The majority of deaf children are born to hearing parents. The fact that many of these children use sign language as their primary form of communication poses a unique language barrier between them and their hearing families. In addition, for children who are born into Hispanic families, these children have limited access to Hispanic and Deaf cultures unless their families actively pursue involvement with those communities. Data were collected through ethnographic interviews and limited participant observation and analyzed by means of grounded theory methodology. The study investigated how Hispanic mothers communicate with their deaf children who use ASL as their primary language, as well as how these mothers view Deafness as a culture.

In this paper, doubling in Russian Sign Language and Sign Language of the Netherlands is discussed. In both sign languages different constituents (including verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and whole clauses) can be doubled. It is shown that doubling in both languages has common functions and exhibits a similar structure, despite some differences. On this basis, a unified pragmatic explanation for many doubling phenomena on both the discourse and the clause-internal levels is provided, namely that the main function of doubling both in RSL and NGT is foregrounding of the doubled information.

The CopyCat project is an interdisciplinary effort to create a set of computer-aided language learning tools for deaf children. The CopyCat games allow children to interact with characters using American Sign Language (ASL). Through Wizard of Oz pilot studies we have developed a set of games, shown their efficacy in improving young deaf children's language and memory skills, and collected a large corpus of signing examples. Our previous implementation of the automatic CopyCat games uses automatic sign language recognition and verification in the infrastructure of a memory repetition and phrase verification task. The goal of my research is to expand the automatic sign language system to transition the CopyCat games to include the flexibility of a dialogue system. I have created a labeling ontology from analysis of the CopyCat signing corpus, and I have used the ontology to describe the contents of the CopyCat data set. This ontology was used to change and improve the automatic sign language recognition system and to add flexibility to language use in the automatic game.

After the release of Act No 108 of 1996, the status of the nine African languages of South Africa was elevated to that of English and Afrikaans and as a result, for the first time in the history of languages, South Africa became the first country in Africa to have eleven official languages. However, Sign Language for the Deaf was left out even though Section 6(4) of the South African School's Act No 84 of 1996 puts it clearly that "A recognized sign Language has the status of an official language for purposes of learning at a public school". In terms of Section 6 (5) (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Pan South African Language Board was also given a task to promote, and create conditions for the development and use of the Sign Language. DEAFSA (1996), states that Sign Language is the first or natural language for the Deaf. In Act No. 108 of 1996: Section 29(2) stipulates that: "Everyone has the right to receive education in the official language or languages of their choice in public educational institution where that is reasonably practicable". The first objective of this study was to investigate if the South African Sign Language (SASL) was a fully-fledged language and to find out more about the present status of this language. The second objective was to examine if South African Sign Language was taught to Parents of Deaf children from the Zulu hearing community's point of view. Marcel Jousse; a French Jesuit Anthropologist and linguist, firmly believes in the anthropology of geste, which is synonymous with the anthropology of mimicry. This theory forms the basis of language acquisition of all peoples of the world. "The oral style with its mnemotechnic devices only comes into play once the individual has been informed by a reality which he receives and replays through his mimic being as a whole, (Fanning (1995:vii). This theory best describes the manner in which signers acquire their sign language, which solely depends on gestures made in the space by hands, body movements and facial expressions. In this theory, the anthropos plays out the receptions of the universe, replays them, stores them and revivifies them in expressions that are the mimisms of the whole human compound: corporeal, ocular and auricular manual. Unfortunately, the laryngo - buccal mimism is excluded in deaf people since they cannot speak. A multi-disciplinary approach from the educational, linguistic, historical, political and cultural perspectives was employed in collecting data for this study. The samples for the study comprised deaf learners, deaf educators, and hearing educators in schools for the deaf, interpreters of sign language, senior management from the schools of Deaf learners and parents of the deaf children. The researcher discovered that very little has been done by researchers and the government of the day to assist the deaf to gain recognition in his or her community. Parents of deaf children are unable to communicate fully with their children. The study also revealed that deaf children prefer to be taught by deaf teachers because they can identify much better with them. The researcher discovered that literature for the deaf is non-existent in all spheres of their lives. Sign language per se, is not taught as a subject. Deaf learners are not allowed to take their subjects at a Higher Grade; as a result, they feel extremely marginalized by the educators. Promoting this language would improve our trade and industry, travel & tourism etc. Student exchange programmes would also enhance the development of the sign language locally, nationally and internationally. The Deaf would become multilingual in the Sign Languages of the world when they come into contact with Deaf people from other parts of the world. This would involve sport, education, politics and other activities. The deaf would be equipped to meet various challenges in life. The Deaf people need to communicate freely amongst themselves and the hearing community of our country should make an effort to learn the Sign Language so that they are able to communicate with the deaf. This would improve the socio-economic status of our country. / Thesis (Ph.D)-University of Durban-Westville, 2004.

