€1.5 million for research on sign language

Photo: Eva Steentjes Hope Morgan - Words in sign language represent objects and actions symbolically. Dr. Hope Morgan studies how the users of different sign languages store these symbols in their mental lexicons. Starting on 1 February 2024, she will strengthen research at the Institute of German Sign Language at Universität Hamburg. She will now receive a Starting Grant in the amount of roughly €1.5 million from the European Research Council for one of her research projects. Words in sign languages are replete with visual meaning because they symbolically represent objects and actions using form and movement. For example, in one sign language, the gesture of pulling words out of one-s head means -to think about something. In contrast to spoken language, sign languages do not have sequences of consonants and vowels for terms but rather simultaneous combinations of hand shapes, mouth gestures, or facial expressions.