none 10.1075/z.101 John Benjamins Publishing Company John Benjamins Publishing Company 1757 66903434 1433082 202507031827000056 10.1075 2025-07-03T12:26:50Z 2014-01-28T06:03:20Z 75 Ulrike Zeshan La Trobe University, Melbourne https://ror.org/01rxfrp27 A description of a signed language To find a suitable framework for the description of a previously undocumented language is all the more challenging in the case of a signed language. In this book, for the first time, an indigenous Asian sign language used in deaf communities in India and Pakistan is described on all linguistically relevant levels. This grammatical sketch aims at providing a concise yet comprehensive picture of the language. It covers a substantial part of Indopakistani Sign Language grammar. Topics discussed range from properties of individual signs to principles of discourse organization. Important aspects of morphological structure and syntactic regularities are summarized. Finally, sign language specific grammatical mechanisms such as spatially realized syntax and the use of facial expressions also figure prominently in this book. A 300-word dictionary with graphic representations of signs and a transcribed sample text complement the grammatical description. The cross-linguistic study of signed languages is only just beginning. Descriptive materials such as the ones presented in this book provide the necessary starting point for further empirical and theoretical research in this direction. 8 15 2000 10 21 2008 9789027225634 9781556198571 9789027298522 John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam 10.1075/z.101 http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/books/9789027298522 https://www.jbe-platform.com/deliver/fulltext/9789027298522.pdf https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1075/z.101/html