Lauren W Reed

Research

I am an affiliate of the Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, at the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra. My research focuses on deaf sign languages of Papua New Guinea. I work with sign language varieties used in the rural Highlands of New Guinea, and with Papua New Guinea Sign Language, the emerging national SL of PNG. I am interested in what emerging sign languages can tell us about both the nature and the evolution of human language; in how community characteristics condition language shape; and the multimodality of human language. I am a hearing native user of Auslan (Australian Sign Language).

Publications (accepted)

Reed, Lauren W. & Rumsey, Alan. (In press). Sign languages in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. To appear in Kendon, Adam, Sign language in Papua New Guinea: A primary sign language from the Upper Lagaip Valley, Enga Province. John Benjamins. Preorder here.

Reed, Lauren W. & Lindsey, Kate L. (In press). “Now the story’s turning around”: Associated motion and directionality in Ende, a language of Papua New Guinea. To appear in Koch, Harold & Guillaume, Antoine (Eds.), Associated Motion, Empirical Approaches to Language Typology series. De Gruyter Mouton.

Green, Jennifer; Lauren W Reed; Elizabeth M Ellis; & Inge Kral. (In press). Mara yurriku: Western Desert sign languages. To appear in Australian Aboriginal Studies.

Publications (under review)

Reed, Lauren W. (Under review). "Switching caps": Unimodal bilingualism in the Port Moresby deaf community.

Reed, Lauren W. & Alan Rumsey. (Under review). Sign networks: Insights from Papua New Guinea for sign language typology.

Rumsey, Alan; Lauren W. Reed; & Francesca Merlan. (Under review). Ku Waru clause chaining and the acquisition of complex syntax.

Theses

Reed, Lauren W. (2019). Sign languages of Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea, and their challenges for sign language typology. Master's thesis. Canberra: Australian National University. doi: 10.25911/5d69027b5d5f8

Education

2019

Master of General and Applied Linguistics (Advanced), Australian National University, Canberra

2007

Bachelor of Arts (Arabic), Deakin University, Melbourne

2002

Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, RMIT University, Melbourne

Grants, Fellowships and Awards

2019

Jalwang Scholarship, Australian Linguistic Society (AUD $4901)

  • To produce a picture dictionary of PNGSL, in partnership with the PNG Deaf Association and Buk Bilong Pikinini

2018

Language Documentation Grant, Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (AUD $8,574)

  • Documentation of Papua New Guinea Sign Language (PNGSL)

Student Experience Grant, College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU (AUD $2,000)

  • For a fieldtrip for students learning Gamilaraay to Gamilaraay country
  • Co-grantees: Dr John Giacon and Professor Jane Simpson

Student Extracurricular Enrichment Fund grant, Postgraduate and Research Students Association, ANU (AUD $2,000)

  • To fund Auslan classes for ANU students
  • Granted to ANU Sign Language Collective

2017

Research Grant, Australian Linguistic Society (AUD $4,626)

  • To investigate sign language used in the rural Nebilyer and Kaugel Valleys, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea

Firebird Fellowship, Firebird Foundation for Anthropological Research (USD $7,154)

  • To record traditional stories, hunting signs, and directionality in the grammar in Ende, Western Province, Papua New Guinea

Fellowship, Linguistic Institute, Linguistic Society of America (USD $2,000)

  • Fee waiver to attend the 2017 Linguistic Society of America Linguistic Institute, University of Kentucky

2016

Summer Research Scholarship, Australian National University (AUD $800)

  • To annotate a corpus of Ngaanyatjarra alternate sign language, used in Australia's Western Desert

2008

Alfred Deakin Medal, Deakin University

  • For outstanding academic, university and community achievements

Refereed conference papers

2019

Reed, Lauren W. (Accepted). A novel comparative method for young sign languages: Base comparison. Paper to be presented at Australian Linguistic Society annual conference, Macquarie University, Sydney, 11-13 December. Abstract available at doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.9883385

Reed, Lauren. (2019). “Culture sign is my favourite”: Bilingualism and identity in the Port Moresby deaf community. Paper presented at Symposium on Sociolinguistic Variation in Signed and Spoken Languages of the Asia-Pacific Region, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK, 12 July 2019. doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.9758678

2018

Ellis, Elizabeth Marrkilyi; Green, Jennifer; Reed, Lauren; Simpson, Jane; & Kral, Inge. (2018). An exploration of the handshapes and phonology of Western Desert alternate sign languages. Paper presented at Australian Languages Workshop, Marysville, Victoria, 3 March.

2017

Reed, Lauren & Rumsey, Alan. (2017). Initial observations of mouth action distribution, type, and variation in Kailge Sign Language, an undocumented sign language of Papua New Guinea. Paper presented at Australian Linguistic Society annual conference, University of Sydney, 6 December.

Refereed conference posters

2019

Reed, Lauren W. & Rumsey, Alan. (2019). Sign networks, and a nucleated network sign language of Papua New Guinea. Poster presented at TISLR 13 (Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research), University of Hamburg, 26 September 2019. doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.9896489

Reed, Lauren W. (2019). Co-expression of past and future in a sign language of rural Papua New Guinea. Poster presented at TISLR 13 (Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research), University of Hamburg, 27 September 2019. doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.9901727.v1

Reed, Lauren W. (2019). A sociolinguistic sketch of the Port Moresby deaf community and Papua New Guinea Sign Language. Poster presented at TISLR 13 (Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research), University of Hamburg, 28 September 2019. doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.9896429

2017

Reed, Lauren & Rumsey, Alan. (2017). Initial observations of mouth action type and distribution in an undocumented sign language of Papua New Guinea. Poster presented at the 2017 Linguistic Society of America Linguistic Institute, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 16 July.

