Exploring Phonological Aspects of Australian Indigenous Sign Languages

Spoken languages make up only one aspect of the communicative landscape Indigenous Australia—sign are also an important part their rich and diverse language ecologies. Australian sign predominantly used by hearing people as a replacement for speech in certain cultural contexts. Deaf or hard-of-hearing known to use these languages. In some circumstances, may be alongside speech, others it replace altogether. Alternate such those found Australia occupy particular place diversity world’s However, focus research on phonology has almost exclusively been deaf communities. This paper takes steps towards deepening understandings signed examining articulatory features handshape body locations signing practices three communities Central Northern Australia. We demonstrate that, while have typologically unusual features, they exhibit same ‘fundamental’ structural characteristics other