LSH

JUL IE A.
HOC HGESA N G A N D
K A TE M CA ULIF F
An Initial Description of
the Deaf Community in
Haiti and Haitian Sign
Language (LSH)
Abstract
Deaf people in Haiti have stated that they use a distinct language,
namely Haitian Sign Language (LSH). It has yet to be documented or
described.This article is the frst attempt at such a description based
on a research collaboration between Deaf Haitians and American
signed language linguists. Here we describe the language community
and its language.
Haitian S i g n Lang uag e is the signed language of the

Haitian Deaf community. It is often referred to as LSH, following the
abbreviation of the name in French: Langue des Signes Haïtienne.1
While other signed languages such as American Sign Language
(ASL) may be used by Deaf Haitians, LSH is considered to be the
language of the Deaf community. It is used by Deaf Haitians in a
country where Haitian Creole and French are commonly used, as well
Information was provided by Jonas Cadet, Michelet Destine, Elizabeth Exilant,

Gamalene Flereistil Jean, Manoucheka Jerome, Naphtanaël Marius, Jean-Maye
Pluviose, Milord Pluviose, Diefe Solimon, and Sandy Sufrard.
Julie A. Hochgesang, an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics at
Gallaudet University, specializes in language documentation of signed languages as
well as phonetics/phonology of signed languages. Kate McAulif has a master’s degree
in international development at Gallaudet University and works with communities,
including the Deaf community, in developing countries.
227
S i gn Language Studi e s Vol . 16 N o. 2 Wi nte r 2016
228 | Sign L ang uag e Studi e s
F i g ure 1. Map of Haiti.
as English (although minimally). The fve schools for Deaf children

recognized by the Haitian government and others run by missionar-
ies, as well as the many places where Deaf Haitians interact every day,
provide sufcient opportunity for the regular use of LSH. As pockets
of Deaf people in Haiti have become more concentrated and as more
Deaf people have moved to Port-au-Prince (the capital of Haiti) from
rural or peri-urban areas, LSH has become more conventionalized
(see fg. 1).
LSH appears to be culturally transmitted by means of peer-to-peer
interactions.At Deaf schools, Deaf children socialize with one another
and use LSH regardless of the language of instruction. Some children
Deaf Community in Haiti and Haitian Sign Languages | 229
who have Deaf parents or older Deaf siblings have the advantage of
learning LSH from a much earlier age.As adults, the language is used
with peers, family, and the Deaf community. LSH is used along with
the majority languages (although fuency and literacy skills in majority
languages appear to vary widely among Deaf Haitians).2 Two ofcial
languages, French and Haitian Creole, are used in Haiti, although the
presence of English is felt, as is the infuence of Spanish, Portuguese,
and Taino.
Research on and Knowledge of Haitian Deaf People

To date we have limited information on the Haitian Deaf community
due to the lack of resources for large-scale census research. Haiti also
faces challenges to its infrastructure that make it impossible to obtain
accurate information on postearthquake destruction, epidemic-related
death tolls, or the number of established schools. This issue is not
unique to the Deaf community in Haiti; however, it is a serious ob-
stacle, as documenting information about the Deaf community is far
from the list of priorities related to gathering national data. It is also
challenging to document the number of Deaf people in Haiti because
of the lack of standard audiological and other health-care services.At
the time of writing, the number of Deaf people in Haiti, according
to Secretary Gerald Oriol of the Bureau of the Secretary of State for
the Integration of Persons with Disabilities, is estimated at 72,000.
This estimation is perhaps based on a 2003 in-country survey and a
general calculation provided by the World Health Organization that
is meant to represent the percentage of Deaf people according to the
world population (World Health Organization 2012).The number of
fuent users of LSH is unknown.
Due to the lack of specifc survey data and publications based
on primary data, little is known about the signed language itself, the
population of LSH users, or the history of LSH. Based on a fve-
month-long documentation project conducted by Deaf people in
Haiti in collaboration with linguists at Gallaudet University (Haitian
Sign Language Documentation Project, or LSHDoP), this article is an
introduction to the culture of the language community along with a
brief grammatical sketch of LSH.
LSHDoP
The LSHDoP is a project in which the Deaf Haitian community
has been actively involved. Deaf Haitians who use LSH daily are the
main stakeholders and, as such, have the right to decide how their
language is represented. Scholars of language documentation stress
that the wishes of the language users must be respected (e.g., Nathan
and Austin 201 ). According to the principles of the sign language
communities’ terms of reference (Harris, Holmes, and Mertens 2009),
which are based on those of indigenous terms of reference, “Deaf
sign language users should be involved in each stage of the research
project and not just as consultants. It is important that the community
be involved, to understand the aspects of the entire process, to have
a hand in the construction of knowledge about their own language,
community and culture” (Hochgesang 2015, 9). Deaf Haitians, as both
members of the project team and consultants for the data collection,
have had leading roles in data collection, representation, and dissemi-
nation.This collaboration between the Deaf Haitian community and
the linguists at Gallaudet University makes it possible for “commu-
nity needs and wishes [to] drive the whole project” (Linn 201 , 56).
Furthermore, the signed language, specifcally LSH, documented by
the project has been produced by Deaf native, near-native, and fuent
adult users of the language.
History of the LSHDoP

The documentation of LSH began with a small group of Deaf
Haitians. Frustrated by the lack of knowledge of their language, they
began documenting their signs on paper in order to prove that Haitian
Sign Language indeed exists. In 2013, Kate McAulif (then a graduate
student in international development at Gallaudet University) worked
with several Haitian Deaf community members to develop word lists
and record the signs of more than seventy-fve Deaf people.After this
pilot project ended in the fall of 2013, a team of Americans associated
with International Deaf Partnerships (a nonproft founded by Gal-
laudet faculty member Dr. Cristina Berdichevsky and led by Sylvie
Weir) worked with Gallaudet faculty members and graduate students
to establish a documentation project. McAulif lived in Haiti for the

duration of the project and served as a liaison between the Deaf
Haitians and the Gallaudet team in order to ensure that the former
were involved in the venture from start to fnish. For fve months
beginning in May 201 , activities such as data collection and training
in language documentation were conducted. The project ofcially
ended in September 201 .Additional funding is being sought in order
to continue both data processing and data sharing.
Name of the Signed Language Discussed Here

Naming something has powerful consequences. Since the language
discussed in this article is that of the Deaf Haitian community, we
have chosen to use the name that the Deaf Haitian LSHDoP team
members have explicitly stated as their preference. However, it varies
during the discourse of Deaf Haitians. We have seen the following
expressions used:“Haiti Sign,”“LSH,”“HSL,” and even more variants
on how the letters in the acronym for “Haitian Sign Language” are
ordered. It appears that the fngerspelled form, LSH, is the currently
the most common variant.
Is LSH a Variant of American Sign Language (ASL)?

Foreign sign languages are often introduced through education “with-
in developing nations that were in receipt of foreign aid programmes
designed to support deaf education” (Fenlon and Wilkinson 2015,
13).This appears to be true for Haiti. In fact, ASL is prevalent among
educators, interpreters, missionaries, and aid workers (discussed later).
Also, many lexical items show similarities to both LSH and ASL.
Because of this some people have suggested that the language being
used by the Deaf Haitian community is actually ASL (e.g., Parks 2011).
However, to our team the languages are diferent, given that those
who are fuent in ASL report markedly reduced comprehension of
LSH discourse.Although how diferent the two languages actually are
cannot be ascertained inasmuch as lexicostatistical studies have not yet
been conducted. It is clear that LSH has either been infuenced by
or is even derived from ASL, it is also evident that LSH is developing
into a distinct system based on the data collected by the LSHDoP.
Observer’s Paradox during Data Collection

As we reviewed the data, we kept in mind that it is not possible to
completely avoid the observer’s paradox (Labov 1972), which states
that the presence of outside observers inevitably infuences a language
situation. For signed language research, the observer’s paradox may
result from the infuence of nonsigning outsiders (e.g., Lucas and Valli
1992) or signers of a foreign sign language (in our case, ASL).
For data collection, we took steps to reduce the impact of the pres-
ence of nonfuent LSH signers. For example, we encouraged the Deaf
Haitians to conduct their own flming sessions without any nonfuent
LSH signers present whenever possible and to be directly involved in
the annotation activities. In the case of many Deaf Haitians, the use of
LSH is very diferent when it is being used between fuent LSH users
and when a foreigner is present.The observer’s paradox was especially
pronounced for foreign researchers, as LSH users will code-switch and
employ more of the ASL signs they know or sign in a diferent style.
In addition, we have tried to explain the data in a way that will
allow others to see LSH as it is actually used. The information pre-
sented here is an interpretation of the data available in the LSHDoP
documentation. We attempt to provide a descriptive set of observa-
tions of the language and community of Deaf Haitians by reporting
the data as objectively as possible, using a consistent methodology
(e.g., annotation conventions). We do not make personal judgments.
The right to make these decisions belongs to the language community
itself rather than to the researchers observing the language (Harris,
Holmes, and Mertens 2009).
Even if all of the researchers were aware of the observer’s paradox,
it is still true that all of them are fuent in ASL, therefore biasing the
way in which the data were recorded and (especially) processed.That
is, during the data processing (i.e., digital organization of the primary
video data, creation of logs, data annotation and development of ID
glosses [unique identifers]), the more familiar (that is, the more ASL-
like) data were processed frst.This leads to an ASL bias in the data that
we hope will be reduced as more data are processed by Deaf Haitians
themselves in future stages of the project.
Deaf Haitian Community Wishes

From outside the Deaf community, there have been numerous in-
vestigations into the diferences between ASL and LSH. For instance,
one publication claims that ASL or a variant of it is used in Haiti
(Parks 2011). The same study also reports an “apparent absence of a
strongly developed deaf community.Available sources point to the use
of American Sign Language (ASL)” (ibid., 3). Furthermore, the author
claims that “it appears that [sign language] is not widely used in the
wider deaf community . . . [A] developed sign language is probably
used by very few of the Haitian deaf population” (ibid., 6–7). How-
ever, Parks appears to rely on secondary sources.
Our own LSHDoP data and the Deaf Haitian team members have
attested to the contrary:A distinct system appears to be developing in
Haiti. Additionally, the Deaf community members working with the
LSHDoP have asserted that they have their own language.The LSH-
DoP data include several discussions between Deaf Haitian consultants
about distinctions between LSH and ASL (some of which are described
later), clearly indicating that the community views the two languages
as separate. In accordance with the principles of the sign language
communities’ terms of reference (Harris, Holmes, and Mertens 2009),
we believe that the language community alone has the authority to
determine whether the system its members use is a distinct language.
As some linguists (e.g., Romaine 1989; Fenlon and Wilkinson 2015)
have observed, such a decision can be more political than linguistic:
“The recognition of a linguistic system as an autonomous language is
ultimately a sociopolitical matter” (Romaine 1989, 283).
That is, although the LSHDoP data do serve as some evidence that
ASL and LSH are two distinct languages, we defer to the wishes of a
number of the members of the Haitian Deaf community (especially
those associated with the LSHDoP project) who prefer to call their
signed language LSH. No other opinion or argument has more valid-
ity.The Deaf consultants hold that hearing interpreters, humanitarian
workers, government employees, and members of foreign Deaf com-
munities do not have the authority to make that decision.With regard
to their signed language, only the Haitian Deaf community has the
right to “construct meaning and knowledge” (Harris, Holmes, and

