ITALIAN SIGN LANGUAGE

The teaching of Italian Sign Language is a distinctive activities of the Master's Degree in Language Sciences and contributes to the knowledge of problems inherent in the development of language (especially in prelingual deafness); it contributes to the knowledge of access to language and linguistic systems and / or communicative emploied as an alternative to oral language in deafness and communicative disabilities in general. The course aims to develop observation, research and autonomy in identifying possible solutions in linguistic and communicative disabilities. The course also provides an in-depth knowledge of LIS for students who have attended the three-year course or a general knowledge of LIS for students who have never attended an LIS course.

The aim of the course is to provide students with useful skills to handle the study of LIS through a linguistic approach. In particular, the aim is to stimulate the production of specific area texts in LIS (for students who have previously studied Italian Sign Language), otherwise, the course aims at developing the basic grammatical and lexical competence of Italian Sign Language (for students who have not studied it previously). Moreover the aim is to understand how to interpret various linguistic and cultural phenomena connected to deafness.

Detailed learning objectives

1. Knowledge and understanding
• The student will get to know and understand the difficulties of deaf people regarding language acquisition, the linguistic competence of Italian Sign Language and the linguistic competence of a foreign oral language.
• The student will learn about the consequences of hearing loss from a social, linguistic and cognitive point of view.
• The student acquires knowledge about the peculiarities of languages that have no written form as Italian Sign Language.
• The student learns about the possible use of Italian Sign Language in communicative disabilities.
• For the student that has not attended an Italian Sign Language course previously: he/she understands the functional equivalent of the phonology of sign languages and especially of Italian Sign Language.The student learns and understands the fundamental phonological and morphological processes of Italian Sign Language.The student acquires the basic lexicon and grammar of Italian Sign Language.
• For the students who have attended the three-year LIS courses, he/she understands the main linguistic phenomena of sign languages from a structural point of view.

2. Applying knowledge and understanding
• The student is able to use the linguistic terminology correctly.
• The student is able to recognize and describe the characteristics of languages that have no written form and identify some of them in sign languages.
• The student is able to identify the contexts in which the use of Sign Languages is considered to be appropriate, to resolve problems inherent in communicative disabilities, through participation in internships and job training programmes (in schools, special needs institutions, care homes for the elderly, etc.), and subsequently report back on their experience.
• The student is able to integrate the knowledge provided during the course with further research connected to issues relating to language, culture, education, the application of LIS in different areas.

3. Making judgements
• The student is able to obtain research information autonomously, to formulate hypotheses, and express his/her opinions on specific themes underlying Italian Sign Language.


4. Communication skills
• The student is able to communicate in a clear and unambiguous form, citing sources appropriately.
• The student is able to interact with the peers, the professor and the tutor in a critical and respectful way.
• The student is able to interact in Italian Sign Language in basic communicative situations (basic students) or advanced communicative situation (advanced students).

5. Learning skills
• The student is able to apply the method of critical thinking, to make cross-linguistic comparisons, and identify research lines.
• The student is able to consult the literature present in the texts and articles and search for new sources.

Students attending the advanced course must have attended a three-year Italian Sign Language course.
No prerequisites are required for the basic course.
For other situations (intermediate LIS, attending other LIS courses) an alternative program can be agreed).

The course of Italian Sign Language is divided into the theoretical module (taught by Prof. Carmela Bertone in one semester) and the yearly linguistic practice (taught by Dott. Gabriele Caia).

Part supervised by the teacher:
The lessons will be conducted in the form of seminars for each topic.
1. Oral language and written language
2. Writing of oral language and deafness
3. Writing in Italian Sign Language
4. Thought and language: men without words
5. Bimodal bilingualism
6. Deaf education and teaching of Italian to deaf students
7. Study and teaching of foreign languages to deaf people
8. Foreigner deaf in Italy,
9. Use of LIS for other disabilities
10. Translation italian/LIS,
11. Diastratic variation in LIS
12. Sign Language Literarure
A list with the topic of each lesson with respective bibliographies will be provided.

Part supervised by the mother tongue expert:
For basic students a practicum in LIS (only practical lessons of LIS1) must be attended.
Advanced LIS students has to attend a 28-hours course comprised of the following topics.
• Theory and practice of poetry
• Improvement of prosody and facial expressions in LIS
• Language specific areas.