The present study focuses on turn-taking and questions in conversations between deaf-blind persons using tactile sign language, i.e. communicating by holding each others hands, and how sign language utterances change in the tactile mode when the nonmanual signals characteristic of turntaking and interrogative sentences in (visual) sign language are not used. The material consists of six video-recorded conversations (four with deaf-blind pairs and two where one person is deaf and one is deaf-blind). Parts of the material, viz. 168 sequences with questions and answers, has been transcribed and analyzed. The analysis shows that deaf-blind signers use their hands in two different conversation positions. In the monologue position both the signer's hands are held under the hands of the listener, whereas in the dialogue position both participants hold their hands in identical ways: the right hand under the other person's left hand and the left hand on top of the other person's right hand. It is described how the two positions affect the structure of one- and twohanded signs and how back channeling, linguistic as well as non-linguistic (with different kinds of tapping), is used in the two positions. The analysis shows that differences in the vertical and the horizontal planes are used in turn-taking regulation. Using four different conversational levels the signer can signal e.g. turn change by lowering his/her hands from the turn level to the turn change level at the end of his/her turn. The horizontal plane is devided into three different turn zones. The turn holder uses his/her own turn zone close to the body and finishes the turn by moving the hands to the joint zone midway between the interlocutors or into the listener's zone. The analyzed utterances function as questions, yes/no-questions (82) as well as wh-questions (55). It is hypothesized that yes/no-questions are marked with the manual signal extended duration of the last sign of the utterance, one of the interrogative signals of visual signing, but this was only true for 46 % of the yes/no-questions in the material. Since extended duration of the last sign also signals turn change in e.g. statements it is not regarded as an interrogative signal. Additional markers of yes/no-questions are among others the sign INDEX-adr ('you') with its variant INDEX-adr-long, used as a summons signal, and repetitions of signs or sentences. As for the wh-questions a majority are made with a manual wh-sign. Generally, if there are no interrogative signals the context and the content of the utterance will account for its interpretation as a question. To avoid misunderstandings, questions and non-linguistic signals are used in checking turns, where the signer requests back channeling or the listener requests repetition or clarification. / <p>För att köpa boken skicka en beställning till exp@ling.su.se/ To order the book send an e-mail to exp@ling.su.se</p>

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 64).

