PhD project
Historical and Linguistic Development of the Signing Community in Mozambique: The Emergence of local sign through contact, influence and linguistic Variation
This PhD project investigates the historical and sociolinguistic factors that have influenced the emergence of local sign languages in Mozambique. It examines how these factors have shaped the Deaf signing community and contributed to the development of a national sign language that incorporates borrowings from others sign languages.
- Duration
- 2025 - 2029
- Contact
- Inocêncio Joao Raul Zandamela
Deaf communities around the world develop through complex interactions between local practices, educational policies, and international influences, and Mozambique presents a particularly rich example of these dynamics. Although many African Deaf communities use national sign languages heavily influenced by foreign signing systems—especially American Sign Language (ASL)—local signing practices and community-specific developments also play a central role in shaping linguistic identity.
This preliminary study examines how Mozambique’s signing community has evolved from isolated pre-contact communication systems to a more unified national sign language, known as Língua de Sinais de Moçambique (LSM). Historically, before the establishment of Deaf schools and organizations, many Deaf individuals grew up with limited exposure to other signers, relying on home sign or improvised gestures within hearing families unfamiliar with sign language. The emergence of educational institutions (from 1962 onward), the founding of Deaf associations (since 1999), and the creation of academic training programs for interpreters and teachers (from 2014) have progressively transformed the linguistic landscape.
The project focuses on four core areas:
- Pre-formal-contact Deaf experience: Documenting the diverse early communication environments of Deaf Mozambicans, ranging from rich local gestural interaction to severe social exclusion.
- Institutional development: Tracing the history of Deaf education, Deaf associations, and interpreter/teacher training, and examining their role in shaping LSM.
- Influence of foreign sign languages: Analyzing the introduction and impact of ASL, Finnish Sign Language, and other external systems on the emerging national language. This raises key questions about the linguistic affiliation of LSM within a context of intense language contact.
- Lexical variation within LSM: Identifying regional and contextual differences in local signing practices, setting the foundation for deeper variationist analysis in subsequent research phases.
Methodologically, the project combines empirical fieldwork, including community observation and documentation of signing practices with ethnological approaches that reconstruct historical trajectories and community narratives. Together, these perspectives aim to clarify how LSM has formed, how it varies across regions and social groups, and how Mozambican Deaf identity is shaped through language.
This study serves as the groundwork for a larger research program that will expand data collection, deepen linguistic analysis, and contribute to a broader understanding of sign language emergence in African contexts.