The Sociolinguistics of Alternate Sign Languages of Arnhem Land

A look at the research done so far on sign languages shows a focus on the so-called primary ! !  $ % % ! There is a substantial amount of studies on sign languages around the world, e.g. AUSLAN in Australia, Deutsche Gebärdensprache (DGS) (German Sign Language) in Germany, and <# * + * ! ̂ research, with an increase in sign languages other than the ones found in Western countries. We have studies on Jamaican Sign Language (Cumberbatch 2012), Mauritian Sign Language, (Gebert and Adone 2006, Adone 2012), Bhan Khor Sign Language (Nonaka 2012), Kata Kolok Z  ` = Z^  ` # ! " % # ' ! < %  # # % # these languages.

while alternate is used as an alternative to speech under special circumstances (Kendon 1988). This implies the language is learnt as a second language. This is obviously not always the case. A close look at some of the alternate sign languages in Arnhem Land and how/when they are used reveals that in some communities hearing people acquire these sign languages from birth, thus making the hearing population bimodal bilingual and not second language users of sign languages. Table 1 is an attempt to classify the various types of sign languages that have been reported in the literature so far. Under "homeland and outstation" we classify sign languages found in those small settlements with small groups of people usually belonging to one or two families and their close kin. These settlements on clan territories are called 'homeland centers' or 'outstations' and are found throughout the remote areas of Arnhem Land. Life on homelands are organized more tightly around "landownership and care for sites family and ancestral connections" (James 2014:22) , one of which is older and is used by old members of the outstations. Another example is seen in the sign for 'cats in the cradle' games which is a game children used to play with string made from shredded bark string (for example) to form shapes representing local locations, animals, objects. During an elicitation task, many young adults (25-30 years of age) living in townships, were not able to give us the signs for some cultural artifacts/knowledge such as 'string bag' or celestial bodies. In contrast, most old people on outstations knew these signs. This type of observation reinforces our view that outstations have possibly retained some 'old' signs that are either not commonly used anymore or have been replaced by other signs in the township sign languages, a possible scenario given that townships are the result of the government sponsored mission project to end nomadism among people over their land.
Under "townships" we count Maningrida, Galiwin'ku, Minjilang etc. These are large settlements of 1000 people or more that have been developed by the government. In these townships ^L ÄUK ZL]LYHS NYV\WZ VM (IVYPNPUHS WLVWSL ZVTL[PTLZ MYVT ^PKLS` ZLWHYH[L SPUN\PZ[PJ HUK geographical groups, living in close quarters with others, and with some usually poor facilities such as a shop, petrol station, police station, school, and maybe an airport. Under "small community" we would count Gapuwiyak, among others, which stand in between townships with smaller populations and outstations. Outstations generally have very few facilities but life there is less crowded and more pleasant.