A tese focaliza a temática do humor surdo, considerado como um componente da cultura surda. Busca seu aporte teórico nos Estudos Culturais e nos Estudos Surdos, além dos estudos sobre o humor. Sua questão central é: quais representações de surdos e características da cultura surda estão presentes em piadas que circulam nas comunidades surdas? Seus objetivos são analisar um conjunto de piadas consideradas clássicas pela comunidade surda, contrastando suas diferentes versões e identificando aspectos de humor preferentemente explorados. Principais critérios para escolha das piadas foram: ter personagens surdos e/ou temas da cultura surda; ter versão preferencialmente em Libras; apresentar mais de uma versão (de 4 a 6); ter tradição na comunidade surda. Foram analisadas 14 piadas, num total de 78 versões, com predominância de versões em vídeo, da internet ou de DVDs, mas também retiradas de material bibliográfico. A análise foi inspirada em pesquisadores da cultura surda (Strobel, 2009), do humor (Propp, 1992, Possenti, 1998; Bergson 1980), de representação (Hall, 1997), de identidade (Silva, 2000) e, especificamente, do humor surdo (Rutherford, 1983); Holcomb (1994); Renard & Lapalu (1997); Morgado (2011); Sutton-Spence & Napoli (2012). A análise qualitativa mostrou que a maioria das piadas apresenta temáticas relacionadas ao problema de comunicação, em situações em que o ouvinte não sabe Língua de Sinais. Neste caso, o humor atua no sentido de inverter os discursos correntes, em que os surdos são representados como tendo “dificuldade de comunicação”. Tais piadas integram a categoria “Rir dos outros”, em que a fonte do riso são as diferenças entre as experiências surdas e as experiências ouvintes. Nas primeiras, avulta o uso de línguas de sinais e a experiência visual, e o barulho não incomoda. Por outro lado, as piadas apresentam ouvintes atrapalhados com o uso da língua de sinais e/ou incomodados com o barulho. Rir dos ouvintes, dentro do chamado “riso de zombaria”, é frequente nas piadas. Elas manifestam também a importância da visibilidade, da experiência visual, com destaque para as vantagens de ser surdo, isto é, para o ganho surdo, que às vezes decorre de atitudes benevolentes de ouvintes, que são caridosos e não cobram dos surdos, ou do fato de que personagens surdos não são perturbados por barulhos e gritos. Outro grupo de piadas envolve o riso sobre coisas do próprio grupo, enquadradas na categoria “rir de nós mesmos”, abrangendo aquelas que apontam situações vantajosas ou situações que envolvem a urgência dos ouvintes em se livrarem da convivência com surdos. Também se enquadram nesta categoria piadas que exploram, de forma cômica, possíveis acidentes que uma comunicação com as mãos pode trazer, em função do espaço necessário para a realização dos sinais. As análises possibilitam concluir que as piadas surdas, algumas com décadas de tradição, além de provocarem riso, favorecem o sentimento de pertencimento a um grupo. Elas constituem parte da agenda de luta da comunidade surda, proporcionando alegria de viver e o fortalecimento do grupo e exercendo uma pedagogia cultural nesta comunidade, pedagogia relacionada à forma/necessidade/vontade de pertencimento ao grupo. / The thesis focuses on the theme of deaf humor, considered as a component of the deaf culture. It is theoretically supported by the Cultural Studies and Deaf Studies, in addition to studies on mood. Its central question is: which deaf representation and which characteristics of deaf culture are present on the jokes that go around on deaf communities? Its targets are to analyze a set of jokes considered classic by the deaf community, contrasting its different versions and identifying aspects of humor apparently explored. The main criteria to choose the jokes were: to have deaf characters and/or themes from deaf culture; to have preferably the version in LIBRAS; to present more than one version(from 4 to 6); to have tradition in the deaf community. There have been analyzed 14 jokes, in a total of 78 versions, predominantly video version, from the internet or from DVDs, but also some taken from bibliographical material. The analysis has been inspired in researches of deaf community (Strobel, 2009), from humor (Propp, 1992, Possenti, 1998; Bergson, 1980), from representation (Hall, 1997), from identity (Silva, 200) and, specifically, from deaf humor (Rutherford, 1983); Holcomb(1994); Renard & Lapalu (1997); Morgado (2011); Sutton-Spence & Napoli (2012).The qualitative analysis has brought up that the majority of the jokes present related themes to communication problems, in situations where the listener does not know Sign Language. In this case, humor acts in the sense of inverting the current speeches, where the deaf are represented as having "difficulties in communications". Such jokes are part of a category called " Laugh at other" where the source of laugh are the differences between deaf and listener experiences. In the first ones, it looms the use of sign language and visual experience, and the noise does not bother. In the other hand, the jokes present listeners disturbed by the use of sign language and/or bothered with noise. Laughing at the listeners, in the so called "mocking laughter" is frequent in the jokes. They also show the importance of visibility, from the visual experience, pointing the advantages of being deaf, or better, to the deaf gain, which sometimes comes from benevolent attitudes from listeners, who are charitable and do not charge from the deaf, or due to the fact that the deaf characters are not disturbed by noises and yells. Other set of jokes involves laughing at things common in the group, put on the category "laughing at ourselves", ranging those that pointed to advantageous situations or situations that involve listeners urgency in getting rid of living along with the deaf. Also, it falls into this category jokes that explore, in a comical way, possible accidents that a communication with hands can bring, depending on the space needed to carry out the signals. The analyzes enable us to conclude that deaf jokes, some with decades of tradition, besides provoking laughter, may favor the feeling of belonging to a group. They are part of the deaf community struggle agenda, providing joy of living and strengthening the group and exerting a cultural pedagogy in this community, pedagogy related to the way / need / desire of belonging to the group.

