Mary's Take (Linguistics and More)

On the face and the body: The internal structure of signs (Understanding the linguistics of sign language (Part 2))  I don't remember the topic of this class, but the lecturer talked about teenage pregnancy and sex among the youth. I realised that some of the students in the class turned to look at me. They wanted to see how I would represent SEX in sign language. In Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL) SEX is produced on the face with X-handshape (see image below). I could see the shock on some faces, probably they expected SEX to be signed in a different location with a different shape of the hands. Whether signed on the face or on the body, SEX is sex. Other sign languages have different locations and shape of hands for this sign. This blog post will introduce the internal structure of signs. SEX in GSL SEX in BSL (one variant) SEX in ASL In sign language, the term phonology is used to refer to the linguistic study of the structure of signs. The phonology of the sign considers five bas...

This is not kung fu: Understanding the linguistics of sign language (Part 1) I was not a fan of kung fu movies before 2016. I only remember watching passionately The Journey to the West as a child. If you did not watch Shifu 😂 then your childhood wasn't fun. Now I have to add kung fu movies to my movie list because academic hubby prefers it over other movies, and Bruce Lee is one of his favourite actors. One of the unique features of kung fu is the punches and the hand movement. In all the kung fu movies I have seen, the actors are very skilled with their body movement and hand movement. A missed punch can be fatal you know.                                                   Journey to the West   "Bruce Lee" was one of the names I gained in my former Department because of my association with sign languag...

  Yesterday, I made my favourite jollof rice with chicken. The approval was great as always. Scholastica (the academic name for my daughter) ate 3 times… She doesn't eat other foods like that (maybe when she is in a good eating mood, she can eat that much of Banku with a good okro stew).  Anyway, back to my tantalising jollof story. The academic hubby ate to his full. As for me, I am on diet so I tried to manage my consumption…. Oh yes, I am checking my weight gain. You should believe me 😅.  The tantalising jollof story entered my dreams. I was in a program with my Deaf friends from Ghana. The language of communication was Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL). I gave a talk in the dream. I don't remember the language used 😕 but I think I had an interpreter. In the dream, the foods served at the program included jollof rice and the organisers told me to keep it safe so that it can be distributed after the event. After the program, I walked to the organisers to let them know I st...