Language is an 'activity of the whole body': A memorial to Franz Dotter
| Autor: | Wilcox, Sherman, Lackner, Andrea |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| DOI: | 10.25364/04.48:2021.93.7 |
| Popis: | Franz Dotter was a world recognized linguist and sign language scholar. His tragic passing in 2018 deprived the field of sign linguistics from a pioneering voice. In this paper we ask several questions concerning sign language and Dotter’s approach to sign linguistics and reflect on Franz Dotter’s contributions to the field of sign linguistics. Dotter turned his expertise and analytic skill to questioning the common approach to sign languages which assumed that theories developed to account for spoken language could be simply applied to sign languages. Instead, Dotter insisted on studying sign languages on their own terms. Dotter also was a thoughtful critic of the claim that most characteristic elements of sign languages are fusions of linguistic and non-linguistic elements — a claim which he incorporated into the title of a paper and then resoundingly rejected. As we show, Dotter was an early proponent of cognitive linguistic approaches to sign language analysis. He also was a critical thinker who examined and encouraged others to study the importance of non-manual elements in sign language texts. Always an advocate for sign languages and deaf people, Dotter was active in fighting for Deaf Rights. Finally, we introduce some of the research we have conducted, influenced either directly or indirectly by our interactions with Franz Dotter. Keywords: Cognitive Linguistics, typology, sign languages, cognitive grammar, gesture Grazer Linguistische Studien 93 (Frühjahr 2021); S. 225–259 |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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