Brazilian Sign Language Studies
Temas
Detalles
This book brings together a representative collection of sign language research from Brazil, spanning the last few decades. Brazilian Sign Language (Língua Brasileira de Sinais, or Libras) was legally recognized as the national language of Deaf communities in Brazil in 2002 (Law 10.436), which was an achievement that resulted from an indigenous Deaf social movement as well as from two decades of linguistic research. The first studies on Libras were carried out in the late 1980s and early 90s, and demonstrated that it features all the characteristics and components of a natural language. Subsequently, studies into sign language acquisition showed that Deaf children learn sign languages in a similar way to how hearing children acquire spoken languages. This academic direction reflected the need to prove that Libras was a language. After this was established, researchers began studying the origins and structure of Libras, along with applied aspects. This book attempts to mirror this evolution in the scholarly study of Libras by including work from each phase.