Events

New Ways of Analyzing Variation – Asia Pacific 2

Date: 01/08/2012 - 04/08/2012

Representative APSL students from Indonesia and Hong Kong went to Tokyo, Japan to attend New Ways of Analyzing Variation – Asia Pacific 2. There they conducted three presentations:

The first presentation was entitled “Lexical Variations and Diachronic Change in Hong Kong Sign Language: Preliminary observations”. This presentation was authored by Dr. Felix Sze of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and APSL students Kenny, Connie, and Lisa; it discussed the phonological changes of signs in Hong Kong Sign Language.

The second presentation was entitled “Sign language use and variations in Jakarta Sign Language” and was authored by Dr. Felix Sze, Prof. James Woodward of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and APSL students Laura, Khakha, and Iwan. This presentation discussed the lexical variations found in Jakarta Sign Language and the factors affecting these variations; it emphasized the importance of preserving Jarkarta Sign Language, which is threatened by influence from ASL, oral education and artificial sign systems.

The final presentation by one of the MA students in the APSL program, Silva Isma, was entitled “Signing varieties in Jakarta and Yogyakarta: dialects or separate languages?”. In her presentation, Silva presented the findings discussed in her MA thesis in which she argues that the Jakarta and Yogyakarta sign language varieties of Indonesia are in fact separate languages.

Afterwards, one of the students, Kenny, commented on his experience at the conference: “I attended the 2nd meeting of NWAV Asia-Pacific Region in Tokyo, Japan on the 1st to the 4th August. The Hong Kong people, Felix, Connie and I, were chosen to do a presentation on the 4th of August. It was a good opportunity. I felt really good about doing this presentation. I think that Felix and Connie felt this way, too. Our presentation topic was called “Lexical Variations and Diachronic Change in Hong Kong Sign Language: Preliminary observations”. After the presentation I felt really relieved. Finally, I’d like to thank the Nippon Foundation for supporting us.”