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Quick Facts

Medium Of InstructionsMode Of LearningMode Of Delivery
EnglishSelf StudyVideo and Text Based

Course Overview

In the Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change course by edX, you will learn how the American Sign Language (ASL) and other sign languages are structured and layered grammatically. You will also study the learning process, and the learning curve associated with these languages and how easy (or difficult) children and adults find it to use and understand a sign language.

Sign languages, just like every other language, change over time. Recent research on the history and evolutionary changes in various sign languages like ASL, and more has started to reveal how sign languages came into existence, how they have changed over time and continue to change as they are used by deaf and hearing individuals, over generations. In the Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change programme, you will study these changes in detail.

The Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change certification course is a four-week, self-paced learning programme, developed by Georgetown University. The video lectures are delivered in ASL, with English voiceover and subtitles. The curriculum, divided into various modules, is advanced-level.

The Highlights

  • Online course
  • Lectures in ASL
  • Four-week course
  • Self-paced learning 
  • Five-six hours weekly
  • Advanced programme in language
  • Free access to learning material
  • English voiceover and transcripts
  • Georgetown University programme
  • Shareable completion certificate 
  • Certification fee payable online

Programme Offerings

  • Lectures in ASL
  • Online Course
  • English voiceover and transcripts
  • Self-paced learning
  • Four-week course
  • Five-six hours weekly
  • Advanced programme
  • Georgetown University programme
  • Free access to learning material
  • Verified conclusion certificate

Courses and Certificate Fees

Fees InformationsCertificate AvailabilityCertificate Providing Authority
INR 4103yesGU Washington
  • The Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change online course is free for all.
  • You only have to pay if you wish to get certified.

Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change programme fee structure

Training

Fee

Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change 

Free.

Certificate fee

Rs 4,103  


What you will learn

Language skills

After completing the Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change training, learners should possess a methodical comprehension of:

  • The emergence of ASL grammar
  • Historical origins in natural gestures 
  • Role of visual analogy in learning ASL
  • Visual, cognitive, and motoric constraints
  • Possible linguistic universals for sign languages
  • Types and degree of structural variation within ASL
  • Other spoken and sign languages and their influence on ASL
  • Comparing and contrasting sign languages and spoken languages in terms of historical change and language-specific variation

Admission Details

Step 1: Firstly access Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change course page on the official edX website, click on this link: https://www.edx.org/course/sign-language-structure-learning-and-change. 

Step 2: Click on the ‘Enroll’ button to proceed to the account creation page.

Step 3: Fill out the form to create an edX account or click on ‘Sign in’ if you already have an account and enter your credentials. You can register by linking your existing Google/Microsoft/Facebook/Apple account to edX.

Step 4: Follow on-screen instructions to complete the email verification process, and then you can start studying.

Application Details

No application/registration forms or documents are required to be submitted for joining Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change certification course. Submit your name (full), email ID, country/region of residence, and build a username (for public use) and a password for your edX account.

The Syllabus

  • Cognitive processing
  • Variation and change within ASL
  • History of American Sign Language
  • Lexical representation and annotation
  • Fundamental issues for language status
  • From transparent to opaque morphology
  • Emergence and evolution of sign language
  • Literary innovation constrained by grammar
  • Sign language structure, learning and change framework

  • Interaction of syntax and prosody
  • Core lexemes and frozen derivatives
  • Sign features and syntactic packaging
  • Reference frame and spatial verb typology
  • Split between inflectional space and lexicon
  • Linear template and syntactic agreement slots
  • Optimising loan words for syntactic agreement
  • The spatial architecture for linguistic scaffolding
  • Co-articulation and timing of suprasegmental features
  • The layers of lexical representation and articulatory operations

  • Acquisition of ASL morphology
  • Morphological typology and complexity
  • Natural experiment for language evolution
  • Best-fit architecture and cognitive scaffolding
  • Reframe ASL as a classifier predicate language
  • The neurobiology behind sign language processing
  • The potential impact of visual analogy on grammar
  • Factors affecting homogenous use of sign language
  • Challenges of basing a visual language on English morphology
  • Environmental and biological factors for language acquisition and evolution

  • Emergence of grammar
  • Historical sociolinguistics
  • Sign language archaeology
  • Developing bound morphology
  • To bound morphology from syntax
  • The reconstruction of early ASL grammar
  • Gestural discourse dynamics and collective memory
  • History of diglossia and polyglottism in the Deaf community
  • The current state of sign language learning, structure, and changes

Instructors

GU Washington Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

1: Is the edX course only available for ASL speakers?

No. People who do not use ASL can also take this course.

2: Will the lectures be delivered in ASL?

Yes. But there will also be a voiceover and subtitles in English.

3: Do I need to pay to access the learning material?

No. You can access the learning material and learn for free.

4: Do I need to pay to get certified?

Yes. If you want to get certified, a certification fee is mandatory.

5: Are the lectures scheduled?

As this is a self-paced learning programme, the lectures are not scheduled.

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