A tese focaliza a temática do humor surdo, considerado como um componente da cultura surda. Busca seu aporte teórico nos Estudos Culturais e nos Estudos Surdos, além dos estudos sobre o humor. Sua questão central é: quais representações de surdos e características da cultura surda estão presentes em piadas que circulam nas comunidades surdas? Seus objetivos são analisar um conjunto de piadas consideradas clássicas pela comunidade surda, contrastando suas diferentes versões e identificando aspectos de humor preferentemente explorados. Principais critérios para escolha das piadas foram: ter personagens surdos e/ou temas da cultura surda; ter versão preferencialmente em Libras; apresentar mais de uma versão (de 4 a 6); ter tradição na comunidade surda. Foram analisadas 14 piadas, num total de 78 versões, com predominância de versões em vídeo, da internet ou de DVDs, mas também retiradas de material bibliográfico. A análise foi inspirada em pesquisadores da cultura surda (Strobel, 2009), do humor (Propp, 1992, Possenti, 1998; Bergson 1980), de representação (Hall, 1997), de identidade (Silva, 2000) e, especificamente, do humor surdo (Rutherford, 1983); Holcomb (1994); Renard & Lapalu (1997); Morgado (2011); Sutton-Spence & Napoli (2012). A análise qualitativa mostrou que a maioria das piadas apresenta temáticas relacionadas ao problema de comunicação, em situações em que o ouvinte não sabe Língua de Sinais. Neste caso, o humor atua no sentido de inverter os discursos correntes, em que os surdos são representados como tendo “dificuldade de comunicação”. Tais piadas integram a categoria “Rir dos outros”, em que a fonte do riso são as diferenças entre as experiências surdas e as experiências ouvintes. Nas primeiras, avulta o uso de línguas de sinais e a experiência visual, e o barulho não incomoda. Por outro lado, as piadas apresentam ouvintes atrapalhados com o uso da língua de sinais e/ou incomodados com o barulho. Rir dos ouvintes, dentro do chamado “riso de zombaria”, é frequente nas piadas. Elas manifestam também a importância da visibilidade, da experiência visual, com destaque para as vantagens de ser surdo, isto é, para o ganho surdo, que às vezes decorre de atitudes benevolentes de ouvintes, que são caridosos e não cobram dos surdos, ou do fato de que personagens surdos não são perturbados por barulhos e gritos. Outro grupo de piadas envolve o riso sobre coisas do próprio grupo, enquadradas na categoria “rir de nós mesmos”, abrangendo aquelas que apontam situações vantajosas ou situações que envolvem a urgência dos ouvintes em se livrarem da convivência com surdos. Também se enquadram nesta categoria piadas que exploram, de forma cômica, possíveis acidentes que uma comunicação com as mãos pode trazer, em função do espaço necessário para a realização dos sinais. As análises possibilitam concluir que as piadas surdas, algumas com décadas de tradição, além de provocarem riso, favorecem o sentimento de pertencimento a um grupo. Elas constituem parte da agenda de luta da comunidade surda, proporcionando alegria de viver e o fortalecimento do grupo e exercendo uma pedagogia cultural nesta comunidade, pedagogia relacionada à forma/necessidade/vontade de pertencimento ao grupo. / The thesis focuses on the theme of deaf humor, considered as a component of the deaf culture. It is theoretically supported by the Cultural Studies and Deaf Studies, in addition to studies on mood. Its central question is: which deaf representation and which characteristics of deaf culture are present on the jokes that go around on deaf communities? Its targets are to analyze a set of jokes considered classic by the deaf community, contrasting its different versions and identifying aspects of humor apparently explored. The main criteria to choose the jokes were: to have deaf characters and/or themes from deaf culture; to have preferably the version in LIBRAS; to present more than one version(from 4 to 6); to have tradition in the deaf community. There have been analyzed 14 jokes, in a total of 78 versions, predominantly video version, from the internet or from DVDs, but also some taken from bibliographical material. The analysis has been inspired in researches of deaf community (Strobel, 2009), from humor (Propp, 1992, Possenti, 1998; Bergson, 1980), from