This is list of resources – mainly academic articles and theses – for those interested in the linguistics of South African Sign Language (SASL). I attempt to update it regularly, but please do contact me for suggestions and feedback. For those interested in sign languages more generally, Julie Hochgesang maintains a list of resources for working with Deaf researchers and with signed language communities, while Lynn Hou is currently compiling a bibliography of underrepresented topics in research on signed languages. The Sign Language Linguistics Society also has a database of sign linguistics theses.
Articles & Chapters
Structure of SASL
Aarons, Debra & Ruth Morgan. 2003. Classifier predicates and the creation of multiple perspectives in South African Sign Language. Sign Language Studies 3(2). 125-156. https://doi.org/10.1353/sls.2003.0001
Aarons, Debra & Ruth Morgan. 2000. The interaction of classifiers and syntax in South African Sign Language. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics 33. 1–20. https://doi.org/10.5774/33-0-47
De Barros, Courtney & Ian Siebörger. 2016. Sentential negation in South African Sign Language: A case study. Literator 37(2). 1-13. https://doi.org/10.4102/lit.v37i2.1285
Huddlestone, Kate. 2021. Negation and polar question-answer clauses in South African Sign Language. Sign Language & Linguistics 24(1): 63-86. https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.19014.hud
Köhlo, Mikhaela D.K., Ian Siebörger & William G. Bennett. 2017. A perfect end: A study of syllable codas in South African Sign Language. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus 52, 127-156. https://dx.doi.org/10.5842/52-0-727
Ogilvy Foreman, Dale, Claire Penn & Timothy Reagan. 1994. Selected syntactic features of South African Sign Language: a preliminary analysis. South African Journal of Linguistics, 12(4). 118-123. https://doi.org/10.1080/10118063.1994.9723936
Penn, Claire & Timothy Reagan. 1994. The properties of South African Sign Language: Lexical diversity and syntactic unity. Sign Language Studies 85. 319-327. https://doi.org/10.1353/sls.1994.0011
Vermeerbergen, Myriam, Mieke van Herreweghe, Philemon Akach & Emily Matabane. 2007. Constituent order in Flemish Sign Language (VGT) and South African Sign Language (SASL): a cross-linguistic study. Sign Language & Linguistics 10(1). 23-54. https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.10.1.04ver
Sociolinguistics of SASL
Aarons, Debra & Philemon Akach. 1998. South African Sign Language – one language or many? A sociolinguistic question. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics 31. 1-28. https://doi.org/10.5774/31-0-55
Akach, Philemon, Eline Demey, Emily Matabane, Mieke Van Herreweghe & Myriam Vermeerbergen. 2009. What is South African sign language? What is the South African Deaf community? In Birgit Brock-Utne & Ingse Skattum (eds), Languages and education in Africa: A comparative and transdisciplinary analysis, 333-348. Oxford: Symposium Books.
Glaser, Meryl & Ermien van Pletzen. 2012. Inclusive education for Deaf students: Literacy practices and South African Sign Language. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 30(1). 25–37. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2012.693707
Holness, Willene. 2016. The development and use of sign language in South African schools: the denial of inclusive education. African Disability Rights Yearbook 4. 141–189. http://www.saflii.org/za/journals/ADRY/2016/8.html
Morgan, Ruth, Meryl Glaser & Lucas Magongwa. 2016. Constructing and rolling out the new South African Sign Language (SASL) curriculum – reflexive critique. Per Linguam 32(2). 15–29. https://doi.org/10.5785/32-2-648
Ngobeni, Winnie Poelane, Joseph Ramathibela Maimane & Mmushetji Petrus Rankhumise. 2020. The effect of limited sign language as barrier to teaching and learning among Deaf learners in South Africa. South African Journal of Education, 40(2): 1-7. https://dx.doi.org/10.15700/saje.v40n2a1735
Penn, Claire. 1992. The sociolinguistics of South African Sign Language. In Robert K. Herbert (ed), Language and society in South Africa, 277-284. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand Press.
Penn, Claire & Timothy Reagan. 1990. How do you sign ‘apartheid’? The politics of South African Sign Language. Language Problems and Language Planning 14. 91-103. https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.14.2.02pen
Penn, Claire & Timothy Reagan. 1995. On the other hand: Implications of the study of South African Sign Language for the education of the deaf in South Africa. South African Journal of Education 15: 92-96.