Mertens 2009, 115; Hochgesang 2015).
Even though Deaf Haitians assert that they have their own signed
language, which again appears to be attested by LSHDoP’s collected
data as outlined here, the LSHDoP team members have also discussed
the infuence of ASL on their signing. Several state that they were
criticized for using ASL signs and, as a result, changed their signing to
more closely match LSH.This infuence can sometimes be seen when
team members uses two signs for the same concept, one that resembles
an ASL sign and one that is a more traditional LSH sign. Figure 2
shows an example of this:The signer frst uses a sign for “good,” which
resembles the ASL sign, and quickly follows this with another sign,
also meaning “good,” which is found in LSH but not ASL.
As is evident in fgure 2, there appears to be a trend toward lan-
guage standardization in LSH: Users are making decisions about which
forms are more acceptable than others for their own language, leading
to a common practice of becoming quite strict (or prescriptive) as
teachers, coworkers, and peers. New signers are constantly quizzed
about recent vocabulary and directly corrected if wrong. With each
other, the good-natured teasing of the production of each others’ signs
is a common way to correct what are considered signing errors.This
has led to a preoccupation with the diferences between ASL and LSH.
It is apparent that ASL has had a degree of infuence, particularly on
the lexicon, as a result of borrowing, as is typical with many languages,
both spoken and signed. Nevertheless, some Deaf Haitians are fghting
this natural phenomenon by correcting signs they consider too similar
to ASL.This form of language prescriptivism is probably common in
many cultures that strive to establish an identity of their own. The
preservation of what the community views as native is refected in
the attempt to eliminate foreign elements. Interestingly, the American
researchers have also observed that some signs that appear to have
been borrowed from ASL have already changed in form and meaning
so that their use in LSH is no longer consistent with ASL.
Status of LSH
Schembri (2010) distinguishes between two types of signed language
populations: macrocommunities and microcommunities. Signed lan-
guages used by macrocommunities (e.g., ASL, BSL, Auslan) are stable
F ig ure 2. Brief conversation between two Deaf Haitians about ASL and LSH. In the
fnal utterance, the female signer begins to sign g ood as would be produced in ASL
but self-corrects to the LSH sign bon.
and used nationally. The languages are transmitted mainly by peer

interactions at school or community events.“They are minority lan-
guages surrounded by majority-spoken languages, consist of both deaf
and hearing signers, and are young languages” (Fenlon and Wilkinson
2015, 9–10). Microcommunities, on the other hand, “are . . . small

labour-intensive economy-based communities, with a much higher
incidence of deafness than that seen in developed countries and urban
communities” (ibid., 10). They use village or rural sign languages (e.g.,
Zeshan and de Vos 2012).
Even though quite young (its exact age is difcult to ascertain at
present), LSH is used nationally (despite the considerable use of ASL
at certain schools or community centers) and, as mentioned earlier,
is transmitted through peer interactions at school.We could consider
LSH to be a macrocommunity signed language; however, it is quite
young and, given the strong presence of ASL and the lack of LSH
resources, is not yet stable.Though LSH has reportedly been used at
school and community events, other accounts claim that its use has
been discouraged. Since the cultural transmission of LSH is at risk,
LSH appears to range between 6 and 7 on the EGIDS scale (https://
www.ethnologue.com/about/language-status, last accessed July 2015).
That is, it appears to be hovering between “threatened” and “devel-
oping.” If LSH resources are created and shared by members of the
Haitian Deaf community, then LSH could be considered “developing”
or “educational.”
International Aid and Linguistic Imperialism

International assistance in Haiti dates back to only a few years after
Haiti declared and won independence in 180 . This was embodied
by protestant missionaries. Later, Americans took hold via Woodrow
Wilson until 193 (Katz 2013). Today, the aid presence is strong, and
Port-au-Prince is known as the “Republic of NGOs” (Economist 2013).
The global monetary response to the 2010 earthquake was a stagger-
ing $2.21 billion, half of which was from the United States. Despite
this outpouring,“[t]he urge to help seemed to have overpowered the
desire to do so thoughtfully” (Katz 2013, 79).
Unfortunately, much of this necessary contribution addressed im-
mediate and insufcient systematic challenges.The Deaf community
was somewhat overlooked in this efort and benefted only from the
work of a few mission organizations and NGOs. Many of these ser-
vices were provided in exchange for the use of only ASL inasmuch as
LSH and Haitian Deaf culture were little acknowledged at the time.
Such actions, which could be considered linguistic imperialism, have
created confusion, power dynamics, and division among Deaf Haitians.

Many Deaf children are now educated with ASL signs at schools
established by these foreign organizations. ASL is also used to com-
municate with foreign aid workers who do not recognize, inquire
about, or learn the local signed language. If these organizations had
resources or looked more to Deaf people as leaders of their own as-
sistance activities, the threat to LSH would not exist or be as prevalent.
In the Haitian Deaf community, this linguistic imperialism has
created disagreement over the acceptance of borrowed signs. It has
also caused contention among and the identifcation of Haitian Deaf
individuals as stronger or less strong LSH users. This identifcation
afects their status in the community; often a sacrifce is made to
access services from organizations. While some argue for a “purist”
model of searching for and reverting to the “old” LSH (i.e., before the
introduction of foreign sign languages), most just want and need to
communicate.Also, the exclusion of those who have accepted the bor-
rowed ASL signs serves only to further weaken the Deaf community.
The culture of aid has also caused a lack of trust and fear of aban-
donment.The promises made by organizations for long-term support
often fall short.The community’s goals are often paid lip service, while
the priorities of donors are given preference.The lack of involvement
of Deaf people in their own assistance has caused a severe lack of self-
efcacy. Of course, the sources of this are also social stigma and the
low standards of deaf education. In the few valuable instances where
Deaf people are given attention and support, they are only recipients
and not partners. This creates a community of people who believe
they cannot achieve without foreign support. In the work of LSHDoP
these feelings often surfaced. Staf members became defensive and
even distanced themselves when they realized the project was ending.
It appears that the fear of having all of the responsibilities fall solely on
them is overwhelming. Hopefully future work will continue to train
them in language-documentation activities, which Deaf Haitians can
perform with reduced involvement of outsiders.
Deaf Haitian Culture and Community

Haitian Deaf people have pulled together in support of each other and
their community, just as many communities—especially in Haiti—
have done in times of crisis.3 But in this case, and in Haiti in general, it
is not only natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes that are
challenging. It is also the societal and governmental systems that have
been the ongoing source of the marginalization of Deaf Haitians.This
overall challenge has brought Deaf people together in urban centers,
where they have formed tight-knit communities that are unique in
language and culture, an anthropologist’s dream of rich cultural norms
and values, including communal living and the sharing of all avail-
able resources.This community is geographically dispersed throughout
many major cities in Haiti. The largest and most established hub of
the Haitian Deaf community is found in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The preferred term, as chosen by the Deaf Haitians themselves,
for this population is Deaf (English), Sourd (French), or Soud (Haitian
Creole). As is common in many Deaf communities worldwide, the
capitalization of the frst letter of the word connotes a cultural and
linguistic community rather than one defned merely by a patho-
logical auditory condition (Lane 2005).
Furthermore, many Deaf communities typically diferentiate be-
tween people who are Deaf and people who are hard of hearing.This
distinction usually refers to one’s audiological status and the ability to
hear some degree of sound (hard of hearing) versus hearing very little
or no sound (deaf). It can also refer to having some hearing loss but
not using sign language or involving oneself in the Deaf community
(hard of hearing) versus being a sign language user in the Deaf com-
munity (Deaf). In Haiti, these distinctions are not made. Most Haitian
Deaf people, in the experience of LSHDoP, refer to themselves as
Deaf regardless of their degree of hearing loss or fuency in LSH; the
concept of being hard of hearing is rarely found.
When the Deaf Haitian members of the LSHDoP team were di-
rectly asked whether they were Deaf or hard of hearing, the answers
were not given along the lines of audiology. This may be the result
of a lack of audiological services in Haiti. In addition, without the
thought of medical intervention in the form of assistive listening de-
vices, formal speech therapy, and so on, a focus on one’s ears is not a
priority. Deafness is not defned by what one’s ears can or cannot do
but by what people can do. In Haiti, this is illustrated by how people
gauge their speaking and literacy abilities. If a Deaf person chooses
to use spoken language (regardless of speech training) or if speech is
a functional part of a person’s life, that person is considered hard of

hearing by the Deaf community. If the person became deafened later
in life and attended a school that aforded the person increased literacy,
that person is also considered hard of hearing.
For example, persons who cannot hear but use their voice a bit
and can read and write adequately may identify and be identifed as
hard of hearing.Those who can hear the horns of motos (motorbikes)
and tap-taps (buses) as they cross the street and are frequently spotted
wearing headphones to feel the beat of the latest in Haitian konpa
music but do not read or use their voice at all are considered Deaf.
Interestingly, hard of hearing and Deaf are not mutually exclusive.
If you are hard of hearing, you are also Deaf. But if you are Deaf, you
are not necessarily hard of hearing. For many Deaf Haitians, being
a part of the Deaf community is the most important identifcation.
Deaf People and Society

Haitian society is stratifed economically into a small, yet powerful,
bourgeoisie, an even smaller middle class, and a very large class of
those struggling daily to attain the basic standards of living, such as
clean water, sanitation services, shelter, and employment. Typically,
regardless of the status endowed by one’s birth, Deaf people are at the
bottom of this hierarchy. Other people with disabilities have received
more support, respect, and recognition, particularly due to the sudden
increase of people with disabilities after the 2010 earthquake. Deaf
people, who encounter barriers to communication with the rest of
the Haitian population, are often overlooked for services.
Interestingly, the social classes that permeate Haitian society seem
to exert less infuence in the Deaf community. Put simply, being
Deaf trumps almost everything else. For instance, one LSHDoP team
member was born into a high-class family, went to some of the best
primary schools in Port-au-Prince, and then became deafened at age
13. After only a few years of attending a deaf school, this Deaf young
man, struggling with his identity and language, joined the group that
accepted him: the Deaf community. He lived in the central camp
for internally displaced people, which became the Deaf community
strongholds of Delmas 1 and Delmas 2. He now teaches in Port-au-
Prince at Saint Vincent’s school for Deaf children and those with
2 0 | Sign L ang uag e Studi e s
disabilities. His social status as a member of the bourgeoisie had little

or no negative impact on his acceptance into the Deaf community, nor
did it give him increased status upon his arrival. What did afect his
status was the privilege of literacy, which his upbringing aforded him.
One unfortunate word that exemplifes the stigma associated with
Deaf people throughout Haiti is bébé. This term, which is considered
by Deaf Haitians to be ofensive, is often used to mock those who
struggle with speech. It connotes stupidity, uselessness, and depen-
dency. For many activities in Haitian society, this stigma is a barrier
to Deaf people. Though there are no legal restrictions on voting or
driving rights for Deaf people, the social stigma and lack of specifc
support services make these opportunities extremely challenging and,
for most Deaf people, completely inaccessible.Above all, Deaf Haitians
struggle to fnd instruction due to the general perception that they
are unable to learn. With regard to Deaf people’s access to voting,
although they have the right to vote, it is very difcult for them to
access information about political candidates or polling places. Because
of the prevalence and popularity of spreading such information via
radio, Deaf citizens are at a distinct disadvantage. Both the prevalence
of illiteracy and the lack of computer access and skills preclude the
spread of such important information through the written word.
Deaf People and the Haitian Government

