This thirty-eighth volume of the People’s Linguistic Survey of India is devoted to the Indian Sign Language (ISL), the language of the Deaf in India. The articles in the volume are divided into four parts. The first discusses both its formal linguistic and ‘orthographic’ features; the second presents the sociolinguistic themes of the ISL such as bilingualism and language variety as well as language planning and policy issues. Part three presents various synchronic aspects of the ISL. The final part comprises articles on themes interfacing Sign Languages and other knowledge systems. This very first collection of articles on the ISL, is a critically important contribution to the discipline.
Chief Editor: PLSI G. N. Devy, taught at the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda till 1996, before leaving to set up the Bhasha Research Centre in Baroda and the Adivasi academy at Tejgadh where he has since worked towards conserving and promoting the languages and culture of indigenous and nomadic communities. He has also been the recipient of many awards for his work in literature, tribal craft and language conservation. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2014. He is the Chief Editor of the PLSI series. Volume Editors Tanmoy Bhattacharya, is an associate professor of Linguistics at the Centre for Advanced Studies in linguistics, university of Delhi. His research interests include syntax, psycholinguistics, gender, disability, deaf education and sign languages. Nisha Grover, has been involved with the education of deaf children since 1974 for which the Akshar Trust was started twenty five years ago. Surinder P.K. Randhawa, is a senior consultant with the Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi where she teaches the BA course in the Applied sign language studies.
The People’s Linguistic Survey of India The National Editorial Collective List of Volumes Acknowledgements Foreword A Nation Proud of Its Language Diversity: Chief Editor’s Introduction Introduction Contributors to the Volume An Appeal to Readers
PART I: FEATURES OF THE INDIAN SIGN LANGUAGE 1. Overview and Early History of Indian Sign Language Madan M. Vasishta 2. Distinctive Features of the Indian Sign Language in Comparison to Foreign Sign Languages 3. Space, Units and Order in ISL Hidam Gourashyam Singh 4. Local Representative Signs of the Western Region Nisha Grover 5. Fingerspelling Rajesh Ketkar 6. Sign Writing Hidam Gourashyam Singh
PART II: EDUCATION AND POLICY 7. Sign Bilingualism Surinder P. K. Randhawa 8. Alipur, a Village with Hereditary Deafness in India: A Sociolinguistic and Socio-educational Profile Sibaji Panda 9. Legislation and Policies in Relation to Sign Language and Sign Language Rights Tanmoy Bhattacharya and Surinder P. K. Randhawa
PART III: THE PRESENT SITUATION 10. A Personal Account of Historical Developments of Indian Sign Language Madan M. Vasishta 11. Indian Sign Language and Humour in Cyberspace Neha Kulshreshtha 12. Organisations of Deaf People 13. Voices Compiled by Surinder P. K. Randhawa 14. The Future of Indian Sign Language Compiled by Surinder P. K. Randhawa
PART IV: SIGN LANGUAGE AND OTHER KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS 15. Signs in Indian Tradition—the Chinha Shastra Ganesh Devy 16. Sign Language and Signing in the Traditions of Performance in India Tista Bagchi 17. Sign Iconicity and New Epistemologies Tanmoy Bhattacharya
PART V: APPENDICES Appendix I A List of Films (Compiled by Surinder P. K. Randhawa) Appendix II Sign Vocabulary of Western India (Gujarat) (Drawn by Sanjeev Bhatt) Bibliography of Indian Sign Language and Deaf Studies (Compiled by Samar Sinha)