Addis Ababa University hosted the 15th Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR 15) from January 14 – 17, 2025. TISLR 15 brought sign language specialists across the world to the political capital of the African continent, Addis Ababa. The Department of Linguistics was represented by PhD Students Sovoya Davis and Demet Kayabaşı , Professor Natasha Abner, and 2024 PhD Alum Felicia Bisnath.
“Okaaay Sis!”: African American Language, Multimodality, and Black Women’s Gesture - Sovoya Davis
Exploring the heterogeneity of deaf and hard-of-hearing language experiences in ASL users in the United States outside of nativeness - Felicia Bisnath
Handshape representation strategies among signers and gesturers in Turkey - Demet Kayabaşı & Natasha Abner
Put your degrees where your mouth is: Mouth morphemes and degree modification - Natasha Abner
Felicia Bisnath received one of two Student Awards at the conference. TISLR is one of the leading conferences for sign language research, and the conference organizing committee and Sign Language Linguistics Society leadership determine the award based on both the scientific merit and clarity of presentation for research completed by a student (or recent alum presenting work done while they were a student). Felicia received the award for her talk "Exploring the heterogeneity of deaf and hard-of-hearing language experiences in ASL users in the United States outside of nativeness", which is based on the research she completed for her PhD, awarded in 2024.