Overview on Sign Languages in Arnhem Land: Past and Present
A look at reports on sign languages in Australia shows several scholars mentioning the use of sign languages across Arnhem Land, including Warner (1937) (2014), it seems in some places the sign language is highly developed in the sense it is used in a wide range of contexts, has a large lexicon (more than 1000 signs) and has complex constructions, while in other places they might not be or alternatively they might have lost some of their complexities.
One factor these sign languages all share is they are endangered languages, with varying degree of endangerment. We will not discuss the degree of endangerment of these languages in this paper as it would go beyond the scope of this article, however Adone & Maypilama (2013) provides some information.
Map 1 gives an overview of some communities in Arnhem Land which we have observed the use of sign languages. This map is not exhaustive. First of all, all of these sign languages are used as a L1 by the few Deaf people living in the communities as well as by the members of the hearing community, thus making the hearing users of these sign languages bimodal bilinguals. In other words, the people use languages in two of the three modalities (visual, auditory and tactile) available to our species, namely speech and signs to communicate depending on the contexts. We will not include tactile modality in our discussion because of the lack of space. To the best of our knowledge, this environment in which speech and gestures and signs coexists is rarely attested elsewhere in the world with the exception of Native American communities (see Farnell 1995Farnell , 2003, but is very common in Aboriginal Australia. Two characteristics of this environment are: speech and gesture/signs are intertwined and used in parallel in conversations which has led to the so-called 'co-speech gesture situation' and the switch from speech to signs or vice versa which we label here as 'modality switching'. These two characteristics seem to be the key characteristics present in However there are other activities in which sign language is also used, such as when walking in the swamps looking for mangrove worms. In this context it is important to use sign language because of crocodiles lurking in the swamp.
When people are not able to communicate through spoken language over long distance, sign language is usually used. This is seen in questions asked over long distance such as 'where are you going' or 'do you have a smoke for me'. People passing by in a car use sign language to ask for information such as 'river up or not'.
In various types of ceremonies, for example initiation ceremonies, novices use sign language because the use of spoken language is forbidden. We were also told that the male elders involved in the ceremony, for example. the ceremony 'bosses', also use sign language when they do not want to be overheard by the novices. Furthermore, communication in general, as well as some dances, are also performed with the use of sign language in funerals. Sign language is also used when on sacred grounds or close to sacred objects. These contexts have one common denominator: silence is culturally requested because speech is regarded as inappropriate.
In times of mourning, the name of the deceased is not used and reference to the deceased can only take place indirectly. also important. Some of these facial expressions are commonly attested in many sign languages around the world. In some cases they share some common functions. Although there are some general tendencies in the use of non-manuals across sign languages, it seems the use of facial expressions is very much dictated by the culture in which these sign languages emerge. A piece of evidence in support of this view is provided by the use of eye gaze. While eye gazing is very common in many sign languages of the western world, eye gazing at people in the ( certain area as seen in picture 1. This space "extends from approximately just above the head to the waist, and in width from elbow the arms are held loosely bent" as seen in pictures 2 and 3 (Brennan 1992:22). In the alternate sign languages studied here, signers exploit a larger space as seen in picture 4 in which a kin sign is used by touching one's calf.

Picture 4: Sign for SIBLING
Although we cannot discuss the use of larger space in detail here, we would like to point to two factors that can account for this, namely that Aboriginal people use an Absolute Frame of Reference to refer to directions and locations, as well as direct pointing as a component of the pointing repertoire (Levinson 2003).
Further evidence for variability is seen in the use of signs such as UNCLE that is a combination of a hand-shape and movement as seen in picture (5). Some signers use the sign UNCLE with a short slap on the left hand, while others have their left arm standing vertical next to their body. The same type of variability is seen in many other signs including the sign for the dyadic relationship 'grandchildren-grandparents': Picture 5a and 5b: Variability in the sign UNCLE (mother's side)

Picture 6a and 6b: Variability in the dyadic sign GRANDPARENTS-GRANDCHILDREN
Another form of variability is attested syntactically, that is in the use of so-called non-manuals (e.g. facial expressions such as eye and lip pointing) that accompany manual signs to express some form of reference marking. As mentioned earlier, eye gaze is culturally not appropriate towards people, but eye pointing is. Signs for certain common activities such as 'sleep', 'eat', and 'dance' are iconic and shared across these alternate sign systems. An example is found in the same iconic minimal pair signs 'police' and 'in gaol' in YSL, KSL, and TSL:

Discussion
A look at the literature shows two possible explanations for alternate sign languages in Australia. Kendon (1988) has argued that female speech taboo was probably one of the reasons for the emergence of alternate sign languages in the North Central Desert area of Australia, thus linking the existence of these sign languages to culture. Butcher (2015) argues that hearing impairment could account for the emergence of these alternate sign languages, thus linking the existence of the sign languages in Aboriginal Australia to Deafness. In the case of these sign languages under investigation here, we believe the cultural component, the request for silence/ the inappropriateness of speech in certain contexts (i.e. the proximity of sacred grounds, objects) as well as the underlying principle of circumspection in Aboriginal interaction account best for the existence of these sign languages. A close look at compounds shows the existence of two or three iconic signs in the decomposition of compounds. Two excellent examples are the sign CITY that consists of three signs STONE BUILDING BIG and the sign GET MARRIED that consists of GRAB SILENT GO AWAY. In each example the signs stand next to each other (Kyle & Woll 1985), a phenomenon already observed in the development of other sign languages.

Conclusion
In this paper we set out to discuss the sociolinguistics of alternate sign languages found in Arnhem Land. The alternate sign languages studied here share one sociolinguistic characteristic: they are used by small numbers of people in remote communities.