Deaf Haitians often feel resentment toward the Haitian government.
They believe they have been ignored and neglected by the body that
is charged with protecting their rights and enforcing justice in the face
of disparities. Some Deaf Haitians further believe the neglect of the
Deaf community is so prevalent that the president of Haiti, currently
Michel Martelly, must not know that Deaf people are living in his
country. Confounding this issue, Deaf Haitians do not have access to
the knowledge or resources that would enable them to petition their
local or national government for greater support.
Fortunately, support for LSHDoP has changed the minds and
hearts of a group of Deaf Haitians who believed their government
had forgotten them. The partnership and support of the Bureau of
the Secretary of State for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities,
led by Secretary Oriol, mentioned earlier, has led to a renewed efort
to bring the Deaf community into the fold.
Deaf Community in Haiti and Haitian Sign Languages | 2 1
Born or Becoming Deaf in Haiti

Many Haitian Deaf people have vague personal histories of their deaf-
ness based on hearsay and assumption. Due to the lack of health-care
services and therefore medical records, many do not know whether
they were born deaf. Many know when their families discovered their
deafness, which may have been in infancy or as late as six or eight
years of age. Some who know they were born hearing cite disease as
the cause of their deafness, although the specifc diseases are unknown.
Information about this part of their personal history is entirely de-
pendent on their ability to communicate with their families.As many
parents do not learn sign language, the lack of information may be
due to a minimal level of communication.
On discovering their deafness, some were taken to hospitals, and
others to voodoo ceremonies; some were taken to both. Either way,
despite medicines that came from bottles and others that came from
the earth, they remained deaf.There are no standard support services
for families who learn their child cannot hear. Their resource is not
a professional who is knowledgeable about deafness as is the case
elsewhere. Typically, parents have never met a Deaf person before
and are left to literally go door to door, asking community members
for information. This may lead to someone who knows a friend in
a nearby town who has seen Deaf people around. The trail of clues
might eventually lead to a school for Deaf children. Fortunate children
had parents with the resources to send them to one of these schools.
Others would have to wait until near adulthood to venture out and
meet other Deaf people—to fnally join their community and learn
their sign language, adapting from the home signs they communicated
with before then.
There appears to be a large incidence of Deaf siblings in Haiti,
perhaps as the result of hereditary factors or circumstances. In the
experiences shared by the LSHDoP team members, both of these phe-
nomena seem to account for the frequency. One male Deaf member
has four siblings, two of whom were born Deaf. This seems heredi-
tary. Another male member has two brothers, and all three are Deaf.
In their case, however, they all got sick and became deafened at the
same time. Deaf children with Deaf siblings have the advantage of
being exposed to signs at a much younger age—even if the signs are
developed just between siblings.The ability to communicate, regardless

of access to a full language, is necessary for cognitive and emotional
development, especially while young.
Family Dynamics
The Deaf Haitians working on this project stated that hearing parents
hate their Deaf children. The strong language of that statement may
not equate to the truth, as it is hard to imagine any parents who could
hate their child. However, it does speak to the intense reality of how
these (now adult) Deaf people feel about how they were brought up.
Each family addressed having a Deaf child in diferent ways. Many
sought schools to care for their children. Others learned sign language
or developed a system of home signs to use with their children, while
others resorted to minimal or no communication.
In many cases, Deafness and disability are believed to be a pun-
ishment by a higher power for a sin, such as stealing, or a result of a
coincidence, such as witnessing something terrible.The action could
have been done by the Deaf person or that person’s parents or by an
ancestor. Regardless, the deafness or disability is seen as a curse and a
result of a sin, clearly not the image one typically has of the relation-
ship between parents and children or between siblings.
Deaf people themselves, despite their pride in their language, cul-
ture, and community, often acknowledge this belief that their deafness
is an efect of or a punishment for an unknown crime. Deaf people are
often considered a burden on the family and the community. Follow-
ing the connotations of the term bébé, the belief that Deaf people
cannot contribute to the lives of those around them, is pervasive. An
overwhelming number of Haitian parents and families already struggle
to meet the basic needs of their children in the hopes that they will
lift themselves, and perhaps the family as well, out of poverty. On
having a Deaf child, parents too often give up this dream and instead
see this child as a leech.
Due to the lack of communication and to minimal exposure to
other Deaf people, let alone successful Deaf role models, families
do not expect their Deaf children to be able to be educated. Even
if they have the resources to send them to school, these schools are
not respected as institutions of learning but are simply viewed as a
place where the child can have a roof and food and receive some at-
tention. Beyond this, Deaf children are not expected to then fnish
school and become employed. Deaf daughters (more than their male
counterparts) are also not expected to get married and therefore not
likely to have the fnancial means to leave home. Many Deaf children
leave home very young. They are sometimes kicked out. Sometimes
they leave to fnd a diferent environment with other Deaf people;
sometimes they are sent to school and not welcomed back home; and
sometimes they (especially Deaf daughters) remain home as caretakers
for the rest of the family, especially the elderly and the young siblings.
As adults, Deaf Haitians end up sharing their lives and resources
with other Deaf people. For most, these are their chosen family.Typi-
cally, relationships and spouses are all Deaf. Relationships between
hearing and Deaf people are rare and usually do not lead to marriage
since both are primarily about communication and an understanding
of Deaf culture.
Deaf Education
The Haitian educational system is replete with budget, infrastructure,
and standardization challenges. The struggle with Deaf education is
not unique to Haiti, however.According to research conducted by the
World Federation of the Deaf, at least 90 percent of Deaf people who
live in developing countries have no access to education (Haualand
and Allen 2009).
The Haitian Constitution’s guarantee of universal education is a
far cry from the reality in this country (Katz 2013).The government
does not have the resources—human or fnancial—to keep records
of how many schools or schoolchildren are in Haiti. The consensus
among Deaf Haitians is “not enough.”This is not to mention the lack
of regulation or the establishment of educational standards.
For Deaf people, schools are few, but they are the centers of Deaf
life for many. In the entire country, of all schools ofcially recognized
by the Haitian government, only fve accept Deaf children. Montfort
is a network of four schools dedicated to Deaf children, located at
three diferent sites. In addition, Saint Vincent’s school welcomes chil-
dren with various disabilities, some of them Deaf. Other schools have
been established by international aid organizations, but these are not
2 | Sign Lang uag e Studi e s
ofcially recognized by the Ministry of Education. Typically newer,

these schools are looked on as sources of potential employment and
socialization for many Deaf adults. One school—the Bon Repos—is
named for the town in which it is located.
The Deaf Haitian team members have reported that far too few
of these schools have any Deaf staf or teachers who are sign language
users. Currently, Haitians do not see any successful Deaf Haitians.To
the Deaf community this fact says,“None of us can succeed.” For the
hearing population this implies,“They must be unable to accomplish
anything since none of them have done so yet.”
Deaf education is a vicious cycle. Deaf students enter school and
are met with low expectations. Parents and teachers alike do not ex-
pect them to be capable students.This results in low self-efcacy for
the student as well as reduced focus on challenging and productive
curricula. Teachers are typically not skilled signers, often using ASL,
which Deaf Haitians do not fully understand. These students spend
years in school, if they can, copying notes but not becoming literate.
On fnishing school they have obtained only a minimal education.
Teachers and parents have fulflled their own prophecy.
The belief that Deaf Haitians are incapable of academic success
often arises in working with LSH documentation, such as when there
is no known sign for a concept (e.g., names of countries). For example,
a hearing man once asked for the sign for a particular Eastern Euro-
pean country. After much discussion over a map and the better part
of a conversation on world history, the Deaf consultants who were
present ultimately admitted they had no answer for him. After all, it
is only logical that Deaf people would not have a sign for a country
they had never learned about.The problems of such a situation are the
following: Primarily, basic information is lacking in Deaf education.
Second, it reinforces the inaccurate idea that Deaf people are neither
intelligent nor knowledgeable. Third, it reinforces the erroneous as-
sumption that LSH is not a fully developed language because it does
not have a sign for every concept.
Literacy is one of the greatest challenges facing the Deaf commu-
nity as well as the larger Haitian population. For the latter, in 2006 the
literacy rate in Haiti was 8.7 percent (53. percent for men and only
.6 percent for women) (CIA World Factbook 2013). It appears that
the literacy rate among Deaf people is even lower. In one experience
of the 2013 pilot stages of this project, Deaf consultants sometimes
needed to refer to their identifcation card in order to copy the letters
of their name onto the sign-up sheet or consent form. Schools that do
provide more literacy education for Deaf students teach only French.
This shows the lag in the development of schools for Deaf children in
comparison to the public or private counterparts for hearing students,
where Haitian Creole is also taught.Without skills in Haitian Creole,
another wedge is driven between hearing and Deaf Haitians.
Deaf Culture
Deaf people who share a signed language also share a culture with its
own practices, norms, attitudes, and values. In the case of the Haitian
Deaf community these cultural phenomena sometimes converge with
and at other times diverge from the majority Haitian culture.
Involvement in the Deaf Community. Dedication to the Deaf community

is a cultural value. In the context of the LSHDoP, the members of the
team traveled from many diferent locations in and out of Port-au-
Prince; some even commuted several hours one way to be at work.
Deaf people are generous with their earnings as well as their time
and energy. For the LSHDoP Haitian members, transportation re-
imbursements were all pooled to make sure everyone had enough
funds to get to and from work or wherever they needed to be. It is
also common for unrelated team members to purchase clothing for
each other. Shoes are a particularly pricey yet desired item, and many
Deaf people, especially men, share shoes or gift them to each other.
It is also common for Deaf people to participate in the Haitian
cultural phenomenon of sharing work. For instance, if one individual
has a job doing manual labor for a few months, he may let a friend
work in his place for a few days or a week.The friend keeps all of his
earnings, while the truly employed friend goes without, knowing all
the while that he will be taken care of the next time around.
Deaf people often prioritize the group over the individual. For
example, in giving presentations and answering questions, LSHDoP
team members often jumped at the chance to help each other express
a thought. This cultural value is also manifested in the rejection of
some individuals within the community. Because of the belief that

one person represents everyone, if one person is behaving in a dis-
agreeable manner, that individual is rejected from the community of
trust and support.
Power and Privilege within the Deaf Haitian Community. Despite the
overall respect between Deaf Haitians, the politics of privilege and
power exists within the community. Community members who have
had more opportunity to become literate are constantly deferred to
as the source of intelligence for the collective. These individuals are
typically those who became Deaf later in life.
This deference speaks not only to the lack of literacy in the Deaf
Haitian community but also to the assumption that literacy and
schooling outside the deaf school system indicate greater intelligence.
Therefore, leaders are often created by these parameters as opposed
to other values, such as skill in LSH, community involvement, and
leadership ability. Those who become leaders despite their lack of
literacy or education do so as a result of great efort.
In addition, gender bias exists in the Deaf community, much more
commonly in older individuals.The severe educational disparity be-
tween men and women is a contributing factor. Deaf boys are more
likely to be sent to school than their female peers.The same disparity
applies to apprenticeships and other forms of training that can lead
to employment as artisans, skilled laborers, or agricultural workers.
Among LSHDoP members, this discrepancy manifests itself in com-
puter literacy. Men who have had some, although limited, opportunity
to learn how to use a computer, are very far ahead of women, who
are sometimes still learning the basics or have only recently set up an
email address.
This educational discrepancy between the sexes is a vicious cycle.
The less a woman knows, the less time she is given to fgure out a
task. Someone else then takes over the job, thereby stripping her of
an opportunity to learn. Gender bias also crops up in matters of trust.
In the spirit of communal resource sharing, which is pervasive in the
Deaf community, one computer is shared by the many individuals on
the LSHDoP team and rotates through diferent homes. However, the
men (not necessarily the laptop owners) sometimes hesitate or even
refuse to lend the laptop to the women if they are not supervised by
someone who is more computer literate, namely, a man.
Gender bias is also evident in respect and turn taking. A woman
will often defer to a man and not interrupt or correct him as he is
signing. For example, when a man was asked to assist with an elicita-
tion session for a female coworker, he, rather than the woman, became
the focus of the process. She occasionally joined the conversation
on which LSH signs are used to describe the objects that served as
prompts, but the man was regarded as the authority.This is less com-
mon in smaller groups and private spaces than in large public places.
It may be due to the level of comfort and self-efcacy for everyone
involved.
Work and Economics

