Hi everyone,
(not sure if this is the best place for this)
I'm a linguistics student interested in Nicaraguan Sign Language, or Idioma de Señas de Nicaragua as it's called in Spanish (NSL/ISN). For those who don't know about it, NSL is a really amazing language that originated within the last thirty years or so at a school for the deaf in Nicaragua. The children at the school created the language amongst themselves, essentially from scratch—at the time there was no input from any other sign languages, as instruction was done in Spanish in the beginning. Unfortunately, despite the initial amazement among linguists about this language—this is the only time we've ever witnessed firsthand the emergence of a new language—there has been very little research on its grammar, and that's exactly the area I'm interested in.
So, what I'm trying to do at this point is make contacts with the deaf community in Nicaragua, with the hope of talking to native signers or translators of NSL either over a video chat or in person. If anyone happens to know any deaf or hard of hearing Nicaraguans, or if you have any ideas about organizations that might have contacts there, it would be a huge help. This is an amazing language and it's a real shame that more information isn't available about it.
Have a nice evening,
Katelyn Best
kabest@reed.edu
(not sure if this is the best place for this)
I'm a linguistics student interested in Nicaraguan Sign Language, or Idioma de Señas de Nicaragua as it's called in Spanish (NSL/ISN). For those who don't know about it, NSL is a really amazing language that originated within the last thirty years or so at a school for the deaf in Nicaragua. The children at the school created the language amongst themselves, essentially from scratch—at the time there was no input from any other sign languages, as instruction was done in Spanish in the beginning. Unfortunately, despite the initial amazement among linguists about this language—this is the only time we've ever witnessed firsthand the emergence of a new language—there has been very little research on its grammar, and that's exactly the area I'm interested in.
So, what I'm trying to do at this point is make contacts with the deaf community in Nicaragua, with the hope of talking to native signers or translators of NSL either over a video chat or in person. If anyone happens to know any deaf or hard of hearing Nicaraguans, or if you have any ideas about organizations that might have contacts there, it would be a huge help. This is an amazing language and it's a real shame that more information isn't available about it.
Have a nice evening,
Katelyn Best
kabest@reed.edu
to AllDeaf 
