Constanze Schmaling

Preface

Sign language linguistics has become increasingly important in the past years because it has presented new ideas about language structure and universals of language – whether spoken or signed. The analyses of the structure of sign languages have also provided theoretical insights into questions as the origin of language, language acquisition and language change. While sign languages in the USA and in Europe are relatively well researched, systematic analyses of African sign languages have only recently begun and were carried out in South and East Africa.

This book is the first comprehensive account of a West African sign language. It is a descriptive analysis of the phonology, morphology and lexicon of Hausa Sign Language (HSL) as used by deaf people in Kano State, northern Nigeria. The book is aimed at different groups of readers: on the one hand at linguists, both those concerned with African languages and those working in the field of sign language linguistics, on the other hand, at the deaf in Kano State and those living and working with them. I have therefore chosen to divide the book into two parts, including a comparatively large ‘background’- part which serves as an introduction to the different fields.

In Chapter 1, I will present a sketch of Hausa history, culture and language. Chapter 2 looks at the deaf community in Kano State and their organisations, at the status of deaf people in Hausa society, at education programmes for the deaf in Nigeria with particular focus on Kano State, and at the language situation in schools for the deaf. In Chapter 3, I will give an overview of the history of sign language studies and its main concerns; I will also describe data collection and explain the transcription system.