台灣手語研究之歷史概況

Taiwan Sign Language Research: An Historical Overview

本文概述了關於台灣手語研究的歷史。在描述了關於台灣手語的起源以後，本文注意到台灣手語的研究起步相當晚，第一篇關於台灣手語研究的文章到1950年代後期才產生(Li1959)。從1960年到1970年代初期，在台灣各地的聾人學校皆備有“中國手語＂和“文法手語＂的典籍。本文作者在1970年代中期開始進行台灣手語詞彙的收集和分類，並撰寫有關台灣手語之非手勢符號、詞序、複合詞、語音和音韻、及揚眉等語言學相關的文章。作者的學術論文(Smith1989)是第一本關於台灣手語研究的博士論文。從那時起，其他研究者開始重視台灣手語，中華民國聾人協會並出版了兩本台灣手語的教科書(SmithandTing1979,1984)。在1990年代後期，作者參加台北市政府所策劃之手語翻譯人員培訓教材的專案計畫。近年來，一些語言學家傾力深入探討台灣手語，《語言暨語言學》期刊有關台灣手語專刊的出版即是其中的一項成果。本文對於未來研究工作的建議包括研究台灣手語的篇章，製作一本全面性的台灣手語字典，籌劃更具深度的教材，以及研究台灣聾人的歷史。如果瞭解這個歷史的人不將其傳遞給年輕的一代，那麼它將永遠消失。

This paper briefly summarizes the history of research on Taiwan Sign Language (TSL). After describing what is known about the origins of TSL itself, it notes that research on TSL began quite late, with the first known article concerning TSL not appearing until the late 1950s (Li 1959). Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, collections of “Chinese Sign Language” and Signed Mandarin signs were prepared at schools for the deaf in various parts of Taiwan. The author’s own research on TSL began in the mid-1970s with sign collecting and cataloguing, and progressed on through a number of linguistics papers on TSL non-manual signals, word order, compound formation, phonetics and phonology, and eyebrow raising. The first dissertation to be written on TSL was Smith 1989. By then other researchers had begun to look seriously at TSL, and the National Association of the Deaf of the Republic of China had sponsored two TSL textbooks (Smith & Ting 1979, 1984). In the late 1990s, the author participated in the Taipei City Government’s project to develop TSL training materials for sign language interpreters. More recently a number of linguists have joined forces to examine TSL in depth, resulting in projects such as the publication of this special issue of Language and Linguistics. Suggestions for future work include studies of TSL discourse, the production of a comprehensive dictionary of TSL, the preparation of instructional materials at a more advanced level, and research into Deaf history in Taiwan: if those who know this history do not pass it on to the younger generation, it will be lost forever.