Reference books for basic LIS student
Mandatory:
Radutzky E. 2001, Dizionario bilingue elementare della Lingua Italiana dei Segni, Ed. Kappa.
Volterra V. 2007, Le lingue dei segni, Carocci ed.
Appunti delle lezioni ed eventuale altro materiale suggerito dal CEL durante le lezioni.
I primi 400 segni. Piccolo dizionario della Lingua dei segni italiana per comunicare con i sordi. 2008. A cura di Natalia Angelini, Rossano Borgioli, Anna Folchi, Matteo Mastromatteo. Carocci

Reference book for advanced LIS student
Linguistic practice for advanced LIS students
Notes of lectures and other material suggested by the teacher during the lessons.

Referencece book common
Cardinaletti A. Branchini C. (a cura di) 2016, "la lingua dei segni nelle disabilità comunicative". FrancoAngeli.
Chesi C. 2006, Il linguaggio verbale non standard dei bambini sordi, Roma E.U.R.
Fabbretti D. Tommasuolo E. 2006, Scrittura e Sordità, Carocci
Trovato S. 2014, Insegno in segni, Raffaello Cortina Ed.

Other books
Bertone C., 2007, La struttura del sintagma determinante nella Lingua dei Segni Italiana, LIS. Tesi di dottorato. Dipartimento di Scienze del Linguaggio, Ca’ Foscari, Venezia.
Brunelli M. 2009, “La “sinistra” periferia sinistra: sintassi della Lingua dei Segni Italiana, analizzata alla luce dell’Antisimmetria e dello split-CP”. In Bertone, C., A. Cardinaletti (a cura di) Alcuni capitoli della grammatica della LIS. Atti dell’Incontro di studio “La grammatica della Lingua dei segni italiana”. Cafoscarina. Venezia, 117-136.
Bertone C. (a cura di) 2013, Pinocchio in LIS. Edizioni Cafoscarina (VE)
Bertone, C., A. Cardinaletti (a cura di) 2009 Alcuni capitoli della grammatica della LIS. Atti dell’Incontro di studio “La grammatica della Lingua dei segni italiana”. Cafoscarina. Venezia.
Branchini C. Cardinaletti A. Cecchetto C. Donati C.;Geraci C. (2013)
Wh- duplication in Italian Sign Language Signs and Structures. Formal Approaches to Sign Language Syntax, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2015.
Halliday M. 1985, Lingua parlata e lingua scritta, La Feltrinelli.
Neidle C., J. Kegl, D. Mac Laughlin, B. Bahan, R. Lee, 2000 The Syntax of American Sign Language: functional categories and hierarchical structure. MIT Press
Ong W. J. 1977, Oralità e Scrittura, Il Mulino
Shaller S. 1991, A man without words, New York : Summit Books.
Sacks O. 1990, vedere voci, Adelphi.
Senghas, A. 1995 Children's contribution to the birth of Nicaraguan Sign Language Cambridge Mass., MIT Working papers in linguistics.

Basic level:
DVD, "Pa-Pa" (Cultura Sorda, Ironia, Barzellette e Storia dei sordi), il monologo di Gabriele Caia
DVD, la lingua dei Segni Italiana: corso elementare.
http://www.deafmedia.eu/dvdshop/lis1/lis1.html

Students will be evaluated through two different stages:
(i) a production and discussion of monographic thesis inspired by a topic touched in the seminars during the course.
(ii) For advanced LIS students a written examination aiming at verifying the linguistic comprehension of LIS and a following oral examination aiming at verifying the advanced communicative competence developed during the linguistic practice in LIS.
(ii) For basic LIS students a written examination aiming at verifying the linguistic comprehension of LIS and a following oral examination aiming at verifying the basic communicative competence developed in LIS.
The final score is the mean of the first examination and the result of the two scores of the second examination.

Lectures and linguistic practices directed to individuals and groups.
An extensive range of video recorded linguistic material will be used. Students will use the software GoReact (https://goreact.wistia.com/medias/htlspjqzsh ) specifically developed for the correction of linguistic practice in sign language. Students will receive feedback to their linguistic exercise through the software GoReact from the teacher carrying out linguist practice in Italian Sign Language.

Italian

Students not attending the course will have to contact the teacher to plan an alternative program.

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development