Journal Articles by E. Mara Green
American Anthropologist, 2022
This article examines interactions between deaf and hearing people in Nepal that are conducted in... more This article examines interactions between deaf and hearing people in Nepal that are conducted in natural sign, a mode of signed communication involving relatively small repertoires of conventional signs complemented by iconic and indexical strategies. Natural sign is an exemplary case for unpacking the claim that ethics is not only intrinsic to linguistic interaction but also grounds its very possibility. While this is ultimately true for all language use, natural sign heightens this quality and its consequences, in terms of both interaction (whether people understand) and analysis (how scholars understand whether people understand). Bringing together Nepali Sign Language users' insights with academic theories of interaction, pragmatics, and semiotics, this article demon
South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2022
This article examines j at ('caste, ethnicity') through the lens of signed conversations in conte... more This article examines j at ('caste, ethnicity') through the lens of signed conversations in contemporary eastern Nepal, where both intimacy and inequality characterise inter-j at relations. Local deaf and hearing people refer in sign to a person's j at with an action taken as emblematic of that j at, such as drinking alcohol. Signers use the same phrases to discuss persons' actions, which may or may not conform to typifications. Analysing signed discourse reveals that people negotiate a shifting social landscape through an approach to bodies as ontologically dual, belonging both to selves with idiosyncratic habits and to j at groups with prescribed and proscribed practices.
Gesture, 2017
This article focuses on a signed performance by a deaf Nepali man who commu- nicates in natural s... more This article focuses on a signed performance by a deaf Nepali man who commu- nicates in natural sign, which is similar to home sign but with greater cross- signer conventionality. The signer skillfully employs pantomimic (“gestural”) and lexical (“linguistic”) repertoires for distinct pragmatic purposes. In the narrative frame, he uses pantomime to vividly enact his morning routine; in the metanar- rative frame, he utilizes lexical signs to directly address the audience. By examin- ing the two repertoires’ formal characteristics and their relationship to different frames, this analysis showcases the signer’s communicative competency, demon- strates the relevance of pragmatics and genre to studies of all signed communica- tive modes, and challenges the idea that gesture is what language leaves behind.
Published by Language in Society
Book Chapters by E. Mara Green
Sign language ideologies in practice, 2020
While much research has taken place on language attitudes and ideologies regarding spoken languag... more While much research has taken place on language attitudes and ideologies regarding spoken languages, research that investigates sign language ideologies and names them as such is only just emerging. Actually, earlier work in Deaf Studies and sign language research uncovered the existence and power of language ideologies without explicitly using this term. However, it is only quite recently that scholars have begun to explicitly focus on sign language ideologies, conceptualized as such, as a field of study. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first edited volume to do so.
It’s a Small World: International Deaf Spaces and Encounters, M. Friedner and A. Kusters (eds). , 2015
In July 2007 I was sitting in a cavernous auditorium in a convention center in Madrid watching th... more In July 2007 I was sitting in a cavernous auditorium in a convention center in Madrid watching the opening ceremonies of the World Federation of the Deaf's (WFD's) quadrennial World Congress. At the conclusion of a visually sumptuous theatrical production, the actors on stage chanted, "sign language rights!" using International Sign (IS) vocabulary, and encouraged the audience to sign along with them. Dinakar, 1 a Nepali delegate to the WFD with whom I was sitting, gamely joined in the chant, then turned to me and asked what the sign rights meant. I had understood because the sign articulated by the actors was identical to that used in American Sign Language (ASL). Although at the time I did not know the Nepali Sign Language (NSL) sign rights, I did my best to explain the meaning. I use the term informal interpreting to refer to how, as in the scene just described, signers at international deaf events ask for and offer translations or rewordings to facilitate their own and others' understanding. 2 The word "informal" emphasizes that the individuals providing these translations are not formally designated interpreters but instead are present in some other capacity, e.g., as board members, 1 Institutional names are all real; personal names are all pseudonyms. 2 In this chapter, I write deaf rather than Deaf or d/Deaf because the big D/little d distinction and its orthographic representation are grounded in the histories and cultural contexts of the United States and other Western countries. In international settings, this distinction may be relevant to or used by some participants but not to or by others; applying it to such settings thus risks positioning Western cultural logics as if they were-or should be-universal. I have chosen the term deaf as the least marked option available in written English; it is not intended to carry the meanings it takes on when used in contrast with Deaf.
Encyclopedia Entries by E. Mara Green
The Deaf Studies Encyclopedia, G. Gertz and P. Boudreault (eds). , 2016
Dissertation by E. Mara Green
Conference Proceedings by E. Mara Green
Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 2009
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Journal Articles by E. Mara Green
Book Chapters by E. Mara Green
Encyclopedia Entries by E. Mara Green
Dissertation by E. Mara Green
Conference Proceedings by E. Mara Green