Lecture | Sign Languages & Deaf People
Challenges in the Historical Comparison of Sign Languages: Lessons from the Sign Change Project
- Date
- Friday 20 February 2026
- Time
- Serie
- Sign Languages and Deaf People (SL&D) lecture series
- Address
-
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden - Room
- 0.30
Abstract
In historical linguistics, cognates in related spoken languages are identified by the presence of regular, systematic correspondences. Such regular correspondences have not yet been identified among sign languages thought to be related, such as those of the French sign family. In consequence, sign historical linguists have much less confidence in their identification of sign cognates. In the Sign Change project, we are attempting to apply the Comparative Method from historical linguistics to 10 sign languages of the French sign family and to three sign languages of the British sign family, with the aim of identifying regular correspondences and, thus, cognate signs. In this presentation, I explain the challenges we have faced in the Sign Change project and some of the lessons we have learned that offer promising ways forward for future research.