Sign Languages and Linguistics

Textbooks

There is no required textbook for this tutorial.

We will read chapters from various books and journal papers which can be accessed through Canvas. You can see the syllabus here.

Grading

Your final grade will be based on the following assessments:

• In-class participation - 15%
• Weekly comments - 25%
• Assignments - 20%
• Final paper - 40%

Comments: We will read some primary source material and journal articles. To help you process the material, you’ll share your thoughts by submitting comments on the primary readings on our Slack channel. I expect you to engage critically with the readings by commenting on at least two different aspects of the same article or comparing insights from different articles. Your comments can express agreement or disagreement with a particular opinion, highlight connections to other research, or provide relevant examples from other languages. Ideally, each comment should be a full paragraph rather than a single sentence, totaling 200–300 words per week. You can also comment on one of the other students’ comments, which is a great way of brainstorming. The deadline for submission is Sundays at 11:59 pm.

Assignments: There will be two assignments throughout this tutorial. Submission policy: Late assignments will be accepted without penalty if and only if a valid excuse (such as extraordinary circumstances, health issues, etc.) is communicated to me. After the deadline, assignments will be accepted for 10\% off for each day, and assignments will not be accepted after 3 days.

Collaboration policy: You can collaborate with your peers; however, you are expected to submit the assignment in your own words.

Final paper: As the final project, you will prepare a final paper (2000-2500 words), in which you will focus on one of the topics we have covered in this tutorial. You may either review two journal articles on your chosen topic or compare a linguistic phenomenon in two different sign languages, or between a sign and a spoken language. The main focus of this study will be to investigate the similarities and differences between languages and/or modalities. \textbf{Nota bene:} Please schedule an appointment with me before the fourth week to discuss your topic.

Participation: I will lead the lecture which will be followed by an interactive discussion. Therefore, your participation is crucial and you are expected to come to class prepared by reading the assigned papers. Per department policy, attendance in this tutorial is mandatory. Each absence will result in a deduction of 2.5 points, up to a total of 15 points. If you miss a class due to health issues and inform me in advance, you may compensate for your absence by submitting a mini-response paper on the missed topic. In addition, I kindly ask you to arrive on time.

Some notes

To have a great half-semester together, I would like you to follow these: Please check our Canvas and Slack channel regularly not to miss any deadlines, Show respect and patience to everyone in the class to maintain an appropriate environment for all to learn, Abide by Harvard’s evolving policies.

Please remember that your physical and mental health are more important than any other thing. You can always share your concerns or problems with me and any instructors in our department. Moreover, Harvard provides many resources on these issues. You can learn more at Counseling and Mental Health Services website.

Important advisories

I am the instructor of this tutorial, but I work as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. You may know that Teaching Fellows are mandatory reporters, or in Harvard’s Title IX terminology, ‘responsible employees’. That means I’m not legally confidential, and if I’m informed of any potential Title IX-violating situations involving my student(s), I am obligated to report it along with the name of the student(s) involved to the Title IX office. If an incident like this affects your participation in the class in some way, I want you to be able to tell me whatever necessary part you are comfortable with, but you should be aware of my responsibilities ahead of time.

Useful Resources

SpreadTheSign: A comprehensive online resource featuring lexicons from various sign languages, making it an excellent tool for cross-linguistic comparisons.

• url: https://www.spreadthesign.com/en.us/search/

ASL Dictionaries: Several online resources provide video demonstrations of individual ASL signs, offering valuable references for learners and researchers.

• url: https://www.handspeak.com/word/

ELAN: A widely used annotation tool for audio and video recordings. If you are interested in analyzing sign language data, you can download the software here.

• url: https://archive.mpi.nl/tla/elan/download

Handshape Font for Word: A downloadable font specifically designed for representing handshapes in sign language documentation.\

• url: https://eng.m.fontke.com/font/10135440/

LaTeX Resources: If you are \LaTeX{} person, you can use this handshape font by adjusting the compiler settings to LuaLaTeX. In addition, the slgloss package by Fabian Bross is a valuable tool for working with sign language data.

• url: https://github.com/itamarkast/slgloss