Ryan Rinerson L&S Social Sciences
Creating a Hawaiʻi Sign Language Video Dictionary
Hawaiʻi Sign Language (HSL) is the indigenous sign language of the Hawaiian Islands. It has been critically endangered since 1939, when American Sign displaced HSL use at the school for the Deaf on Oʻahu. In 2013, researchers in association with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa pioneered HSL documentation, creating several revitalization lessons and starter HSL-English book dictionaries. Large-scale language documentation has not continued since the end of the initial project and HSL is in immediate need of further preservation. My SURF project will advance HSL documentation through collecting linguistic, cultural, and historical information regarding the Hawaiʻi Deaf community from sign educator and native HSL signer Linda Lambrecht. The ultimate goal of this project is to produce the first public HSL video dictionary, which will form the backbone of advanced HSL research. In addition to being one of the few projects working to document an indigenous sign language in the United States, the HSL video dictionary will significantly contribute to a growing corpus of Pacific Island Sign research.
For information on previous HSL research please see here: www.elararchive.org/dk0345
Message To Sponsor
Critically endangered with no growing native speaker population, Hawaiʻi Sign Language is projected to go dormant within coming decades. For such reason, it is vital we act now to preserve Hawaiʻi Deaf language and history. Thank you for your donation to my SURF project---your generosity affects not just me but extends to broader community, providing hope for endangered languages everywhere.