Reagan, Timothy. 2008. South African Sign Language and language-in-education policy in South Africa. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics 38. 165-190. https://doi.org/10.5774/38-0-28
Reagan, Timothy & Claire Penn. 1997. Language policy, South African Sign Language, and the deaf: Social and educational implications. Southern African Journal of Applied Language Studies 5. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10189203.1997.9724654
Reagan, Timothy, Claire Penn & Dale Ogilvy. 2006. From policy to practice: Sign language developments in post-apartheid South Africa. Language Policy 5. 187-208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-006-9002-y
Stander, Marga & Guy Mcilroy. 2017. Language and culture in the Deaf community: a case study in a South African special school. Per Linguam 33(1): 83-99. https://doi.org/10.5785/33-1-688
Storbeck, Claudine, Lucas Magongwa & Ingrid Parkin. 2009. Education of the Deaf in South Africa. In Donald F. Moores & Margery S. Miller (eds), Deaf people around the world: educational and social perspectives, 133-144. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/2069
Storbeck, Claudine, David Martin, Ingrid Parkin, Lucas Magongwa, Bruno Peter Nkosi Druchen, Michelle Batchelor, Guy McIlroy, Deon de Villiers, Nazereen Captieux-Bhana, Lorato Rasebopye, Dorothy Rasebopye, Susanna Krige-Henderson, Frans Krige, Albie Louw, Tanya Surtees, A.L. Smit, Roy Cox & Murdock Henderson. 2010. South African Deaf education and the Deaf community. American Annals of the Deaf 155(4). 488-518. https://doi.org/10.1353/aad.2010.0034
SASL literature
Baker, Anne. 2017. Poetry in South African Sign Language: what is different? Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics 48: 87-92. https://doi.org/10.5774/48-0-282
Morgan, Ruth, & Michiko Kaneko. 2020. Construction of deaf narrative identity in Creative South African Sign Language (SASL). Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus 59: 1-20. https://doi.org/10.5842/59-0-792
Theses & Dissertations
Njeyiyana, Susan. 2022. Lexical variation and change in SASL : a case study of a Western Cape school-lect. Master’s thesis, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/124951
Magongwa, Lucas Matsobane. 2020. The introduction of South African Sign Language as a first language subject in schools for the deaf in Gauteng: teachers’ experience. PhD dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/30038
Palmer, Amy. 2020. Developing a sentence repetition test for the evaluation of deaf children’s use of South African sign language. Master’s thesis, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/107698
Van Niekerk, Andries. 2020. A lexical comparison of South African sign language and potential lexifier languages. Master’s thesis, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/107699
Le Roux, Annemarie. 2019. Late acquisition of South African Sign Language of deaf children from hearing parents: a sociolinguistic perspective. Master’s thesis, University of the Free State, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/11660/9828
De Barros, Courtney Leigh. 2017. Wh-question formation in South African sign language: a case study. Master’s thesis, Rhodes University, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/42800
Ganiso, Mirriam. 2017. Sign language in South Africa: pedagogic approaches, policy developments and new directions. PhD dissertation, Rhodes University, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7323
Janse van Vuuren, Naomi. 2017. An Exploratory Description of Classifiers in South African Sign Language. Master’s thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/26355
Köhlo, Mikhaela. 2017. A perfect end: a study of syllable codas in South African Sign Language. Master’s thesis, Rhodes University, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/36127
McIlroy, Guy William. 2017. The implementation of South African Sign Language (SASL) and sign bilingualism in a school for the deaf interpreted through the identity metaphors used by school leadership (SMT) and teachers. PhD dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/25730
Ngobeni, Winnie Poelane. 2017. The effect of sign language barriers among deaf learners: a case study of a special school in Motheo district South Africa. Master’s thesis, Central University of Technology, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/11462/1420
Nokwazi, Nyaleti. 2017. An investigation of lexical borrowing in the South African Sign Language (SASL) lexicon. Master’s thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Wright, Donovan. 2016. A preliminary description of South African Sign Language syntax. Master’s thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Steyn, Minna A. 2015. Investigating the course of L1 SASL development and L2 Afrikaans reading development in young deaf children following a newly introduced curriculum with SASL as both LoLT and school subject. Master’s thesis, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/97906
Fourie, Hanelle. 2013. ‘n Leksikografiese model vir ‘n elektroniese tweetalige grondslagfasewoordeboek van Suid-Afrikaanse Gebaretaal en Afrikaans. PhD dissertation, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/79928
Wehrmeyer, Jennifer Ella. 2013. A critical investigation of deaf comprehension of signed TV news interpretation. PhD dissertation, University of South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/13321
Akach, Philemon Abiud Okinyi. 2010. Application of South African Sign Language (SASL) in a bilingual-bicultural approach in education of the deaf. PhD dissertation, University of the Free State, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/11660/663
Selzer, Marsanne. 2010. South African Sign Language used in Parliament: Is there a need for standardisation? Master’s thesis, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/4200
Lombaard, Susanna Catherina. 2005. The accessibility of a written Bible versus a signed Bible for the deaf born person with sign language as first language. Master’s thesis, University of the Free State, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/11660/5493
Prinsloo, Beatrice Aletta. 2003. An introductory South African Sign Language (SASL) grammar for the beginner sign language student. Master’s thesis, University of the Free State, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/11660/5982
De Klerk, Nicolene Lynette. 2003. Spoken/sign language as a criterion for school readiness among deaf pre-schoolers. Master’s thesis, University of the Free State, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/11660/844
Commerford, Ann. 2003. The study of a long term sign language intervention programme for hearing caregivers of deaf children : the challenges and successes of community-based rehabilitation and evaluation. Master’s thesis, University of Cape Town, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8580
Other Resources
University of the Witwatersrand – Resources for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons: Sign Language https://libguides.wits.ac.za/deaf_and_hardofhearing/signlanguage
South African Sign Language and Sign Linguistics Newsletter – provides information about the latest research, conference calls, and other interesting SASL and sign linguistics-related news on a semi-regular basis.
SASL and Sign Linguistics Research @SU YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Am2J5oHFS3nShNxTKHI9A
This channel is aimed at providing information in SASL about the latest research, conference calls, and other interesting SASL and sign linguistics-related news. We also share videos in SASL and English about aspects of the linguistics of the language.
Dictionaries
South African Sign Language (SASL) Video Dictionary https://www.learnsasl.com (includes signs approved by the National Language Board for SASL, PanSALB) Published by the National Institute for the Deaf (NID)
FingerTalk – SASL Dictionary – App Store | Google Play Store
SASL DEAFinition App – https://www.deafinition.co.za/
SASL. A teacher, friend & family resource for beginners
Real South African Sign Language database https://www.realsasl.com/