Kata Kolok (literally "deaf talk"), also known as Benkala Sign Language and Balinese Sign Language, is a village sign language which is indigenous to two neighbouring villages in northern Bali, Indonesia. The main village, Bengkala, has had high incidences of deafness for over seven generations. Notwithstanding the biological time depth of the recessive mutation that causes deafness, the first substantial cohort of deaf signers did not occur until five generations ago, and this event marks the emergence of Kata Kolok. The sign language has been acquired by at least five generations of deaf, native signers and features in all aspects of village life, including political, professional, educational, and religious settings.
Kata Kolok is linguistically unrelated to spoken Balinese or other sign languages. It lacks certain common contact sign phenomena that often arise when a sign language and an oral language are in close contact, such as fingerspelling and mouthing. It differs from other known sign languages in a number of respects: signers make extensive use of cardinal directions and real-world locations to organize the signing space, and they do not use a metaphorical "time line" for time reference. Additionally, Kata Kolok is the only known sign language which predominantly deploys an absolute frame of reference rather than an intrinsic or relative frame.
The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (MPI) and the International Institute for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies have archived over 100 hours of Kata Kolok video data. The metadata of this corpus are accessible online (see www.mpi.nl).
Deaf people in the village express themselves using special cultural forms such as deaf dance and martial arts and occupy special ritual and social roles, including digging graves and maintaining water pipes. Deaf and hearing villagers alike share a belief in a deaf god.
Bibliography
Branson, Jan, Don Miller, I Gede Marsaja & I Wayan Negara (1996). Everyone Here Speaks Sign Language Too: A Deaf Village in Bali, Indonesia. In: Lucas, Ceil, ed. (1996): Multicultural Aspects of Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities, 39–57. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press.
Branson, J., Miller, D., & Marsaja, I. G. (1999). Sign Languages as Natural Part of the Linguistic Mosaic: The Impact of Deaf People on Discourse Forms in Northern Bali, Indonesia. In E. Winston (Ed.), Storytelling and Conversation (Vol. 5). Washington D.C.: Gallaudet University Press.
Friedman, T. B., Hinnant, J. T., Fridell, R. A., Wilcox, E. R., Raphael, Y., & Camper, S. A. (2000). DFNB3 Families and Shaker-2 Mice: Mutations in an Unconventional Myosin, myo 15. Advances in Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, 56, 131–144.
Friedman, T. B., Liang, Y., Weber, J. L., Hinnant, J. T., Barber, T. D., Winata, S., Arhya, I. N., et al. (1995). A gene for congenital, recessive deafness DFNB3 maps to the pericentrometric region of chromosome 17. Nature Genetics, 9, 86–91.
Kortschak, Irfan (2010). "Everyone Speaks Deaf Talk" In: Kortschak, Irfan (2010): Invisible People: Poverty and Empowerment in Indonesia, The Lontar Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Liang, Y., Wang, A., Probst, F. J., Arhya, I. N., Barber, T. D., Chen, K.-S., et al. (1998). Genetic Mapping Refines DFNB3 to 17p11.2, Suggests Multiple Alleles of DFNB3, and Supports Homology to the Mouse Model shaker-2. American Journal of Human Genetics, 62, 904–915.
Marsaja, I. G. (2008). Desa Kolok - A deaf village and its sign language in Bali, Indonesia. Nijmegen: Ishara Press.
Perniss, P., & Zeshan, U. (2008). Possessive and existential constructions in Kata Kolok. In P. Perniss & U. Zeshan (Eds.), Possessive and existential constructions in sign languages. Sign Language Typology Series No. 2. Nijmegen: Ishara Press.
Winata, S., Arhya, I. N., Moeljopawiro, S., Hinnant, J. T., Liang, Y, Friedman, T B, & Asher, J. J. (1995). Congenital Non-Syndromal Autosomal Recessive Deafness in Bengkala, an Isolated Balinese Village. Journal of Medical Genetics, 32(5), 336–343.
^a Sign-language names reflect the region of origin. Natural sign languages are not related to the spoken language used in the same region. For example, French Sign Language originated in France, but is not related to French. Conversely, ASL and BSL both originated in English-speaking countries but are not related to each other; ASL however is related to French Sign Language.
^b Denotes the number (if known) of languages within the family. No further information is given on these languages.
Kata KATA Kåta Koshiki-no-kata Ju-no-kata Kata Tjuta Karate kata Nage-no-kata Itsutsu-no-kata Toyota Kata Katame-no-kata Kata gatame Kata (name) Tensho (kata) Elizabeth Kata Kūsankū (kata) Hat Kata Niko Kata Shintō Musō-ryū Jo Kata Bo Kata Kime-no-kata Kata Dalström Hat Kata Noi Kata guruma Nage-Waza-Ura-no-kata Enpi (kata) Ragnhild Kåta Kata Hay Káťa Kabanová Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park Kata people Kata Dobó Kata-vari dialect Kata Wéber Kata-kat Wami Kata, South Australia Kendo Kata ʻAna Kata Nau Mai-Mai Kata Katanga Kaeshi-no-kata Kata of Georgia Uta Kata Kata Szidónia …
Petrőczy Kata Kolok Karate at the 2010 Asian Games – Men's kata 2021 European Kata Judo Championships Karate at the 2014 Asian Games – Men's kata Kata Lathos Karate at the 2010 Asian Games – Women's kata Randori-no-kata Annan (kata) Karate at the 2014 Asian Games – Women's kata Karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's kata Kata, Myanmar Karate at the 2015 European Games – Women's individual kata Katame-waza ura-no-kata 2021 European Kata Judo Junior Championships Karate at the 2015 European Games – Men's individual kata Karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's kata Sanchin Solo, Solitude Go-no-sen-no-kata Matt Kata Kata Kondricz Solomone Kata KATA (AM) Kata Kalivoda Karate at the 2023 Pan American Games – Women's individual kata 2021 World Kata Championships Blanka Vas Karate at the 2002 Asian Games – Women's kata Kata Station Karate at the 2006 Asian Games – Women's kata Kata Farm Karate at the 2018 Asian Games – Men's kata Karate at the 2002 Asian Games – Men's kata Ananku Karate at the 2019 European Games – Women's individual kata 2021 World Karate Championships – Women's team kata Jion kata group Mihály Kata Kata (disambiguation) Karate at
