The use of signing space in a shared sign language of Australia

In this book, an Australian Aboriginal sign language used by Indigenous people in the North East Arnhem Land (Northern Territory) is described on the level of spatial grammar. Topics discussed range from properties of individual signs to structure of interrogative and negative sentences. The main interest is the manifestation of signing space - the articulatory space surrounding the signers - for grammatical purposes in Yolngu Sign Language.

Front matter --; Acknowledgements --; Contents --; List of figures --; List of tables --; Abbreviations --; Sign language acronyms --; Glossary --; Notational conventions --; Part I. Introduction --; Chapter 1. Introduction --; Chapter 2. Sign language types --; Part II. Sociolinguistic Background & Methodology --; Chapter 3. Cultural and sociolinguistic context --; Chapter 4. Data collection --; Part III. Selected Aspects of YSL Grammar --; Chapter 5. Phonological aspects --; Chapter 6. Syntactic aspects --; Part IV. Use of Space --; Chapter 7. The size of signing space --; Chapter 8. Pronominal reference --; Chapter 9. Verb directionality --; Chapter 10. Expression of motion --; Chapter 11. Expression of size and shape --; Part V. Discussion & Conclusion --; Chapter 12. YSL in cross-linguistic perspective --; Chapter 13. Concluding remarks --; Appendix I: List of YSL handshapes --; Appendix II: Figures --; Appendix III: Data --; Notes --; References --; Index --; Curriculum vitae