Employment is a struggle throughout Haiti. Many people live of the
equivalent of only one US dollar each day and do not know where
their next income will come from (Disasters Emergency Committee
n.d.). In 2010, 0.6 percent of Haitians were unemployed. Of those
that were employed, two-thirds had only informal jobs (CIA World
Factbook 2013). This difculty in securing a steady income also ap-
plies to Deaf Haitians. Information about jobs and the social network,
which is required to obtain employment through one’s connections,
puts Deaf people at a debilitating disadvantage.The stigma of deafness
is also one of the greatest barriers between Deaf people and gainful
employment. Many Deaf people discuss their experiences of going
to the owner of an establishment to submit their résumé and being
met with laughter, pity, and impatience, knowing their résumé will
ultimately be tossed into the trash can.
Deaf Haitians commonly fnd work in the informal sector, which
is sometimes referred to as cherche lavi (“searching for life”) in Haitian
Creole (Katz 2013).These jobs in the marketplace or at stands selling
plastic packets of water or fried foods are often sources of survival.
Deaf people struggle to fnd even this type of work because it requires
social connections. To supply one’s stock to sell at market, one must
visit a depot. Negotiations over prices, let alone the capital funds to
pay for the stock, can make or break a vendor.The language barrier
between the Deaf vendor and the depot owner (as well as between
the Deaf vendor the other vendors), along with the bias against Deaf
people, can be insurmountable hurdles.All of these must be overcome
before a vendor even goes to the market, where vendors who all sell
the same things are competing for the shoppers’ attention. Moreover,
the Deaf Haitian risks being cut of from the social network of the
other vendors, who might direct buyers their way.A small number of
entrepreneurial Deaf Haitians have instead set up shop where many
Deaf people live. The success of this tactic, which negates the com-
munication barriers and cultural politics of the former situation, is un-
fortunately diminished (if not negated) by the poverty in which most
Deaf people dwell; they may be unable to make many purchases—or
any at all.
Also in the informal sector, quite a few Deaf people work at the
international airport in Port-au-Prince.With many other Haitian men,
Deaf Haitians stand in the parking lot and help people with their
bags or arrange taxis.This tiring job involves a lot of standing in the
sun and hoping to fnd someone who will give them a small tip for
being helpful.The competition between all those who are seeking to
earn an income at one small airport parking lot can be overwhelming.
Schools for Deaf children, organizations for people with disabilities,
and other establishments within the Deaf world are ideal for hiring
Deaf people. The communication barrier is smaller or nonexistent.
The stigma is presumably also eliminated; moreover, it would be vital
that they, as establishments working toward Deaf empowerment, be-
lieve in the abilities of their Deaf employees. Deaf people are also the
most qualifed for these jobs because of what they have to ofer in
linguistic, cultural, and advocacy expertise relating to the Deaf com-
munity. However, in Haiti these jobs are almost always occupied by
hearing people, some of whom are not knowledgeable about the Deaf
community or Haitian Sign Language.
By and large, Deaf people are out of work. Deaf Haitians spend
their days managing the few belongings and resources they have, try-
ing to make them stretch a little further for a little longer.
Geography in Deaf Haiti

The development of Deaf communities in Haiti has long been afected
by geography. Deaf people live in all areas of the country from the
major cities of Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitian to the rural peyi andeyò,
the land beyond the urban center of Port-au-Prince.This separation

of Deaf people from each other causes pockets of language variation
to emerge, as is evident in the regional diferences in signs noted by
the LSHDoP team. Deaf Haitians often travel to major hubs around
schools for Deaf children, as the recorded narratives indicate.Although
the LSHDoP team recalled regional diferences in signs from the
places they originated from, communication is generally unhindered.
In the late twentieth century, widespread groups of Haitians mi-
grated from the countryside into the cities (Katz 2013). Many Deaf
people rode that wave into the urban areas, where they found a higher
concentration of people like them and, they hoped, more opportunity
for work. Many settled where they could aford to live, typically in
bidonvilles, which are urban suburbs and slums.Throughout this time,
the social network of Deaf Haitians grew stronger, and some began
traveling between the Deaf hubs of the major cities, thereby allowing
LSH and their national community to further develop.
The devastation caused by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Janu-
ary 12, 2010, was shocking and complete.The reaction of Haitians was
not one of chaos but of cooperation, and the Deaf community was
no exception. Many Deaf people lived in Port-au-Prince, as men-
tioned earlier, as well as the surrounding areas, which were the most
severely afected by the earthquake. Deaf Haitians continued to band
together for survival.This became increasingly necessary, as commu-
nication was more imperative than ever. Announcements and infor-
mation received by radio or through social connections with hearing
Haitians were inaccessible. Therefore, Deaf people had to fnd each
other in order to learn what was happening.This prompted them to
concentrate in Port-au-Prince, where at one point 168 Deaf families
occupied a single settlement camp (Sontag 2012). One of the members
of the LSHDoP team recalled the earthquake with the same terror
and heartbreak that many others did. However, she also recognized
a blessing in how the tragedy brought Deaf people together. She
characterized the aftermath as one of the best things that has ever
happened to her because it brought her to Port-au-Prince, where she
fnally joined the Deaf community.
Despite the estimated six hundred thousand people who left the
capital for the countryside in the days after the earthquake, many Deaf
people traveled against this wave and moved into the destroyed city
in order to search for other Deaf individuals (Katz 2013). Later on,
relocation to Port-au-Prince was even more necessary in order to fnd
aid. Whereas others heard where dispersals of food, water, tarps, and
medical services would take place through their social connections or
on the radio, Deaf people were cut of from this source of information
and needed to be more proactive.
Two of the postearthquake settlements were Delmas 1 and Delmas
2, where many Deaf people settled. In recent years they have been
removed by hearing people who were themselves settling there.These
encampments are also a place for other people with disabilities, creat-
ing a silent turf war.There is also a growing suspicion, held by Deaf
and hearing residents alike, that this valuable real estate will soon be
reclaimed by the government.
Deaf Places
Deaf people live and congregate in a number of places, particularly
Port-au-Prince, as mentioned earlier. These are the cultural centers
of Deaf life. In residential places, like Delmas 1 and Delmas 2, as
well as Leveque, living is often communal and resources are shared.
Neighbors raise their families together; language and culture are cre-
ated and shared. Schools such as Montfort or Saint Vincent’s serve as
meeting places, landmarks, and common experiences between Deaf
people.At these schools many Deaf people became a part of the Deaf
community. Particularly for those who were born in the peyi andeyò,
the more rural parts of the country, the city is the destination for
Deaf life. Despite the exit from the peace of the countryside and the
subsequent immersion into the chaos and dangers of the city, many
Deaf people choose to live in the latter, even in slums, in order to be
close to their cultural community.
As mentioned earlier, Montfort and Saint Vincent’s are two major
schools for Deaf children that are also centers of Deaf life. Although
they are not residential schools, they serve as meeting places and are
places of shared history for many Deaf Haitians.The main Montfort
School in Port-au-Prince was destroyed in the earthquake, and the
school was forced to rebuild outside the city, in Croix des Bouquets.
The strength of the connection to schools for Deaf children is evident
when Montfort crops up in conversation. Regardless of their age,
the number of years they attended, or which school they went to

(Port-au-Prince or Croix des Bouquets), Deaf persons feel the same
closeness to each other because of this shared experience.Adults who
attended Montfort and the Port-au-Prince location, not Croix des
Bouquets, still feel comfortable using the school as a landmark with
other Deaf Haitians.
Leveque, a community farther into the suburbs of Port-au-Prince,
is also home to a large community of Deaf Haitians. It was established
by the mission organizations 10 Bridges and Mission of Hope. The
beautiful houses and the confuence of many Deaf people have been
vital since they found it necessary to move after being priced out of
expensive Port-au-Prince. Some Haitians are jealous of the beautiful
housing community that the two generous organizations established
for Deaf people (Sontag 2012). They argue that it is unfair for these
Deaf people to get special treatment. In reality, though, the Deaf
residents are not as advantaged as they are perceived to be. More so
than in other settlements, there are no jobs for Deaf people in this
isolated location.
The leadership of the settlement also remains under the auspices
of the organizations and has not been fully transferred to the Deaf
people themselves. Unfortunately, because of the lack of available
jobs in Leveque, many families, including a few of the LSHDoP team
members and their families, also have to maintain a second household.
Husbands live and work in Port-au-Prince and send small amounts
of money to their wives and children, who live in Leveque and visit
when they can.The resulting need to purchase extra food, pay more
rent, and arrange for transportation between the communities, let
alone keeping families apart, severely increases the cost of living.
This community has a prevalent language bias toward ASL. The
residents who were interviewed in 2013 discussed their introduction
to ASL and, as a result of the need for empowerment and support,
how they altered their use of language. These factors have created a
divide in the Deaf Haitian community, where some are privileged
according to the language they use. Consequently, Deaf adults and
children in this community have become isolated from each other and
report experiencing confusion. The introduction of a new language
also implies that LSH was unacceptable.
Delmas 1 and Delmas 2 in Port-au-Prince are former tent vil-

lages, now flled with small houses, which are on Haitian government
and Red Cross–donated land. Despite their establishment after the
earthquake, many still live there, including some LSHDoP members.
They remain a central hub of Deaf life. Here one fnds Deaf vendors,
neighbors, and friends, as well as many more hearing (but signing) sib-
lings and Codas (children of Deaf adults) using sign language.Though
the area is dangerous for many, it is nonetheless the safest and most
comfortable place many Deaf people know. Many more lived there
immediately after the earthquake but have since moved away. They
still return, however, for the social atmosphere or the convenience of
working in the city. One member of the LSHDoP team explained
that crime, especially theft, is rampant but that thieves sometimes feel
guilty about stealing from Deaf people, so the latter are sometimes
safe.The other real peril is the lack of information about dangers that
exist beyond the fence surrounding the community. Gunshots or other
warning noises may go unnoticed by many residents. Neighbors and
friends therefore make an efort to fnd each other and ensure each
other’s safety and knowledge of existing dangers despite the risky
conditions.
Interpreters
If one asks Deaf Haitians what they think of interpreters, most often
one will receive one of two replies:“There are no interpreters here” or
“There are very few interpreters here, but I do not trust any of them.”
The current standard appears to be Deaf people’s feeling that they are
being taken advantage of by interpreters who simply want jobs.This is
only secondary to the larger problem of having few interpreters in the
country.Those who call themselves interpreters are rarely actual users
of LSH; they more often learn ASL from a book.At the cross-section
of the desperate need for interpreting services and the nonexistence
of any enforcement of standards, these “interpreters” fnd work.
In addition, Deaf Haitians often tell stories about interpreters lying
during interpretations. This points to the severe lack of trust in the
few interpreters that are around. Proof or even specifc examples of
these lies are not apparent, but this is a moot point as all that is im-
portant is the perception of Deaf people that interpreters are not to
be trusted. Clearly these interpreters are not educated or mentored

by Haitian Deaf people, and therefore they struggle to communicate
with them and sometimes fail to show them the appropriate respect
or demonstrate a spirit of equality and collaboration.
Data Collection Methods

