Project Archivist





Research Assistant

Gallaudet University,

Department of ASL and Deaf Studies


Research Assistant

Gallaudet University,

Department of Linguistics



Web Master

Gallaudet University,

Department of Linguistics



                       Ms. Stephanie Johnson

                       Research Assistant

                       Gallaudet University,

                       Department of ASL and

                       Deaf Studies


                       Ms. TaWanda Barkley

                       Research Assistant

                       Gallaudet University,

                       Department of ASL and

                       Deaf Studies


                       Ms. Anika Stephen

                       Research Assistant

                       Web Administrator

                       Gallaudet University,

                       Department of

                       Linguistics


                        Ms. Mercedes Hunter

                        Research Assistant

                        Web Administrator

                        Gallaudet University,

                        Department of

                        Interpreting

 

Virginia State School for the Deaf, Hampton, VA

SITES VISITED, in order of the year in which the schools for Black Deaf children were founded:  

 

North Carolina (1869)

 

Texas (1887)

 

Arkansas (1887)

 

Alabama (1892)

 

Virginia (1909)

 

Louisiana (1938)

 

      


At each site, groups of signers “over 55”, i.e. attended school during segregation and groups of signers “under 35”, i.e. attended integrated schools, have been filmed in free conversation, structured interviews and lexical and narrative elicitation. To see examples of our data click on Data Collection at the bottom of the page.



    NSF Proposal with references