representation (Hall, 1997), from identity (Silva, 200) and, specifically, from deaf humor (Rutherford, 1983); Holcomb(1994); Renard & Lapalu (1997); Morgado (2011); Sutton-Spence & Napoli (2012).The qualitative analysis has brought up that the majority of the jokes present related themes to communication problems, in situations where the listener does not know Sign Language. In this case, humor acts in the sense of inverting the current speeches, where the deaf are represented as having "difficulties in communications". Such jokes are part of a category called " Laugh at other" where the source of laugh are the differences between deaf and listener experiences. In the first ones, it looms the use of sign language and visual experience, and the noise does not bother. In the other hand, the jokes present listeners disturbed by the use of sign language and/or bothered with noise. Laughing at the listeners, in the so called "mocking laughter" is frequent in the jokes. They also show the importance of visibility, from the visual experience, pointing the advantages of being deaf, or better, to the deaf gain, which sometimes comes from benevolent attitudes from listeners, who are charitable and do not charge from the deaf, or due to the fact that the deaf characters are not disturbed by noises and yells. Other set of jokes involves laughing at things common in the group, put on the category "laughing at ourselves", ranging those that pointed to advantageous situations or situations that involve listeners urgency in getting rid of living along with the deaf. Also, it falls into this category jokes that explore, in a comical way, possible accidents that a communication with hands can bring, depending on the space needed to carry out the signals. The analyzes enable us to conclude that deaf jokes, some with decades of tradition, besides provoking laughter, may favor the feeling of belonging to a group. They are part of the deaf community struggle agenda, providing joy of living and strengthening the group and exerting a cultural pedagogy in this community, pedagogy related to the way / need / desire of belonging to the group.

A tese focaliza a temática do humor surdo, considerado como um componente da cultura surda. Busca seu aporte teórico nos Estudos Culturais e nos Estudos Surdos, além dos estudos sobre o humor. Sua questão central é: quais representações de surdos e características da cultura surda estão presentes em piadas que circulam nas comunidades surdas? Seus objetivos são analisar um conjunto de piadas consideradas clássicas pela comunidade surda, contrastando suas diferentes versões e identificando aspectos de humor preferentemente explorados. Principais critérios para escolha das piadas foram: ter personagens surdos e/ou temas da cultura surda; ter versão preferencialmente em Libras; apresentar mais de uma versão (de 4 a 6); ter tradição na comunidade surda. Foram analisadas 14 piadas, num total de 78 versões, com predominância de versões em vídeo, da internet ou de DVDs, mas também retiradas de material bibliográfico. A análise foi inspirada em pesquisadores da cultura surda (Strobel, 2009), do humor (Propp, 1992, Possenti, 1998; Bergson 1980), de representação (Hall, 1997), de identidade (Silva, 2000) e, especificamente, do humor surdo (Rutherford, 1983); Holcomb (1994); Renard & Lapalu (1997); Morgado (2011); Sutton-Spence & Napoli (2012). A análise qualitativa mostrou que a maioria das piadas apresenta temáticas relacionadas ao problema de comunicação, em situações em que o ouvinte não sabe Língua de Sinais. Neste caso, o humor atua no sentido de inverter os discursos correntes, em que os surdos são representados como tendo “dificuldade de comunicação”. Tais piadas integram a categoria “Rir dos outros”, em que a fonte do riso são as diferenças entre as experiências surdas e as experiências ouvintes. Nas primeiras, avulta o uso de línguas de sinais e a experiência visual, e o barulho não incomoda. Por outro lado, as piadas apresentam ouvintes atrapalhados com o uso da língua de sinais e/ou incomodados com o barulho. Rir dos ouvintes, dentro do chamado “riso de zombaria”, é frequente nas piadas. Elas manifestam também a importância da visibilidade, da experiência visual, com destaque para as vantagens de ser surdo, isto