The information outlined here was obtained through a small-scale
documentation of LSH. As mentioned earlier, this project, called
LSHDoP, marked the beginning of the ongoing collection of flming
instances of the language for the purposes of preservation, linguistic
investigation, and advocacy.This project’s video data, along with video
recordings from a small-scale dictionary project from the summer of
2013, which are partially included in this documentation, are the frst
known recordings of LSH.The LSHDoP, which was carried out dur-
ing the summer of 201 , was funded by the Organization of American
States (OAS). Next we briefy introduce the purpose of language
documentation, describe the roles of the key players in this project,
and provide details of the project activities.
Purpose of Language Documentation

Language documentation is the complex and long-term process of
recording and annotating naturalistic instances of language in an elec-
tronic format, which makes it possible to perform searches of the
video data (e.g., Himmelmann 2006). Annotation refers to the process
of adding textual explanatory notes to the original and primary source
(which may not be textual to begin with; i.e., it may be in audio or
video format). Documentation also includes contextual information
that situates the recordings. For example, background information
(metadata) about participants and how data are collected is imperative
to any efective investigation of a language.
Best practices in signed language documentation are currently be-
ing established as increasing numbers of researchers undertake signed
language corpora projects (e.g., Lucas, Bayley, and Valli 2001; Konrad
2012; McCaskill et al. 2011; Fenlon et al. 2015). Corpora are digital col-
lections of language (textual, audio, and/or video) for the purpose of
linguistic investigation (e.g., McEnery and Hardie 2012). Early eforts
to document signed languages involved more traditional feldwork
situations (e.g., Massone and Johnson 1991; Schmaling 2000). Both

types of activities—corpus creation and feldwork—continue today
for signed language research.Although these undertakings utilize sev-
eral of the same methodological practices and goals, they are often
viewed as separate disciplines (e.g., Chelliah and Reuse 2011). One
particular diference is that a corpus strives to be fully representative
of the language under study, including a sufciently wide variation of
language users and language instances to paint a general picture of the
language as it exists when the data are collected.Though feldworkers’
collections are also referred to as corpora, these are not necessarily
representative of variation within the community.“Documentary lin-
guistics [feldwork] is a sort of emergency butterfy collecting, where-
as corpus collecting would be a comprehensive butterfy collecting”
(ibid., 12–13).The LSHDoP draws on practices from both disciplines:
Any type of data is considered important (feldwork), but steps are
taken to ensure the data are machine readable (corpus linguistics). For
our purposes, we consider both feldwork and corpus linguistics to fall
under the general practice of language documentation.
One major aim of language documentation is to preserve informa-
tion by creating multipurpose archives that focus on the use of a lan-
guage by a community at a certain point in time (e.g., Himmelmann
2006).) These archives “center [on] . . . records of natural speech [or
sign], which, because they are at the center of human social and intel-
lectual life, are of very wide interest” (Woodbury 201 , 33). Another
objective of language documentation is to support further investiga-
tion of a language. Having a signed language recorded in a machine-
readable or searchable format allows researchers to efciently fnd
examples of diferent features of that language. For instance, because
the data are coded consistently, a researcher can determine the fre-
quency of words and even of types of words (pronouns, verbs, adjec-
tives, and so on). Frequency data are useful in identifying potential
patterns. Also, support for the development of additional resources
related to a language constitutes another goal of language documen-
tation. The compilation of information in language documentation
can be used to increase awareness of a particular language and its
community.This awareness can in turn help ensure the community’s
access to communication in vital areas such as education, health, and
legal settings. Development of resources can include dictionaries for

both fuent and novice users of a language, instructor and student
textbooks for language classes, and reference materials that support
the work of interpreters. These are all aims that we have for our
documentation project.
Roles of Project Members. Like many language documentation projects

(e.g., Himmelmann 2006), the driving force behind the LSHDoP has
been native or early (fuent) users of the language in question. Ten
Deaf Haitian LSH users were actively involved in each stage of the
documentation project described here.As is well known, it is difcult
for people to examine their own language (e.g., ibid.), as was the case
with our project:The Deaf Haitians had little meta-awareness of their
language beyond the claim that what they were using was LSH and
not ASL. Therefore, other research members with linguistic training
(faculty members and graduate students from Gallaudet) advised the
Deaf Haitians in carrying out the documentation and advocacy work.
However, the Deaf Haitians provided the primary content (the video
data, information to use as metadata, and translations of the material).
The research members from Gallaudet facilitated the more technical
aspects (e.g., digital organization of the data, annotation, analysis) of
the project. As mentioned earlier, McAulif lived in Haiti for several
months and worked closely with the Deaf Haitian team, helping to
maintain daily communication with the Gallaudet team.
A wide range of data types was elicited from the ten Deaf Haitians
with the general goal of providing a thumbnail sketch of the grammar.
This body of data was collected with the intent of revealing a large
variety of lexical items (words) and grammatical constructions (ways
of combining these words to create meaning).The ten Deaf Haitian
LSH users who provided all of the video data are all deaf or hard of
hearing.The age at which they became deaf varies (from birth to age
13), and thus their age of acquisition of LSH also varies (again, from
a very young age to approximately 1 ).They live in diferent parts of
Haiti and have attended diferent deaf schools. Six are male and four
are female. All of them identify themselves as fuent LSH users who
use it on a daily basis with other Deaf Haitians. In addition to the
time constraint of the project (mentioned earlier), our archives are
obviously limited by the small number of consultants in our video

data. This means that we do not have a representative corpus. Data
cannot be fully generalized for the language. Instead, we have made
initial observations, and future studies will indicate whether such ob-
servations are representative.
Naturalistic Video Data

Language documentation requires recorded data of naturalistic in-
stances of language in various settings. For the LSHDoP, such data
come from three diferent sources. First, the pilot project yielded
approximately four hundred short videos of lexical items and short
narratives, as well as the conversations of seventy-fve people. The
second source was a week-long data-collection trip in June 201 .
About one hundred videos (varying from ten seconds to 1.5 hours)
were recorded. Data were elicited in several ways: free conversations;
interviews; retelling of cartoons, stories in storybooks, short videos,
or pictures; role playing; and structured elicitation tasks. A few inter-
view and meeting videos were also collected during a follow-up trip.
This type of data collection was intended to capture a wide variety
of signs and grammatical types.The third data source was McAulif ’s
daily contact with the Deaf Haitians. During their meetings, the team
recorded and logged interviews and spontaneous conversations. The
Deaf Haitians also reviewed the annotation documents produced by
the Gallaudet team and verifed the documented data. This activity
was also flmed as another potential source of data.
Metadata
Metadata consist of information that is vital for making language ar-
chives (or any kind of archive) cohesive.That is, metadata documents
can serve as a guide to the archives.The LSHDoP is concerned with
the following forms of metadata: (1) background information on the
consultants (e.g., where they are from, family information, their lan-
guage experience, whether they are deaf or hard of hearing, and at
what age they became so); (2) information about the video sessions
themselves (e.g., date of each video session, names of elicitors and con-
sultants, as well as who flmed the sessions, types of tasks, sitting order
of participants, flming notes, types of stimulus); (3) other documents
that describe how the data were collected, organized, annotated, or
analyzed (e.g., text documents of interviews and word lists from the
Deaf Haitian team); and ( ) any other contextualizing information
(e.g., details about the research team, pictures,Twitter posts).
Thumbnail Sketch of LSH

Every natural language in the world (there are thousands, including
hundreds of signed languages) has a lexicon (the inventory of words
in a language) and a grammar (the system of phonology, morphology,
and syntax). In this preliminary grammatical sketch, we focus on the
following areas: phonology, lexicon, morphology and syntax. Each is
briefy described in the following subsections, along with relevant
examples in LSH.
The information provided in this article is based on casual observa-
tions of daily logs and scans of the primary video data as well as a small
subset of annotated fles and ID glosses (at the time of writing, eleven
transcripts and fve hundred ID glosses).We used annotation, which is
diferent from transcription in that written information or annotations
(sometimes known as “tags”) are appended to the primary data.While
transcripts can exist separately from the primary data, annotations are
intended to be used in conjunction with the primary data. Examples
of annotations include marking for word classes, discourse type, and
so on. For signed languages, another type of annotation marking can
be glossing itself.These glosses, known as ID glosses, are unique labels
that are used consistently to identify the same signs ( Johnston 2010).
Thus each sign is individually identifable. In short, ID glosses are not
translations but ways of fnding signs.
Interestingly, since the more technical aspects (e.g., creation of ID
glosses and annotation activities) were handled by the Gallaudet team
members, there is unsurprisingly an ASL bias (as discussed earlier) in
what follows since the more familiar data were targeted frst during
annotation. From scanning the data and interacting with the Deaf
Haitian LSH users, it is clear that LSH is distinct from ASL, but that
may not yet be apparent in what follows.
Phonology
Just as a language can be partially defned by the set of signs it con-
tains (its lexicon), each language also contains a specifc set of sign (or
word) parts. Phonology is the study of what parts a language contains
(inventory), how they are combined, and how they change each other
when they occur together in everyday use. In normal language use,
words are usually not in citation form (i.e., the “perfect” incarnation of
the sign; that is, what one would expect to see in a dictionary). Instead,
these everyday forms are modifed in various ways when coexisting
with other signs in a sign stream.The ways in which neighboring parts
of signs infuence one another is known as alternation.
Phonemic Inventory
The phonemic inventory of LSH resembles that of many other signed
languages studied to date (e.g., Stokoe, Casterline, and Croneberg
1965; Johnston and Schembri 2007; Brentari 2010).The diferent parts
used to create signs in LSH include the confguration (shape), place-
ment and orientation of the hands, movement of the hands and arms,
contact between the hands and other parts of the body, and involve-
ment of other nonmanual actions (e.g., head, eyebrows, cheeks, mouth,
shoulders, torso). More work needs to be done in order to better
understand which parts are more commonly used and how they are
usually combined in LSH.What follows is a brief description of what
has been observed in the data; we make no claim as to frequency of
occurrence.
Hand Confguration. Hand confgurations are the various arrangements

of the fngers and thumbs used in signs. Figure 3 shows a sampling of
hand confgurations in LSH signs. (The arrows indicate movement,
another component of signs which is discussed later.)
All of the signs in fgure 3 must be produced with the hand con-
fguration as pictured. Altering the hand confguration can create a
diference in meaning.The same hand confguration can also co-occur
with diferent movements, orientations, and locations to form alterna-
tive meanings. For example, notice that the hand confgurations used
for sam ev and p ort - au - p ri nc e are identical. Because the other
components of these signs are diferent, however, LSH users recognize
them as two distinct forms with diferent meanings.This is a demon-
stration of the recursivity of LSH, a characteristic of all natural lan-
guages by which individual units can be combined and recombined in
an infnite number of ways to create an infnite number of meanings.
F ig ure 3. Diferent LSH signs (with glosses) with varying hand confgurations.
Placement. Placement refers to the location of the sign. This can be

viewed as a relationship between the active articulator (what moves)
and the passive articulator (where the active articulator makes contact
or moves toward or away from something). An active articulator can
be the entire hand or a certain part of it (e.g., the tip of the index
fnger in se e ). A passive articulator can be the other hand (as in
sc h ool), the body (as in th ink ), or an area in space (as in port-
au -prince) (fgure ).
F i g ure . Diferent LSH signs (with glosses) with varying placements.
As with the hand confgurations discussed earlier, if these signs are

produced with a diferent placement, they take on diferent meaning
or become nonsensical.
Movement. Movement is the way the fngers, hand(s), and/or arm(s)

travel from one location to another during the production of a sign.
Examples in LSH signs include a straight path, as in g ive, and a
circular motion, as in l i p read. These examples, along with their
movements (indicated by arrows), are shown in fgure 5.
Movement in LSH signs contributes to their well-formedness. If its
typical movement is missing, the meaning of a sign may be changed,
or it may even be rendered nonsensical.
F i g ure 5. Diferent LSH signs (with glosses) with varying movements.

