“Sign to me, not the children”: Ideologies of language contamination at a deaf tourist site in Bali

Abstract

Certain historical processes and sign language ideologies have led to the dissemination of American Sign Language (ASL) signs throughout Southeast Asia via deaf education projects, international development interventions, and tourism, notably in Cambodia and Indonesia. These ideologies normalized attempts to develop standardised sign systems based on national spoken languages and the introduction of signs from foreign sign languages, especially ASL. This history has shaped and mobilized ideas among deaf sign language users about language contact, the spread of hegemonic national sign languages, and the vitality of sign languages outside of the US and western Europe. Some of these ideologies manifest in deaf signers’ concerns about the vitality of what are often perceived to be non-hegemonic sign languages (e.g., sign languages that are not ASL, Auslan, or BSL) and language practices. By examining discourses and practices in the context of encounters between deaf tourists and deaf leaders in Bali, this article approaches larger questions about the territorialization of sign languages, linguistic boundaries, language contact, and sign language vitality.