Ochanomizu University (Tokyo) has started the new course, “Introduction to Sign Language Studies”, from the academic year 2010. This course has a position in the interdisciplinary liberal arts education programs of the University, Which are systematically introduced in 2008. In this course, Primarily, the well-trained deaf teacher, as a native signer, gives Japanese Sign Language (JSL) lessons to the students by the natural approach method, in other words, without any spoken language. The class-size is small (nearly15-18). Secondarily, the hearing lecturer, as a JSL-Japanese interpreter, talks on the JSL, the Deaf people and the life-history of herself by spoken language. The aim of “JSL in the liberal arts” is not only to learn the JSL itself, but also to attain cross-cultural awareness by coming into contact with a different culture, that is “Deaf culture”.

View full abstract

In this article, we describe our ongoing project to develop self-study support materials for learners of Japanese Sign Language (JSL). ELAN (EUDICO Linguistic Annotator), provided by the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, was used for this project. ELAN made it possible for learners to view detailed descriptions of different NMMs (non-manual markers) by referring to tiers separately assigned to different parts of the body (e. g., head, eyebrows, eyes, chins, etc. ) Wh-questions were selected for the development samples, as there were syntactic descriptions available (Takakuwa 1997, Uchibori et al. 2010), and because JSL learners tend to have difficulty learning the system of NMMs associated with this construction. Two types of videotaped materials were included in the DVD: a group of short sentences were included meant to help learners to focus on the grammatical properties of the Whquestions, and a recording of a natural conversation between two native signers meant to serve as a sample of natural expressions observed in a themed conversation, such as discussing ‘shopping'. Since the samples were developed and signed by two deaf native signers raised in deaf families, the data included in the DVD may be used as samples of authentic sign language expressions by sign language researchers.

View full abstract

We constructed a handy information assurance system using a mobile phone. Most of the explanations of the exhibitions in museums are written and not completely intelligible, or voiced and cannot be available for the hearing disabled. Our system will be a solution with a video transmission of signing through a mobile phone. In the system, a signing movie of the explanations was stored in advance on the internet data-server. The QR code was stuck in front of the exhibition in a museum. The mobile phone reads the QR code, calls up the explanation signing movie on the data-server and presents it on the phone screen. We report the evaluation test at a public museum.

View full abstract

Since Japanese Sign Language(JSL) is a human language, as clearly shown by previous studies, it should be possible for JSL to have a hierarchical structure that can be generated as a result of the application of syntactic operations. This paper deals with one such case, i.e. embedding a clause into a verb complement position, and is aimed at developing a solid basis for the syntactic analysis of JSL. In order to confirm that JSL actually has a complement structure, clauses selected by a verb of saying and thinking were compared with direct quotation clauses. The differences examined in this paper concern word order, the possibility of topicalization, and the possibility of WH-question formation. The basic word order of a sentence with a complement clause is SOV, whereas that with a direct quotation is OSV. A sentence with a complement clause allows topicalization and WH-question formation, while one with a direct quotation does not allow either of them. The difference in the grammatical acceptability of topicalization and WH-question formation suggests that a sentence with a complement clause can undergo syntactic operations such as Move (or Internal Merge), Whereas one with a direct quotation clause cannot

View full abstract