Deaf views on language politics in the Netherlands

Onno Crasborn is Associate Professor at Radboud University Nijmegen and holder of the Mary Brennan Memorial Fellowship for 2010 from the Deafness, Cognition and Language (DCAL) research centre at UCL in London.

Presenter: Onno Crasborn
Title: Deaf views on language politics in the Netherlands
Date: 12th May 2010
Time: 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Venue: Business Executive Centre, Heriot-Watt University, EH14 4AS (how to get there)
BSL/English Interpreter: Kyra Pollitt

All welcome!

Download the poster

UPDATE: You can see some photos and video clips from the seminar at http://edsign34.blogspot.com/2010/05/video-clips-from-onno-crasborns.html.

UPDATE: View the slides

Abstract
More than 10 years ago, the national government of the Netherlands agreed to give Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) official legal status – but only on condition that the vocabulary of the language was standardised to remove regional variations.

Today there is a 'preferential lexicon' for NGT, but the government still does not want to recognise the language.

Onno will present and discuss the views of Deaf people: do they see the variation in their language as a problem, or as something to be proud of?

Onno's visit is supported by the Mary Brennan Memorial Fellowship from the Deafness, Cognition and Language (DCAL) research centre in London.