é, para o ganho surdo, que às vezes decorre de atitudes benevolentes de ouvintes, que são caridosos e não cobram dos surdos, ou do fato de que personagens surdos não são perturbados por barulhos e gritos. Outro grupo de piadas envolve o riso sobre coisas do próprio grupo, enquadradas na categoria “rir de nós mesmos”, abrangendo aquelas que apontam situações vantajosas ou situações que envolvem a urgência dos ouvintes em se livrarem da convivência com surdos. Também se enquadram nesta categoria piadas que exploram, de forma cômica, possíveis acidentes que uma comunicação com as mãos pode trazer, em função do espaço necessário para a realização dos sinais. As análises possibilitam concluir que as piadas surdas, algumas com décadas de tradição, além de provocarem riso, favorecem o sentimento de pertencimento a um grupo. Elas constituem parte da agenda de luta da comunidade surda, proporcionando alegria de viver e o fortalecimento do grupo e exercendo uma pedagogia cultural nesta comunidade, pedagogia relacionada à forma/necessidade/vontade de pertencimento ao grupo. / The thesis focuses on the theme of deaf humor, considered as a component of the deaf culture. It is theoretically supported by the Cultural Studies and Deaf Studies, in addition to studies on mood. Its central question is: which deaf representation and which characteristics of deaf culture are present on the jokes that go around on deaf communities? Its targets are to analyze a set of jokes considered classic by the deaf community, contrasting its different versions and identifying aspects of humor apparently explored. The main criteria to choose the jokes were: to have deaf characters and/or themes from deaf culture; to have preferably the version in LIBRAS; to present more than one version(from 4 to 6); to have tradition in the deaf community. There have been analyzed 14 jokes, in a total of 78 versions, predominantly video version, from the internet or from DVDs, but also some taken from bibliographical material. The analysis has been inspired in researches of deaf community (Strobel, 2009), from humor (Propp, 1992, Possenti, 1998; Bergson, 1980), from representation (Hall, 1997), from identity (Silva, 200) and, specifically, from deaf humor (Rutherford, 1983); Holcomb(1994); Renard & Lapalu (1997); Morgado (2011); Sutton-Spence & Napoli (2012).The qualitative analysis has brought up that the majority of the jokes present related themes to communication problems, in situations where the listener does not know Sign Language. In this case, humor acts in the sense of inverting the current speeches, where the deaf are represented as having "difficulties in communications". Such jokes are part of a category called " Laugh at other" where the source of laugh are the differences between deaf and listener experiences. In the first ones, it looms the use of sign language and visual experience, and the noise does not bother. In the other hand, the jokes present listeners disturbed by the use of sign language and/or bothered with noise. Laughing at the listeners, in the so called "mocking laughter" is frequent in the jokes. They also show the importance of visibility, from the visual experience, pointing the advantages of being deaf, or better, to the deaf gain, which sometimes comes from benevolent attitudes from listeners, who are charitable and do not charge from the deaf, or due to the fact that the deaf characters are not disturbed by noises and yells. Other set of jokes involves laughing at things common in the group, put on the category "laughing at ourselves", ranging those that pointed to advantageous situations or situations that involve listeners urgency in getting rid of living along with the deaf. Also, it falls into this category jokes that explore, in a comical way, possible accidents that a communication with hands can bring, depending on the space needed to carry out the signals. The analyzes enable us to conclude that deaf jokes, some with decades of tradition, besides provoking laughter, may favor the feeling of belonging to a group. They are part of the deaf community struggle agenda, providing joy of living and strengthening the group and exerting a cultural pedagogy in this community, pedagogy related to the way / need / desire of belonging to the group.

