The Laboratory for the Study of
Sign Languages
Director of the Laboratory – Anna V. Leontieva, Candidate of Philological Sciences
About the director: Graduated from Moscow State Linguistic University in 2014 with a programme as a linguist-teacher (specialist, English and French). In 2018, she completed her postgraduate studies in linguistics and literary studies. In 2023 she defended her PhD thesis ‘Prosecution and defence strategies in judicial discourse in the aspect of polymodality’ (Speciality 5.9.8. Theoretical, applied and comparative linguistics). For more than 5 years she has been conducting research and scientific-organisational work.
The Laboratory for the Study of
Sign Languages
Director of the Laboratory – Anna V. Leontieva, Candidate of Philological Sciences
About the director: Graduated from Moscow State Linguistic University in 2014 with a programme as a linguist-teacher (specialist, English and French). In 2018, she completed her postgraduate studies in linguistics and literary studies. In 2023 she defended her PhD thesis ‘Prosecution and defence strategies in judicial discourse in the aspect of polymodality’ (Speciality 5.9.8. Theoretical, applied and comparative linguistics). For more than 5 years she has been conducting research and scientific-organisational work.
The MSLU Sign Language Research Laboratory was established in 2013 for the comprehensive study of sign languages. Today, the main task of the laboratory is to develop modern approaches to describing Russian sign language and creating video corpora for research purposes.
The laboratory’s scientific work is based on global experience in sign language linguistics and focuses on the level-based organisation of Russian sign language (RSL), its stylistic, pragmatic and sociolinguistic features.
The laboratory is implementing several projects dedicated to the study of RSL and the interaction of manual and non-manual components in the construction of meaning in various types of discourse. As part of the project supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, ‘Creativity in Everyday Communication: Analysis of Spoken Language Taking into Account Polymodality’ (registration number 125031904195-0), research is being conducted on metaphor and creativity in spoken monological speech in RSL. With the support of the Russian Science Foundation, a comparative study of the means of expressing emotions and their intensification in Russian and Russian sign language (registration number 25-28-02755) is being conducted.
The laboratory hosts seminars and round tables with the participation of members of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf, researchers and speakers of various sign languages.
The laboratory actively cooperates with Russian and foreign educational and research organisations dealing with sign language issues in the interdisciplinary field of linguistics, pedagogy, sociology and psychology.
The laboratory hosts seminars and round tables with the participation of members of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf, researchers and speakers of various sign languages.
The laboratory participates in the organisation of conferences on current issues in linguistics, culture, translation and sign language teaching.
The laboratory staff provides methodological and advisory support to students, supervises their coursework and final projects in their field of study, and conducts extensive educational activities among students of various disciplines.