| Abstract: |
Found only in face-to-face communities with distinctive socioeconomic and demographic profiles that include numerous deaf residents, ‘village sign languages’ correlate with special ‘speech/sign communities,’ wherein widespread deafness is successfully communicatively managed because hearing villagers routinely acquire and use the local sign language. This language variety is as unusual as its sociolinguistic environment is fragile. Charting the life course of a contemporary village sign language and speech/sign community in Thailand, this article examines the causes and consequences of the emergence, expansion, and endangerment of Ban Khor Sign Language and its speech/sign community.
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