Orientadores: Jairo Nunes, Ronice Quadros / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-05T14:33:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Arroteia_Jessica_M.pdf: 2176026 bytes, checksum: 9162076c15f75d57068915b56b2d9556 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: Esta dissertação tem como objetivo descrever os elementos que marcam ou contribuem de alguma maneira para a interpretação de sentenças negativas na Língua de Sinais Brasileira (LSB). Chama a atenção o fato de haver marcas negativas nos dois componentes da língua, manual (NÃO e NADA) e não-manual (anotada como _neg), como ilustrado em (1). (1) ________________________________neg a. IX1 NÃO lENCONTRARa NADAa 'Eu não encontrei ninguém.' ________________________________neg b. NADAa aENCONTRARb NADAb 'Ninguém encontrou ninguém.' A análise mais detalhada de neg evidenciou seu desmembramento em headshake e negação facia/. A principal hipótese desta dissertação é que a negação facial é o principal marcador de negação em LSB, ou seja, que é um marcador sintático, enquanto headshake tem características de afetividade. No primeiro capítulo, introduzo o assunto mostrando o desmembramento da marcação não-manual em headshake e negação facial. No segundo capítulo, apresento as características das palavras-n em diferentes línguas e dois modelos teóricos (Haegeman 1995 e Giannakidou 2000) que discutem o fenômeno da concordância negativa nessas línguas. No terceiro capítulo, apresento e discuto alguns sinais manuais de negação (como NÃO e NADA), distinguindo-os entre marcadores negativos e palavras-n. Já no quarto capítulo discuto o papel dos dois marcadores não-manuais, mostrando a natureza de afetividade de headshake e a natureza gramatical (e nuclear) da negação facial. Por fim, discuto no capítulo 5 a interação entre os marcadores de negação manuais e não-manuais. Mostro que a negação facial licencia as palavras-n tanto em posição de sujeito quanto em posição de objeto (pois palavras-n em LSB não são efetivamente negativas), e que a concordância negativa em LSB é do tipo estrita, licenciada pela presença da negação facial / Abstract: This thesis aims at describing and explaining how some elements mark negation or contribute to the interpretation of negative sentences in Brazilian Sign Language (LSB). LSB shows negative elements in both manual and nonmanual components, as in (1). (1) _________________________neg a. IX1 NÃO lENCONTRARa NADAa 1.sg not 1meet3 nobody 'I dind't meet anyone.' _________________________neg b. NADAa aENCONTRARb NADAb nobody 3meet3 nobody 'Nobody met anybody.' A detailed analysis of the non-manual marking showed its splitting into headshake and nega tive facial expressions. The main hypothesis is to show that negative facial expressions are the negative default marker, and the headshake contributes only affectivitily to negative sentences. This thesis also discusses the role played by each of these non-manual negative markers in sentences like (1 ). Chapter 1 presents the split of non-manual marker into headshake and negative facial expressions. Chapter 2 presents Hageman's (1995) and Giannakidou's (2000) models, and the way each of them explains negative concord phenomena. Chapter 3 describes manual signs for negation in LSB, specially NÃO 'not' and NADA 'nothing', discussing their contribution as negative markers and as n-words. Chapter 4 deals with non-manual markers showing evidence that the headshake presents affectivity features and that facial expression is associated with an inflectional head. Finally, chapter 5 discusses the interaction of manual and non-manual markers; it shows that the negative facial expression licenses n-words either in subject or object positions. It also shows that LSB presents strict negative concord, licensed by the presence of the negative facial expression / Mestrado / Linguistica / Mestre em Linguística