FAQ

1. Hey Cecily wanna meet me at Kramer's tonight?

Oh man I totally do but I am in Africa.

2. wtf?

yeah I'm doing research here. I'm in Rwanda. My dad lives here.

3. when are you gonna be back?

May 30!

4. well you wanna meet me at Kramers after you're back then?

Yes! Yes I do!

5. hey tell me more details about this "research" thing you mentioned

That is boring to me, but I will let you read a segment of our [APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!] IRB application.

6. oh okay

here you go:


Phonological processes in AKR:

This project will continue to investigate the phonological system of the signed language at use at the Institut Fillippo Smaldone (ISF), a residential school for deaf children in Kigali, Rwanda. Very limited documentation of this sign language has been published to date. This project undertakes to continue work towards a description of the language and its phonology, with a primary focus on phonological processes that occur during narrative signing. Conceptions of phonology and definitions of phonemes for signed languages and for all human language will be particularly affected by this research.

We are seeking IRB approval for a project documenting, describing and analyzing phonological processes in Rwandan Sign Language (Amarenga y’Ikinyarwanda: AKR). The main research questions for the project are: (1) What phonological processes occur in narrative production of AKR? (2) How do these processes compare and contrast to those documented in other signed languages? (3) Can generalizations be made about signed language phonology in general based on these results?