Call for Abstracts

Learning sign languages across the lifespan – diverse trajectories in first and second language learning

Workshop organisers
Door Spruijt, Isabel Temmen and Dr. Annika Schiefner (University of Cologne)

German Sign Language (DGS)

International Sign (IS)

English

Workshop at the 49th Annual Meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (DGFS) 2027

Date
3–5 March 2027

Location
Friedrich Schiller University, Jena

Submission deadline
1 August 2026

Notification of acceptance
1 September 2026

Invited speaker
Dr. Kaj Kraus (Boston University)

Workshop topic

DGS

Sign languages and the diverse paths to their acquisition offer a unique opportunity to gain insight into linguistic theory and human cognition. Structurally, the visual-gestural modality has different affordances and demands than the oral-aural modality and these have implications for linguistic theory (Perniss 2018). Socially, signer demographics are extremely varied due to factors such as (familial) hearing status, language ideology, and access to a sign language community (De Meulder 2019). Just these two aspects illustrate how sign acquisition trajectories may vastly differ from speech acquisition pathways and how the general conversation on language learning would benefit from their inclusion. However, our understanding of the developmental pathways taken in scenarios of sign language learning remains limited. Particularly, research into sign languages as second languages is sparse (Schönström 2021), despite most signers acquiring a sign language as such (De Meulder 2019).

Therefore, this workshop aims to bring together researchers working on sign language acquisition in children and adults, contributing a range of perspectives on the diverse learning contexts in which sign languages are learned by diverse populations. This entails research on acquisition patterns of specific linguistic features and structures, as well as observations regarding language transmission, attitudinal and motivational factors, and broader observations of language learning over time. Contributions that bridge and compare different contexts or areas of linguistic development are particularly welcome.

Key references

De Meulder, Maartje. 2019. “So, why do you sign?” Deaf and hearing new signers, their motivation, and revitalisation policies for sign languages. Applied Linguistics Review 10(4). 705–724. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2017-0100.

Perniss, Pamela. 2018. Why we should study multimodal language. Frontiers in Psychology 9. 1109. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01109.

Schönström, Krister. 2021. Sign languages and second language acquisition research: An introduction. Journal of the European Second Language Association 5(1). 30–43. https://doi.org/10.22599/jesla.73.