Browsing by Author "Sapkota, Sharada"

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    Phonological Parameters in Nepali Sign Language
    (Department of Linguistics, 2023) Sapkota, Sharada
    This research presents the phonological parameters of Nepali sign language (NSL), such as, hand shapes, place of articulations, orientations, movements, and non-manual characteristics. Based on A Prosodic Model of Sign Language Phonology (Brentari 1998), this study organized features of NSL into two types namely, inherent features, and prosodic features. The inherent features remain unchanged whereas the prosodic features can change constantly during sign production. In this study, both primary and secondary sources have been used for data collection. For primary source, the researcher recorded the conversation of NSL native signers, whereas the available dictionaries, texts, videos, and research papers on NSL have been used as the secondary sources. The HamNoSys i.e. Hamburg Notation System has been used in this study in order to transcribe sign data. The present study discovered 62 different hand shapes in NSL among which 44 are from manual alphabet. Additionally, 22 hand shapes detected as basic hand shapes. NSL signs are articulated from the four major regions of the body such as, head, arm, body, and hand. However, there are signs in NSL that are articulated from over the head, behind the ear, and below the waist. Furthermore, based on palms or knuckles facing directions, there are six hand orientations found in NSL such as, upward, downward, leftward, rightward, forward, and backward. All these six orientations are found in NSL for palms and only five are found for knuckles. Besides, this study identified 35 hand movements in NSL. Likewise, non- manual features in NSL have been divided into seven categories.
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    Resisting Normalcy in Sharon M. Draper's Out of My Mind
    (Central Department of English, 2019) Sapkota, Sharada
    This research analyzes Sharon M. Draper's Out of My Mind and explores the issue of the normalcy and stigmatization of Melody Brooks, an eleven year old girl with cerebral palsy. Being a girl with physical disability, she comes across the barriers in her participation as equal member of society due to which she cannot practice the rights as a human being in her society. The issue of normalcy and stigmatization under the theory of disability studies has been undertaken as theoretical approach in this research. Normalcy is a socio-cultural construct which refers to the state of being perfectly normal and it considers disability as misfortune and the persons with disabilities as burden in every society. As a result, Melody, because of her disabled body, suffers from stigma of normalcy, but her stigma is countered by herself with the help of her beloved ones as she learns words from books, and TV shows, gathers information from diverse field, participates the class activities etc. This study shows Melody through her determination to learn words, perseverance to go school in any situation, courage to join the class among her so-called normal classmates, struggle to participate the quiz competition and expectation to win it, challenges the discriminatory attitude of the norms. Thus, Melody gets love, support, inspiration and encouragement from her parents as well as her well-wishers that raises hope within her to fight against biased mindset of the society. Her access in technology and disability friendly infra-structures plays a vital role to make her independent because of which she questions the false ideology of disability and overcomes the stigma.
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    Resisting Normalcy in Sharon M. Draper's Out of My Mind
    (Department of English, 2019) Sapkota, Sharada
    This research analyzes Sharon M. Draper's Out of My Mind and explores the issue of the normalcy and stigmatization of Melody Brooks, an eleven year old girl with cerebral palsy. Being a girl with physical disability, she comes across the barriers in her participation as equal member of society due to which she cannot practice the rights as a human being in her society. The issue of normalcy and stigmatization under the theory of disability studies has been undertaken as theoretical approach in this research. Normalcy is a socio-cultural construct which refers to the state of being perfectly normal and it considers disability as misfortune and the persons with disabilities as burden in every society. As a result, Melody, because of her disabled body, suffers from stigma of normalcy, but her stigma is countered by herself with the help of her beloved ones as she learns words from books, and TV shows, gathers information from diverse field, participates the class activities etc. This study shows Melody through her determination to learn words, perseverance to go school in any situation, courage to join the class among her so-called normal classmates, struggle to participate the quiz competition and expectation to win it, challenges the discriminatory attitude of the norms. Thus, Melody gets love, support, inspiration and encouragement from her parents as well as her well-wishers that raises hope within her to fight against biased mindset of the society. Her access in technology and disability friendly infra-structures plays a vital role to make her independent because of which she questions the false ideology of disability and overcomes the stigma.