@ Research
Language planning and policy in highly diverse signing communities in Canada
- Multilingualism is the norm in deaf signing communities
- Ethical and cultural considerations of research on deaf individuals
- Language planning and policy in highly diverse signing communities in Canada
Language planning and policy in highly diverse signing communities in Canada
Video Log:
Analyzing Issues in Canadian Sign Language Recognition
https://acadeafic.org/2019/07/02/legal-recognition-of-sign-languages-in-canada/
Collaborators:
From the perspective of language policy and planning in highly diverse signing communities in Canada, Kristin Snoddon (Toronto Metropolitan University) and I examine how signed languages are viewed as disability accommodations instead of as languages used in linguistic communities, and how this disability accommodation framework reduces sign language rights to interpreter provision and funding in Canada. We also explore how the recognition of Indigenous sign languages can offer promise for sign language rights that encompass language education initiatives and teaching materials, research, funding, and monitoring by way of a Commissioner of Indigenous Languages. Both frameworks and processes of activism leading up to each bill, along with potential alignments and misalignments between the goals of deaf people and policymakers, underscore the struggle for deaf people in obtaining sign language recognition and sign language rights in Canada.
Citations:
Snoddon, K. & Wilkinson, E. (2021). Taking risks in sign language recognition in Canada. In C. Cunningham & C. Hall (Eds.), Vulnerabilities, Challenges and Risks in Applied Linguistics. (p. 111-128). Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781788928243-009
Snoddon, K. & Wilkinson, E. (2019). Problematizing the Legal Recognition of Sign Languages in Canada. Canadian Modern Language Review, 75(2), 128-144. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.2018-0232.
![hero image](https://unm.edu/~ewilkins/splash/erinprofile.jpeg)
Erin Wilkinson
Professor
Department of Linguistics
University of New Mexico
Contact: /www.unm.edu/~ewilkins/.
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