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Faculty Fellow

Diane Brentari

Mary K. Werkman Professor, Department of Linguistics; Co-Director, Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language University of Chicago

Biography

Tidy hands. Gentle at first but soon grows excited. Exudes warmth and curiosity.

Tactile impression of Diane Brentari courtesy of the Protactile Research Network.

Diane Brentari is the Mary K. Werkman Professor in the Department of Linguistics and the College, and a Director of the Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language. Her work focuses on sign language structure as a way to better understand the flexibility of the human language capacity, particularly the effects of communication mode (or modality) on language structure. Her research interests address the languages of Deaf and DeafBlind communities—how these languages emerge, and the degree of variation that exists among them. Throughout her career she has analyzed the formal, cognitive, and cultural dimensions that motivate the similarities and differences among the grammars of these languages. Her current research includes analyses of a new protactile language that is emerging in DeafBlind communities in the USA. Protactile language focuses on the modalities of proprioception and touch, which are the focus of the Impressions of the Past research project at the Neubauer Collegium. Brentari’s research has been supported by multiple awards from the National Science Foundation. She is a fellow of the Linguistic Society of America, a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Featured Project

Four of us co-navigate through the streets of Chicago to a breakfast joint. Two canes between our eight hands. Sure footed, we step through puddles. Soon, it begins to rain and then sleet, on our two hats, one hood, and one bare crown, all dripping. Arriving at the restaurant,  Charlotte moves her hand across the window. There is a lack of friction and her finger pads slip quickly over the cold, wet surface. Moisture is a sign of crowding or rain, and rain has a dampening effect on atmosphere or mood.

Impressions of the Past: Reimagining Multimodal Knowledge Production

2025 – 2028

Projects

The Body’s Role in Thinking, Performing, and Referencing

The Body’s Role in Thinking, Performing, and Referencing

This project studied the relations between action, gesture, and sign language to develop a more nuanced and theoretically informed understanding of embodied cognition.
How does the body influence the mind? This compelling question has motivated researchers in psychology, linguistics, human development, and the performing arts for many years. Recent technological innovations and a turn toward interdisciplinary collaboration have opened up new possibilities for ...

Motion and Meaning: Sign and Body Gesture in Dance Narratives Across Cultures

Motion and Meaning: Sign and Body Gesture in Dance Narratives Across Cultures

This project investigated how meaning is produced by the body, particularly in the context of classical Indian dance.
This project brings together faculty from the humanities, performing arts, and social sciences to investigate the relationships between meaning and motion, particularly in the context of classical Indian dance. Training in classical Indian dance is intensive and requires mastery of dozens of ...