F ig ure 6. Diferent LSH signs (with glosses) with varying orientations.
Orientation. Orientation refers to the way the shoulder, elbow, arm,

and wrist are positioned at any moment during the production of a
sign. Some examples found in LSH are shown in fgure 6.
In age, the arm is facing the signer; in bon the arm starts of fac-
ing the signer and then faces upward; in e nte r it faces down.Again,
as in the other parts mentioned thus far, orientation is a signifcant
feature. Altering it can create a diferent form.
Contact. Contact refers to the touching of the active and the passive
articulators (fgure 7).
In don ’t - k now, the active articulator (the fngertip) contacts
the passive articulator (the side of the forehead) at the beginning
of the sign. In cannot, the active articulator (the end of the index
fnger) contacts the passive articulator (the top of the index fnger
of the other hand) in the middle of the sign. In fathe r, the active
articulator (the tip of the thumb) contacts the passive articulator (the
Fig ure 7. Diferent LSH signs (with glosses) with varying contacts.
center of the forehead) at the end of the sign. In waste, the active
articulator (the inside of the fngers) contacts the passive articulator
(palm of the other hand) throughout the entire sign.
Phonological Alternations in LSH

Phonological alternations (also called phonological processes) are pat-
terns in the changes that occur when parts of signs are combined,
particularly during word formation or combinations of words into
phrases or sentences (e.g., Liddell and Johnson 1989; Lucas, Bayley,
and Valli 2001; Johnston and Schembri 2007).That is, productions of
individual signs, when combined with other signs, do not resemble
their production in isolation. Alternations make the act of signing
easier to produce or perceive.
A complete list of the alternations that occur in LSH will require
more research because we must frst fnd the citation forms of each
sign in order to know how occurring with other signs changes them.
Among the alternations we have observed so far in LSH are assimila-
tion, weak hand drop, and perseveration. Each is briefy described with
relevant examples.Though these are not the only alternations we have
observed in the data, the three processes demonstrate that everyday
use of language consists of a stream of signs that occur together and
infuence each other in diferent ways.
Assimilation. Assimilation refers to a process in which neighboring

signs infuence the production of an individual sign during everyday
language use (e.g., Liddell and Johnson 1989; Johnston and Schembri
2007). That is, features (e.g., hand confguration, placement, orienta-
tion, contact, nonmanual signals) from the prior or following signs
may carry over and afect features in the existing sign (fgure 8).
In fgure 8, i x (self) shows assimilation. The citation (or typical)
form of the pronoun is an extended index fnger, with all other fngers
and the thumb fexed; the tip of the index fnger contacts the center
of the chest after a straight-path movement. In fgure 8, the hand
confguration has changed considerably:The fngers are all extended
in varying positions, and the middle three fngers touch the side of the
chest. This is not the citation form. It occurs because of the follow-
F ig ure 8. Example of assimilation in LSH.
ing sign, read, in which the index fnger and the middle fngers are
extended (this infuences the hand confguration in i x [self]), and the
beginning location of read is by the side of the chest (this infuences
placement in ix [self]).
Weak-Hand Drop. In two-handed signs, sometimes the weak hand (the

one that is not active) can be dropped from the sign, which means the
sign is produced as one handed. This is called weak-hand drop (e.g.,
Padden and Perlmutter 1987; Lucas, Bayley, and Valli 2001; McCaskill
et al. 2011).
In rem em be r (fgure 9) the weak hand (here, the left hand) is
not involved in the production of the sign.
Perseveration. Perseveration refers to the weak hand’s continuing to hold

features (e.g., hand confguration, placement, orientation) of a sign
while the strong hand produces other signs (see, e.g., Liddell and
Johnson 1989; Johnston and Schembri 2007) (fgure 10).
Both hands are involved in the production of year. The right
hand revolves around the left hand (which is the weak hand).When
the right hand moves up, it changes to the next sign, th re e, while
F igure 9. Example of weak-hand drop in LSH.
the left hand remains in the fnal position of the frst sign, year. The
right hand continues to produce another sign, dea f, while the left
hand is still in the fnal position of the frst sign. The dashed arrow
through the three pictures indicates that the left hand is mostly in the
same position (although it has started to descend, as can be typical for
hands that are not involved in sign production).
F igure 10. Example of perseveration in dea f.

Nonmanual Signals
Nonmanual signals (NMS) are parts of a signed language lexicon and
grammar made by using parts of the body other than the hands, usu-
ally the mouth, face, and head. Some NMS are components of spe-
cifc signs. Others modify existing signs or show what sentence type
is being signed (e.g., interrogative question, command). Since we are
talking about phonology here, we discuss nonmanual signals that are
important to the production of LSH signs without going into much
detail about their function (which may be lexical, morphological, or
syntactic). Figure 11 shows four signs with various NMS.
F ig ure 11. LSH signs (with glosses) with various nonmanual signals.
While producing p lane (or a depiction of a plane fying), the

signer directs his eye gaze upward and pufs his mouth. These two
NMS (eye gaze and mouth puf) are signifcant elements of the sign.
In sick, the signer closes her eyes and tilts her head to show intensity.
In star, the signer looks upward and tilts her head upward as well
while pursing her lips. In sun, the signer changes mouthing from
closed and tensed to open and rounded. In all of these signs, the NMS
play an important role in meaning.Though it may not be obvious in
the signs in fgure 11, nonmanual actions as produced by the head,
face (eyebrows, cheeks, mouth), and body (torso and shoulders) are
also signifcant elements of LSH signs.
Lexicon
Word Classes
Like all natural languages, LSH has nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjec-
tives. It has other word classes as well, but we will not discuss them
until more data have been annotated and we have a clearer picture
of them.
Nouns. Nouns are found in our data in abundance. Signs identify

objects and concepts related to kinship, places, food/drink, animals,
professions, and so on. Many LSH nouns are lexical signs (convention-
alized forms), but they can also be fngerspelled and appear as name
signs. In fgure 12 we provide some examples of nouns that express
kinship concepts.
Figure 12 illustrates four nouns.We know that signs like these are
nouns because they can be modifed by possessive pronouns (“my
mother”) or adjectives (“happy father”).They also function as subjects
(“My sister was born second”) or objects (“I have a brother”).
Nouns do not appear to be grammatically marked for plural form
in LSH. The sign for “sister,” for example, cannot be made plural by
repetition or utilize a diferent handshape to indicate more than one
sister. Instead, LSH users indicate the plural by utilizing free mor-
phemes, specifcally, adjectives (e.g., “many,” “two,” “few”).
Pronouns. Pronouns, a small set of forms that stand for nouns in dis-
course, are consistently found in the LSHDoP data. There appear
F ig ure 12. Four nouns used to express kinship in LSH.
to be two common forms: the personal pronoun and the possessive

pronoun.
The personal pronoun (fgure 13) is used to refer to entities dis-
cussed in discourse.
This personal pronoun takes the form of an extended index fnger
(the rest of the fngers and the thumb are typically folded in), which
points at the entity. Figure 1 shows the personal pronouns being used
in diferent ways in LSH discourse (they are coded as IX [“index”] in
the LSHDoP annotated data).
If the entity is present in the immediate environment, the signer
will point to it (see fgure 1 , where the signer points to the man to
her left). If the entity is not present, the signer will point to some
location in space to indicate its presence (see fgure 1 a). In this situ-
ation, the signer is retelling a story about Tweety Bird and Sylvester
the Cat. He is pointing to one of the characters, who is clearly not
present in the signer’s immediate environment. Instead of pointing
to the actual entity, he points instead to some location that serves
to represent the idea of the character. This is an example of the
F igure 13. Personal pronoun in LSH.
meaningful use of space around the signers even if there is nothing

immediately present.
The form of personal pronouns appears to change according to
two grammatical components: person and number.To distinguish be-
tween person (that is, frst and nonfrst), the LSH personal pronoun
can point to the signer to indicate frst person (fgure 1 b) or else-
where to indicate nonfrst person (fgure 13, fgure 1 a, fgure 1 b).
For number (e.g., singular, dual, plural), the default LSH personal
pronoun (fgure 13, fgure 1 a, fgure 1 b) is typically understood to be
singular.To express duality (“two”), the hand confguration resembles
the one used in two (fgure 1 d).To express the plural form (“more
than two”), the pronoun can be moved in an arc (fgure 1 c).
The possessive pronoun (fgure 15) indicates who possesses certain
entities (e.g., “my name”).
The possessive pronoun takes the form of a fully closed and ex-
tended hand with the palm pointing toward the possessor. Again, as
with the personal pronoun, possessive pronouns use the space around
the signer to indicate referents. The possessive pronoun can indicate
person and number just as the personal pronoun does.
F ig ure 1 . Diferent uses of the personal pronoun in LSH discourse.
F ig ure 1 . Continued.
Verbs. Verbs are common in the LSH data. Signs express how people
walk, eat, teach, or laugh (actions) or how someone knows, thinks,
or feels (states).There appear to be several diferent types of verbs in
LSH—plain verbs, indicating verbs, and depicting verbs—which are
quite complex and require more annotated data and analysis. For this
sketch, we provide a very brief introduction to each type, along with
some examples.
The frst verb type, plain verbs (e.g., Johnston and Schembri 2007),
are produced without indicating their referents and are often anchored
to the body (fgure 16).
F i g ure 15. Possessive pronoun in LSH.
Plain verbs, pictured in fgure 16, are usually preceded by a subject

and/or followed by an object.
Another type of verb that we have observed in LSH is the indicat-
ing verb (e.g., Liddell 2003), in which the verb ( just as pronouns do)
points to or indicates its referent(s) (also known as agreement verbs or
directional verbs) (fgure 17).
As indicated by the directionality of the hands and the eye gaze,
indicating verbs “point” to the referent. For example, in fgure 17, the
indicating verb,“to get the attention of,” is produced as the signer talks
about trying to get the attention of her students. She uses the space in
front of her to anchor the idea of her classroom and then points her
F ig ure 16. Examples of plain verbs in LSH.
sign and eye gaze toward this area to indicate that the students are the
“recipients” of the verb. Again, just as the pronouns described earlier,
if a referent is immediately available in the environment, the indicat-
ing verb usually points to this entity. And, as in all of the examples in
fgure 17, if the entity is not physically present, then the space around
the signer can be used to represent these referents.
The third type of verb, depicting verbs (also known as classifer
predicates or polycomponential signs), makes “ideas present in dis-
course” (Paul Dudis, pers. comm.). In addition,“Depicting verbs, like
verbs in general, encode meanings related to actions and states.What
distinguishes depicting verbs from other verbs is that, in addition to
their encoded meanings, these verbs also depict certain aspects of their
meanings” (Liddell 2003, 261) (fgure 18).
F igure 17. Examples of indicating verbs in LSH.

