Rehana Omardeen

About Me

I'm from Trinidad & Tobago, but I've been on the move for the past ten years, studying in the US, the Netherlands and now living and working in Germany.

Currently I'm in the third year of my PhD at the University of Göttingen, where my research focuses on Providence Island Sign Language, a sign language used in small Caribbean island. I'm interested in a range of topics concerning sign languages, but I'm most interested in micro-community sign languages, particularly how they arise, how they are used and how they compare to other types of sign languages.

After 20 years playing football, I was forcibly retired by three knee surgeries and now I have as to fill my spare time with something else. Recently, I've been enjoying making pub quizzes, spending time in nature, doing yoga and reading books from Caribbean authors.

Research

Providence Island Sign Language

My PhD research focuses on Providence Island Sign Language (PISL) a micro-community sign language used in the Caribbean island of Providencia, Columbia. My work so far has been a combination of language documentation and research into how signers of this language establish person reference.

Perceived Iconicity in Foreign Signs

For my MA thesis, I studied how iconicity is perceived in foreign sign languages by deaf signers (a topic that my cat finds fascinating). I found that signers perceive their signs as more iconic than foreign signs, but the degree of overlap between native signs and foreign signs explains iconicity scores (more overlap, higher iconicity). This is in line with claims that iconicity is subjective and linked to language experience.

South Rupununi Sign Language

I have also worked with Ben Braithwaite and Lily Kwok investigating South Rupununi Sign Language, a rural sign language used in the interior of Guyana.

Output

Publications

Omardeen, R., Mesh, K. & Steinbach, M. (2021) Initial person reference in Providence Island Sign Language . Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics 6 (1).

Omardeen, R. (2021) Sampling signers in Providence Island: Reflections on a small-scale documentation project. Visitas al Patio 15 (2).

Presentations

Omardeen, R. & Dhanoolal, I. (2020, August) Documenting the Sign Language of Providence Island. Talk at the 23rd biennial Society for Caribbean Linguistics Conference (SCL). St. Augustine, Trinidad. August 3-9. [Conference Cancelled due to COVID-19]

Omardeen, R. (2020, April). Sampling signers in Providence Island . Talk at EVOLANG2020 workshop “Hands on sign language emergence: current methods”. Brussels, April 14. [Conference Cancelled due to COVID-19]

Omardeen, R. & Lutzenberger, H. (2020, April) What non-manuals can add to the puzzle of conventionalisation: insights from two rural sign languages . Talk at EVOLANG2020 workshop “An integrative approach to the study of language evolution: re-drawing the boundaries of language”. Brussels, April 14. [Conference Cancelled due to COVID-19]

Omardeen, R. (2019, September) The effect of phonological overlap on perceived iconcity. Poster at the 13th Theoretical and Empirical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR) Conference. University of Hamburg, Hamburg. September 25-28.

Omardeen, R. (2017, December) Guess the sign: a pilot study. Talk at 62nd the Studentische Tagung Sprachwissenschaft (STuTs). Radboud University, Nijmegen. November 23-26.

Kwok, L., Omardeen, R. & Braithwaite, B. (2017, March) Documenting sign language in South Rupununi, Guyana. Talk at the 5th International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation (ICLDC). Honolulu, Hawaii. March 2-5.

Kwok, L., Omardeen, R. & Braithwaite, B. (2016, August) Sign Language in South Rupununi, Guyana. Talk at the 21st biennial Society for Caribbean Linguistics Conference (SCL). Mona, Jamaica. August 1-6.

Hwang, S.O., Andriola, D., Plançon, E., Omardeen, R., Hernandez, J., Manh, M., Javier, J., Washburn, E., Padden, C. (2015, January) The communicative efficiency of language: a comparison of rate and redundancy in sign language and gesture production. Poster at the 89th annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA). Portland, Oregon. January 8-11.

Digital Products

Omardeen, R. Revisiting the shared sign language of Providence Island. The Endangered Languages Archive at SOAS, London. Public access. https://elar.soas.ac.uk/Collection/MPI1254417

Theses

Omardeen, R. (2018) The contribution of lexical overlap to perceived iconicity in foreign signs. Master's Thesis, Radboud University.

Projects

Rise eBook Project

During my Bachelors, I worked first as a student, then as a teaching assistant on project to make bimodal bilingual eBooks for deaf children spearheaded by Prof. Donna Jo Napoli and Prof. Gene Mirus. In 2020, I rejoined the initiative to help make eBooks about COVID in various sign languages. I've worked on eBooks in different languages, and am especially delighted to have contributed to the eBooks in Trindiad and Tobago Sign Language (TTSL)! Find more about the project here and check out a TTSL-English ebook here signed by the wonderful Ian Dhanoolal.

Caribbean Sign Languages Resource Hub

Together with fellow Caribbean sign linguists Kristian Ali, Ben Braithwaite, Ian Dhanoolal and Lily Kwok, I am working on a project to create an online hub of resources about Caribbean sign langauges. The website is currently under construction but we hope to launch it soon!

Contact

email me at rehana.omardeen@uni-goettingen.de

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