“Culture sign is my favourite”: Bilingualism and identity in the Port Moresby deaf community

A paper presented at the Symposium on sociolinguistic variation in signed and spoken languages of the Asia-Pacific region, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom, 12 July 2019

ABSTRACT

Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, is home to a burgeoning deaf community. Numbering around 100 people, the community is centred on deaf or hard of hearing status, and participation in a number of communities of practice including activities of the PNG Deaf Association, two churches with signed services, and regular deaf rugby matches. Around half of the community have migrated to Moresby from other provinces. The community self-identifies as having two languages: Papua New Guinea Sign Language (PNGSL) and ‘culture sign’. This paper discusses how meaning is made within the Port Moresby deaf community, with reference to bilingual/multilingual practices of code-switching and translanguaging. It also explores the identity and social meaning bound up in ‘culture sign’. The paper is based on four weeks of fieldwork by the author with the Port Moresby deaf community in October 2018.