F igure 18. Depicting verbs in LSH (with ID glosses and translations).
All of the verbs in fgure 18 specify a particular entity:The frst uses

a fat hand to represent a fying vehicle (or “airplane”); the second uses
the right hand, with two fngers extended to indicate a two-legged
being (or “Tweety Bird”), and the extended thumb of the left hand to
indicate some small surface (or “the seat of a swing”); the third uses
two open and slightly curved hands to represent the hands themselves,
rocking some moderately sized object (“or baby”). In addition to the
specifc handshapes (as well as movement, orientation, and location of
the hands), the nonmanual signals help indicate what is being depicted.
In all of the signs, the eyes gaze toward some area of space to either
direct attention to the object being depicted or to indicate that the
signer is also involved in the depiction. Explicit subjects and objects
are not always required with these constructions.
Adjectives. Adjectives also appear in the LSH data (fgure 19).

F ig ure 19. Examples of adjectives in LSH.
These signs appear to be used as both predicate adjectives and nom-

inal adjectives. Figure 20 shows an example of a predicate adjective.
b eauti f ul is an adjective that occurs as a predicate adjective,
which modifes the subject, mountain.
Numbers
In LSH, numbers are expressed by individual signs that are used as
adjectives and nouns.They express quantity of objects, ages, dates, and
so on. There appear to be two sets of signs that represent numbers.
The more common number system seen in our dataset is shown in
fgure 21.
Fig ure 20. Example of a predicate adjective in LSH (with glosses and translation).
F igure 21. Numbers in LSH (the more commonly observed system).
Numbers “one” through “nine” are produced with the hand

confgurations and palm orientation (fgure 21) and a slight forward
movement.The number “ten” is produced with a twist of the wrist or
sometimes the back-and-forth movement of the thumb.The numbers
“eleven” through “nineteen” begin with a fsted handshape that faces
the signer and then twists out into a specifc number (e.g., “one,”
“two," three”). In some instances, the spreading of the second hand
confguration is diferent from that of the single-digit version (e.g.,
“fve” versus “ffteen”).There is a unique sign for “twenty,” which is
used in combination with other numbers to express “twenty-one”
through “twenty-nine.” “Thirty” through “ninety” are productions
of each number, separated by a short path in between. Double-digit
numbers (e.g., “twenty-two,” “forty-four”) are sometimes produced
with a slight bounce. Finally, there is a single sign for “hundred,” and
additional number combinations are formed using the signs in fgure
F ig ure 22. Uncommon variant of LSH number system.
21.There may be specifc constraints (especially in movement) on how

these signs are formed.
Another variant of the number system, one that occurred only
once in our dataset, is shown in fgure 22. Not much is known about
the background of this variant.The Deaf Haitian team members de-
scribed this system as “the old way.”
The system in fgure 22 shares some similarities with the frst num-
ber system (fgure 21). Noticeable diferences start with the number
“three,” which is a diferent handshape in this system. Numbers “six”
through “ten” are also diferent signs for those concepts. Instead of
one-handed variants (fgure 21), these are two-handed variants. The
weak hand remains constant: a fully extended and spread hand that
faces the side, while the strong hand taps on the palm of the weak
hand with lower-digit numbers “one” through “four.”“Ten” is a two-
handed sign that resembles a clap.“Ten” is used to form the frst part
of all signs for “eleven” through “nineteen.” For the second part, the
smaller digits (i.e., between “one” and “nine”) are used. Some variants
exist. Sometimes the smaller digits take the form of the handshapes
in fgures 21 or 22. For example, “sixteen” is produced as the two-
handed sign that resembles a clap and then the “six” from the more
common number system.Then “nineteen” is produced as, again, the
two-handed sign that resembles a clap and then the “nine” from this
current number system. Such variation in using lower digits from
either system seems to be acceptable. To produce the double digits
from “twenty” through “ffty,” the hand claps once to represent each
ten-digit (i.e., two claps for “twenty,” three claps for “thirty,” and so
on).Again, variation in using lower digits (“one” through “nine”) from
either number system to create complex numbers such as “thirty-
three” or “ffty-eight” appears to be acceptable. Our data do not show
what happens after “ffty.”
For nonmanual signals (specifcally, mouthing) that accompany
either set of number systems described here, LSH users appear either
to leave their mouth neutral (i.e., closed or slightly open and with no
movement during the sign) or to mouth the spoken-language equiva-
lent. It appears to be more common to mouth either the French or
Haitian Creole equivalent.
Fingerspelling
In many signed languages, fngerspelling is a language strategy in
which manual gestures represent letters from the alphabet used to
write the spoken language of the surrounding mainstream hearing
culture.Together, these gestures form a manual alphabet, which is then
used to spell words and names from the spoken language. A manual
alphabet, much like the one used by ASL and some European signed
languages, exists in LSH and is shown in fgure 23.
Although fgure 23 appears to depict the signs as static handshapes,
this is an illusion created by using pictures that freeze dynamic objects
in a point at time. In reality, these manual gestures, which represent
symbols from the alphabet, are produced with brief movements (usu-
ally forward unless otherwise noted by arrows in the fgures) and
specifc orientations (direction in which the hand is facing). Signers
may additionally produce neutral nonmanual signals (e.g., closed or
slightly open mouth and the rest of the face at rest) or silently mouth
the Haitian Creole equivalent of each letter.
Though we have annotated only a small percentage of the video
data (although we have also scanned the entire video collection), it
F ig ure 23. LSH Manual Alphabet.
appears that fngerspelling is used for only a few specifc purposes

in LSH. Specifcally, in our annotated LSH data, we have observed
the use of fngerspelling to give people’s written names (see the later
subsection on name signs), place names, and some English words for
communication with American researchers.
The most common use for fngerspelling in LSH (based on our
current data) seems to be to give spoken (or rather written) names in
introductions or when mentioning people whose name signs are not
known by one’s interlocutors. One pattern common in fngerspell-
ing names is a gesture consisting of a wave of the hand, which we
have glossed as next -word (fgure 2 ), indicating that the signer
has fnished fngerspelling a frst name and will begin fngerspelling
a last name.
In general, it appears that fngerspelling is not productive in LSH.
F i g ure 2 . ne xt- word.
Name Signs
Like many signed languages, LSH has a particular type of sign unique
to Deaf communities: name signs (e.g., Supalla 1992).Along with their
spoken names, members of the Deaf Haitian community have distinct
signs that are used to identify individuals of the community (fgure 25).
The LSH name signs shown in fgure 25 are derived from the frst
letters of the individual’s frst and last written names (represented in a
manual sign by the corresponding letter of that alphabet) and placed
on diferent parts of the body, typically (so far in our data) the side of
the forehead, close to the elbow, or on the cheek.
F ig ure 25. Name signs in LSH.
It is common for individuals to have two or three signed names.

The frst name sign a Deaf person receives is characteristically a play
on a prominent physical or personality trait. It can even be based on
an anecdote from the person’s childhood. Some examples would be
signs depicting big ears, eyes, or lips (physical), getting hit on the head
(anecdotal), or gullibility (personality).These names are meant to tease
but not to be insulting. They are used primarily in childhood and,
in adulthood, by only the closest of friends in a joking or endearing
manner.
When one reaches adulthood (marked especially by marriage for
older individuals or school graduation for younger ones), a new name
sign is added. This name sign is more arbitrary. It almost always in-
cludes one or two initials of the person’s frst and last name or two
parts of the person’s frst name. If only one initial is used, it is the
frst initial.There are common locations, separated by gender, for the
use of these handshapes as name signs. For men, name signs are usu-
ally produced on the side of the forehead or the side or center of the
chest. For women, typical locations are the side of the chin, cheek,
or eye. In less common instances a location may change to match a
unique physical trait such as a scar or other feature. For both men and
women, initials are commonly produced on the ear, likely connoting
Deafness. Other exceptions we have observed produce the name sign
on the elbow, relating to the location of the town of an individual’s
birth. Name signs for adults that do not include initials are rarely seen,
and, if they are used, are often considered childish.
It is also common for older Deaf adults to use titles with their
name sign. Many add the sign for “Deaf.” Others use the sign for
“man” to connote “monsieur,” “mesye,” or “mister.” In contrast,
women who want to add a sign for “madam,”“madamn,” or “missus”
add the sign for “wife.” These titles are used only when introducing
oneself or being formal.
Variation
Variation in language can exist in diferent aspects of the language:
lexicon, phonology, morphology, syntax, and discourse (e.g., Lucas,
Bayley, and Valli 2001). Even though much work remains to be done
in understanding variation in LSH, we have observed a good deal of
it in the LSH lexicon and provide a few examples here.
The frst example is the concept of “book” (fgure 26).
F igure 2 6. LSH variants for the concept of “book.”

F ig ure 27. Three LSH variants of ye l low.
From fgure 26 it is apparent that the various forms used to express

the same concept are diferent. Although all them use two hands and
similar hand confgurations, their movements, placements, and orien-
tations are dissimilar.The last variant is actually a combination of the
frst two variants.
Another example of variation can be seen in the variety of adjec-
tives used to express the concept of the color “yellow” (fgure 27).
Although they difer in location, the frst two LSH signs for
“yellow” use the handshape, movement, and orientation of lette r-j,
which suggests that these signs are derived from the French term for
“yellow,” which is jaune. That is, the frst letter of the written French
form is used to produce the frst two LSH signs in fgure 27. The
fnal form for “yellow” uses the handshape for lette r-y, presumably
infuenced by the frst letter of the English word “yellow.”
Yet another example can be seen in the diverse signs related to the
concept of “Haiti” (fgure 28).
F ig ure 28. Three LSH variants of haiti.

It is not yet clear whether the meaning varies among the forms
(perhaps one form is used to indicate the idea of a “Haitian” while
another is used to discuss the country itself).
We assume that variation in LSH exists because of social factors
such as gender, age, region (where one lives or works), educational
background (in particular, the diferent schools for Deaf students in
Haiti), and age of acquisition (e.g., Lucas, Bayley, and Valli 2003), as
these are relevant factors in all natural languages. Again, more work
needs to be done to understand the interaction of these suggested
causes of variation in LSH.
Morphology and Syntax

Although we have made some initial observations of the morphology
and syntax of LSH, they are based on our scanning of the data and a
small annotated dataset. What follows is an outline of what we have
found.
Morphology
The most prevalent morphological processes that we have seen LSH
signers use to create signs are compounding, borrowing, initialization,
and depiction. We discuss these types of word formation later on.
Then, the methods of modifying existing signs are known as word-
modifcation processes (or infectional morphology). The processes that
been observed in LSH include grammatical marking for aspect, num-
ber, and person.We have already briefy discussed how LSH indicates
number (e.g., singular, plural) and person (e.g., frst-person, nonfrst-
person) for nouns and pronouns. Based on our initial scanning of
the current data, LSH does not appear to mark for grammatical case,
tense, gender, or voice.
Word Formation
Compounding. The signs in fgure 29 are compounds in LSH because
they have been derived from two words that created an indivisible
unit with a unique meaning.
For instance, tie^write is a combination of tie (as in “necktie”)
and write (here, specifcally, on a board).When combined, these two
signs appear to mean “teacher.”
F ig ure 29. LSH compounds (with glosses and translations).
Borrowing. Some signs appear to be borrowed, likely from ASL.That

is, they appear to have been taken from the ASL lexicon, changed to
match LSH phonology, and then used in the appropriate order accord-
ing to LSH syntax rules. wor k (fgure 30) may have been borrowed
from ASL, although it is commonly found in other languages.
As fgure 30 shows, the LSH form of work difers from the ASL
sign in the way the palms are facing and possibly in other aspects as
well.
Some terms that have been borrowed exist as variants in the lan-
guage.That is, the borrowed sign exists in combination with the sign
that appears to be native to Haiti. For example, there are two ways of
saying have or name (fgure 31).
The forms of the two variants are clearly diferent. For nam e,
although both use two hands and are produced in front of the signer,
F i g ure 30. wor k in both LSH and ASL.
the variants exhibit diferent hand confgurations, orientations, and

movements. For have, both variants use one hand and are made near
the signer’s chest; however, they difer in movement, orientation, and
hand confguration. Note that fgure 31 distinguishes between the two
variants by adding “LSH” or “ASL” after the gloss.This distinction is
an observation of the potential source of these variants rather than
any claim about which language “owns” these terms. It is evident that
LSH users produce these ASL forms in everyday LSH discourse and
have essentially incorporated them into their own language.
As is known, borrowing is a typical way for language users to de-
velop their lexicon. Even though the LSH users may have opinions
about which form is more appropriate to use, linguists recognize that
borrowing is a natural process that occurs in most (if not all) languages
studied to date.
F i g ure 31. Borrowed and native variants.

