Sign data bases (focusing on nonmanual components)

In the first part of this two week Seminar a general introduction will be given on the Sign Language of the Netherlands. More specific I will go into the nonmanual aspects of SLN signs both on the phonological and morphosyntactic level. Special focus will be on the mouthing or spoken component in SLN in comparison to other Sign Languages such as DGS, Swiss German Sign Language, Italien Sign Language, ASL, Norwegian Sign Language and BSL.
Students will be expected to study articles and work on short assignments during the Seminar weeks. These assignments will introduce the students to theoretical and practical aspects of sign language dictionary making. In the second week of the Seminar I will discuss and demonstrate a Sign Language Database - SIGNBASE - that was recently developed by our institute in close collaboration with the Deaf Studies Research Unit of the University of Durham, UK.