Presentations, seminars and invited talks

2019

Reed, Lauren W. (2019). Verb 'agreement' in a sign language of Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Presentation to Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre, University College London, 7 October.

Reed, Lauren W. (2019). Verb 'agreement' in a sign language from Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Presentation to Sign Pop-Up, Radboud University, Nijmegen, 20 September.

Reed, Lauren. (2019). Understanding and not-understanding among sign language users in the New Guinea Highlands. Presentation to the Rumsey Symposium, Australian National University, 15 August. doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.9761489

Planer, Ronald J. and Reed, Lauren. (2019). Handling the data: The role of emerging sign languages in the study of language evolution. Presentation to the University of Edinburgh, 17 July.

Reed, Lauren and Rumsey, Alan. (2019). Young sign languages, multimodality and rapid language evolution in Papua New Guinea. Presentation to CoEDL Fest, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 4 February. doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.9759572

2018

Reed, Lauren; Rumsey, Alan; Merlan, Francesca; & Onga, John. (2018). The communicative ecology of deaf sign languages in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Seminar for the Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, 12 October. Presentation available to watch via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNDZPpEJkH0, and slides via https://cloudstor.aarnet.edu.au/plus/s/2ShUz8KKfmK8YaM

Reed, Lauren. (2018). “Now the story’s turning around”: Directionality and associated motion in Ende, a language of southern New Guinea. Presentation to workshop, Directionality or associated motion? Evidence from diverse languages, Australian National University, Canberra, 22 June.

2017

Reed, Lauren & Rumsey, Alan. (2017.) New research on a vernacular sign language in the New Guinea Highlands. Seminar for the Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, 18 August.

Reed, Lauren (2017.) ‘Speaking by moving’: Ngaanyatjarra traditional sign language. Presentation to the Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, 19 January.

Reed, Lauren. (2017). Primary and alternate sign languages: Auslan and Ngaanyatjarra sign language. Presentation to National Youth Science Forum, Australian National University, Canberra, 5 January.

Community resources

2018

I designed, filmed and recorded "Gagan: Colours in Gamilaraay/Yuwaalaraay & Auslan" in partnership with Winanga-Li Aboriginal Child and Family Centre, Gunnedah, New South Wales. The video is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1wPrgNv6f8

2017

In conjuction with Kate Lindsey and the Ende Language Committee, I worked with the Ende community in Limol, Western Province, Papua New Guinea to transcribe, translate and illustrate two books of hunting and fishing stories in Ende, a Pahoturi River language of PNG.

Mamoeatt Ttoenttoen (Hunting Stories) can be found here.

Tudiatt Ttoenttoen (Fishing Stories) can be found here.

Corpora

Rumsey, Alan; Andrew Noma; Lauren Reed; Naomi Peck; Charlotte van Tongeren; & Stephanie Yam. (Finalised, awaiting accession). ACQDIV portion of the Ku Waru Child Language Socialization Study (KWCLSS).

Contributer to: Lindsey, Kate L. (collector). (2019). Language Corpus of Ende and other Pahoturi River Languages (LSNG08). Digital collection managed by PARADISEC. doi: 10.26278/5c1a5cfcaacde

Teaching

2019

Tutor, Tjabal Centre, Australian National University

  • Gamilaraay (an Australian Indigenous language)

Guest lecturer, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University

  • Language, Culture, Translation (LING 2015/6015)
  • Cross Cultural Communication (LING 2021/6021)
  • Child Language Acquisition (LING 2521/6521)

2018

Guest lecturer, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University

  • Learning an Indigenous Australian Language (AUST 1001/6008)
  • Language in Indigenous Australia (LING 2016/6016)

Academic employment

August 2019 - present

Research assistant to Dr Danielle Barth, Australian National University

  • Annotation in ELAN of gesture by speakers of Matukar Panau, an Austronesian language of Papua New Guinea

March 2017 - present

Research assistant to Professor Alan Rumsey, Australian National University

  • Glossing in FLEx of child language material in Ku Waru, a Trans-New-Guinea language of Papua New Guinea
  • Coding and analysis of child language material for research projects, such as a study into the acquisition of clause chains by children
  • Preparing Ku Waru data for accession to ACQDIV, a corpus of child language acquisition data in maximally diverse languages
  • Coordinating Professor Rumsey's team of research assistants

March 2017 - October 2018

Research assistant to Dr Jennifer Green, University of Melbourne

  • Annotation in ELAN of alternate sign language used in Ngaanyatjarra, Warlpiri and Gurindji communities of Australia

Professional activities and service

2020-2022

Australasia regional representative, Sign Language Linguistics Society (co-held with Gabrielle Hodge and Rachel McKee)

Member, Sign Language Linguistics Society

2018

Founding Member, Australian National University Sign Language Collective

2017-2019

Affiliate, Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (acceptance via application)

2017-2019

Member, Linguistic Society of America

2016-2019

Member, Australian Linguistic Society

Languages

In order of competence: English, Auslan, Tok Pisin, French, Arabic, Gamilaraay

Non-academic work history

Prior to starting in linguistics, I worked as a food writer and food tour guide, specialising in Melbourne's culturally diverse Western suburbs. You can see my old blog and professional website here. Prior to that, I worked as a transcriptionist of forensic psychiatric and medicolegal documents, and in hospitality. I am a mother to three unique and wonderful children, born 2006, 2007 and 2009.

When not doing linguistics...

I love bushwalking and camping; birdwatching; long slow road trips; ferreting out cheap and cheerful restaurants, at home and abroad; fancying maps, both old and new; and adventures with my three daughters.