Initialization. Initialization—the process of creating a sign by using the

handshape of the letter of the manual alphabet that corresponds to
the frst one or two letters of a spoken word for the same concept—
is found in LSH. Some initialized signs appear to utilize the symbol
for the frst letter of a Haitian Creole or French word such as jaune
(“yellow”), discussed earlier. Some that appear to be borrowed from
ASL are initializations of English words, such as education (fgure 32).
e ducation is initialized because it is produced with two letters—
e and d—that appear in the written form of the English word. How
productive this morphological process is in LSH remains to be seen.
Word Modifcation
Aspect. One way to alter signs, specifcally verbs, is to convey aspect
(i.e., grammatical information about time or manner). For example,
F ig ure 32. e ducation in LSH.

F igure 33. LSH si c k , modifed for aspect.
LSH verb forms can be modifed to add meaning, such as how fre-
quently or intensely something occurs. Such changes may include
reduplication (repetition of all or part of a sign), the elimination of
part of a sign, or the addition of movement. An example from LSH
is given in fgure 33, in which the signer modifes si c k by repeating
the form.This modifcation seems to add the additional meaning that
a person was sick for an extended period of time.
Several LSH verbs in the data were modifed for aspect. They all
move repeatedly, but some may exhibit diferent types of movement
to give more specifc information about manner or time.This is a rich
area of exploration for future research.
Syntax
Word Order. The basic word order of LSH—how a language prefers
to arrange its subjects, objects, and predicates—is apparent from pre-
liminary analyses of declarative sentences in the existing LSHDoP
data. For instance, LSH users appear to prefer a subject-verb-object
(SVO) order (fgure 3 ).
While our data show that LSH users prefer SVO constructions,
like other languages, it appears that word order in LSH sentences can
be rearranged to focus on what is important or to identify another
type of sentence.
Our preliminary data also show that subjects and objects may be
dropped, or not explicitly included in sentences. For example, if a
F ig ure 3 . Various LSH utterances.

F i g ure 35. Syntactic negation in LSH.
signer asks another person the equivalent of “How are you?” the latter
person can reply with just f i ne, as in “I am fne.”
Negation
Various sentence types have been observed in LSHDoP data: de-
clarative sentences, negations, interrogatives, and polar questions. Since
such analyses of the syntax are quite preliminary, we discuss negation
only briefy here.
Negation indicates that a sentence (or part of a sentence) is false.
In signed languages, negation may be achieved by manually produced
lexical signs, nonmanual signals, or a combination of both.The litera-
ture on negation in sign languages notes four ways of expressing nega-
tion: syntactic negation, inherently negative signs (wrong), change
of movement (k now/ don ’t - k now), and nonmanual signals (e.g.,
furrowed eyebrows and head shake) (Yang and Fischer 2002). LSH
appears to utilize all of these.
In fgure 35, the signer uses a manual sign, noth i ng, to negate
an utterance.
As fgure 35 shows, noth ing makes the entire utterance a nega-
tive statement. In fgure 36, the signer uses an inherently negative
sign, w rong.
In fgure 37, the signer applies a movement to k now to make it
negative.
As fgure 37 shows, the hand is moved away from the signer and
rotated out while moving. know is typically signed with a straight
F ig ure 36. Inherently negative sign in LSH.
F ig ure 37. Change of movement to show negation.

F i g ure 38. Nonmanual signals for negation.
movement toward the sign. It has been made negative by moving the
hand away and out. Some verbs in LSH appear to exhibit this pattern.
In fgure 38, the signer uses nonmanual signals to convey negation.
As fgure 38 shows, the signer furrows her eyebrows slightly and
shakes her head from side to side while signing to indicate negation.
The use of nonmanual signals to mark negation appears to be preva-
lent in the data.
Conclusion
We have provided a frst look at the culture, community, and language
of the Deaf Haitian population.We have been able to do so by means
of the short-term research collaboration of ten Deaf Haitian individu-
als and several persons from Gallaudet University.This partnership was
supported by the Organization of American States and the government
of Haiti. Many of the observations recorded here will undoubtedly
be updated after further exploration of the data, which, to date, has

barely been processed, or merely as a result of the natural changes that
occur over time in any language. Nonetheless, it is evident that the
Deaf people in Haiti have a community and a language.
Future Activities of the LSHDoP

While a degree of documentation of the signed language of the
Deaf Haitian community has been achieved since the inception of
this project, much more can be accomplished, including additional
annotation and exploration of the largely unprocessed data. More
comprehensive documentation can be carried out in order to fur-
ther our understanding of the lexicon and grammar of LSH. Such
documentation can lead to the creation of products (e.g., dictionaries,
teaching resources for primary education or interpreting education,
and other language resources) that can be shared with both the Deaf
community and the Haitian community at large. This information
will enhance advocacy eforts and serve as important resources for
establishing viable interpreter training programs, community engage-
ment, sign language teacher training, and bilingual education. Such
work cannot be satisfactorily accomplished in a short period of time.
After all, “language documentation is a lasting, multipurpose record
of a language” (Himmelmann 2006, 1). It takes time to create and is
an activity that is, ultimately, ongoing.
Acknowledgments
The Haitian Sign Language Documentation Project was made pos-
sible by the fnancial and logistical support of the Organization of
American States; the government of Haiti, specifcally the ofce of
Gerald Oriol Jr. of the Bureau of the Secretary of State for the Inte-
gration of Persons with Disabilities; and Gallaudet University.
Amelia Becker, Megan Kish, and Elizabeth Steyer served as re-
search assistants for LSHDoP and also contributed to both the gram-
matical sketch and this article.
Author Note
The digital archives we have compiled are stored on project com-
puters and in an in-house, cloud-based account (Dropbox) and are
currently inaccessible to the general public. We intend to transfer

the entire project to an online service that is dedicated to storing
such archives (e.g., the Language Archive at Max Planck Institute for
Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands). Such services are
more accessible to the community, although access may be somewhat
restricted. If you wish to access the digital archives (including meth-
odology or annotation conventions), please contact us.
Haitian Sign Language translations of much of the information
here are available at http://bit.ly/1I8JOoT.
Notes
1. This article has been adapted from “Grammatical Sketch of Haitian
Sign Language,” a working paper created for our project and disseminated
to the Haitian community. The information presented here was provided
by Jonas Cadet, Michelet Destine, Elizabeth Exilant, Gamalene Flereistil
Jean, Manoucheka Jerome, Naphtanaël Marius, Jean-Maye Pluviose, Milord
Pluviose, Diefe Solimon, and Sandy Sufrard.
2. There are as yet no survey data or primary research studies on the
degree of Deaf Haitians’ fuency in the majority spoken languages in the
country.
3. The information in this section was gathered through extensive inter-
viewing of the Haitian Deaf staf of the LSHDoP. It has also been gleaned
from reports of experiences, stories, and witnessed events.
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JUL IE A.

Haitian S i g n Lang uag e is the signed language of the

Information was provided by Jonas Cadet, Michelet Destine, Elizabeth Exilant,

F i g ure 1. Map of Haiti.

as English (although minimally). The fve schools for Deaf children

Research on and Knowledge of Haitian Deaf People

History of the LSHDoP

to establish a documentation project. McAulif lived in Haiti for the

Name of the Signed Language Discussed Here

Is LSH a Variant of American Sign Language (ASL)?

Observer’s Paradox during Data Collection

Deaf Haitian Community Wishes

right to “construct meaning and knowledge” (Harris, Holmes, and

and used nationally. The languages are transmitted mainly by peer

2015, 9–10). Microcommunities, on the other hand, “are . . . small

International Aid and Linguistic Imperialism

created confusion, power dynamics, and division among Deaf Haitians.

Deaf Haitian Culture and Community

a functional part of a person’s life, that person is considered hard of

Deaf People and Society

disabilities. His social status as a member of the bourgeoisie had little

Deaf People and the Haitian Government

Born or Becoming Deaf in Haiti

developed just between siblings.The ability to communicate, regardless

ofcially recognized by the Ministry of Education. Typically newer,

Involvement in the Deaf Community. Dedication to the Deaf community

some individuals within the community. Because of the belief that

Work and Economics

Geography in Deaf Haiti

the land beyond the urban center of Port-au-Prince.This separation

the number of years they attended, or which school they went to

Delmas 1 and Delmas 2 in Port-au-Prince are former tent vil-

be trusted. Clearly these interpreters are not educated or mentored

Data Collection Methods

Purpose of Language Documentation

situations (e.g., Massone and Johnson 1991; Schmaling 2000). Both

legal settings. Development of resources can include dictionaries for

Roles of Project Members. Like many language documentation projects

obviously limited by the small number of consultants in our video

Naturalistic Video Data

Thumbnail Sketch of LSH

Hand Confguration. Hand confgurations are the various arrangements

Placement. Placement refers to the location of the sign. This can be

F i g ure . Diferent LSH signs (with glosses) with varying placements.

As with the hand confgurations discussed earlier, if these signs are

Movement. Movement is the way the fngers, hand(s), and/or arm(s)

F i g ure 5. Diferent LSH signs (with glosses) with varying movements.

F ig ure 6. Diferent LSH signs (with glosses) with varying orientations.

Orientation. Orientation refers to the way the shoulder, elbow, arm,

Phonological Alternations in LSH

Assimilation. Assimilation refers to a process in which neighboring

F ig ure 8. Example of assimilation in LSH.

Weak-Hand Drop. In two-handed signs, sometimes the weak hand (the

Perseveration. Perseveration refers to the weak hand’s continuing to hold

F igure 9. Example of weak-hand drop in LSH.

F igure 10. Example of perseveration in dea f.

While producing p lane (or a depiction of a plane fying), the

Nouns. Nouns are found in our data in abundance. Signs identify

F ig ure 12. Four nouns used to express kinship in LSH.

to be two common forms: the personal pronoun and the possessive

F igure 13. Personal pronoun in LSH.

meaningful use of space around the signers even if there is nothing

F ig ure 1 . Diferent uses of the personal pronoun in LSH discourse.