Results by title

151 books match the query 'Sign Language' and 12 start with l

cover of Language Attitudes in the American Deaf Community

Language Attitudes in the American Deaf Community

Joseph C. Hill

Gallaudet University Press, 2012

In a diverse signing community, it is not unusual to encounter a wide variety of expression in the types of signs used by different people. Perceptions of signing proficiency often vary within the community, however. Conventional wisdom intimates that those who learned at an early age at home or in school know true standard American Sign Language, while those who learned ASL later in life or use contact or coded signs are considered to be less skillful. Joseph Christopher Hill’s new study Language Attitudes in the American Deaf Community explores the linguistic and social factors that govern such stereotypical perceptions of social groups about signing differences.

Hill’s analysis focuses on affective, cognitive, and behavioral types of evaluative responses toward particular language varieties, such as ASL, contact signing, and Signed English. His work takes into account the perceptions of these signing types among the social groups of the American Deaf community that vary based on generation, age of acquisition, and race. He also gauges the effects of social information on these perceptions and the evaluations and descriptions of signing that results from their different concepts of a signing standard. Language Attitudes concludes that standard ASL’s value will continue to rise and the Deaf/Hearing cultural dichotomy will remain relevant without the occurrence of a dramatic cultural shift.

[more]
cover of Language Policy and Planning for Sign Languages

Language Policy and Planning for Sign Languages

Timothy G. Reagan

Gallaudet University Press, 2010

This volume addresses the burgeoning need for language policy and language planning for the sign languages used by deaf people. Author Timothy Reagan writes for two audiences in his new book, those who know language policy and language planning but not the Deaf World, and those well-versed in the Deaf cultural community but unfamiliar with language planning studies. To begin, Chapter 1 presents an overview of the Deaf World and a brief introduction to sign language in general. The second chapter outlines a broad overview of language policy and language planning studies both as an academic discipline and an applied type of social engineering.

     In Chapter 3, Reagan examines the specifics of American Sign Language in terms of the history of language policy and planning from the nineteenth century to the post-Congress of Milan period and its form in recent years. The fourth chapter critically examines the creation of manual codes used in deaf education in the U.S. and elsewhere. Chapter 5 analyzes language policy and planning in settings around the world, and the final chapter recommends steps and methods for future language policy and planning efforts for sign language. The cohesive rationale offered in Language Policy and Planning for Sign Languages will prove to be invaluable to all administrators and educators working with populations that use sign languages.


[more]
cover of Language in Hand: Why Sign Came Before Speech

Language in Hand

Why Sign Came Before Speech

William C. Stokoe

Gallaudet University Press, 2001

In Language in Hand: Why Sign Came Before Speech, William C. Stokoe begins his exploration of the origin of human language with a 2400-year-old quote by Democritus: “Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity.” Stokoe capitalizes upon this simple credo in this far-ranging examination of the scholarly topography to support his formula for the development of language in humans: gesture-to-language-to-speech. Intrinsic to this is the proposition that speech is sufficient for language, but not necessary. Chance brought human ancestors down from the trees to the ground, freeing their hands for gesture, and then sign language, a progression that came from the necessity to communicate.

       Stokoe recounts in Language in Hand how inspiration grew out of his original discovery in the 1950s and ’60s that deaf people who signed were using a true language with constructions that did not derive from spoken English. This erudite, highly engaging investigation calls upon decades of personal experience and published research to refute the recently entrenched principles that humans have a special, innate learning faculty for language and that speech equates with language. Integrating current findings in linguistics, semiotics, and anthropology, Stokoe fashions a closely-reasoned argument that suggests how our human ancestors’ powers of observation and natural hand movements could have evolved into signed morphemes.

       Stokoe also proposes how the primarily gestural expression of language with vocal support shifted to primarily vocal language with gestural accompaniment. When describing this transition, however, he never loses sight of the significance of humans in the natural world and the role of environmental stimuli in the development of language. Stokoe illustrates this contention with fascinating observations of small, contemporary ethnic groups such as the Assiniboin Nakotas, a Native American group from Montana that intermingle their spoken and signed languages depending upon cultural imperatives.

       Language in Hand also presents innovative thoughts on classifiers in American Sign Language and their similarity to certain spoken languages, convincing evidence that speech originally copied sign language forms before developing unrelated conventions through usage. Stokoe concludes with a hypothesis on how the acceptance of sign language as the first language of humans could revolutionize the education of infants, both deaf and hearing, who, like early humans, have the full capacity for language without speech.

[more]
cover of Language in Motion: Exploring the Nature of Sign

Language in Motion

Exploring the Nature of Sign

Jerome D. Schein

Gallaudet University Press, 1995

Language in Motion invites readers to explore the fascinating nature of American Sign Language (ASL).

       This enjoyable book first introduces sign language and communication, follows with a history of sign languages in general, then delves into the structure of ASL. Later chapters outline the special skills of fingerspelling and assess the academic offshoot of artificial sign systems and their value to young deaf children.

       Language in Motion offers for consideration the process required to learn sign language and putting sign language to work to communicate in the Deaf community. Appendices featuring the manual alphabets of three countries and a notation system developed to write signs complete this enriching book. Its delightful potpourri of entertaining, accessible knowledge makes it a perfect primer for those interested in learning more about sign language, Deaf culture, and Deaf communities.
[more]
cover of Laurent Clerc: The Story of His Early Years

Laurent Clerc

The Story of His Early Years

Cathryn Carroll

Gallaudet University Press, 1991

Laurent Clerc won lasting renown as the deaf teacher who helped Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet establish schools to educate deaf Americans in the 19th century. Now, his character as a young boy growing up in Paris has been captured in the novel Laurent Clerc.

In his own voice, Clerc vividly relates the experiences that led to his later progressive teaching methods. Especially influential was his long stay at the Royal National Institute for the Deaf in Paris, where he encountered sharply distinct personalities — the saintly, inspiring deaf teacher Massieu, the vicious Dr. Itard and his heartless “experiments” on deaf boys, and the “Father of the Deaf,” Abbe Sicard, who could hardly sign.

Young adult readers will find his story richly entertaining as well as informative.

[more]
cover of Learning American Sign Language in High School: Motivation, Strategies, and Achievement

Learning American Sign Language in High School

Motivation, Strategies, and Achievement

Russell S. Rosen

Gallaudet University Press, 2015

Reflecting the exponential growth of college courses offering American Sign Language (ASL) as a foreign language, high schools have followed suit with significant increases in ASL classes during the past two decades. Despite this trend, high school ASL teachers and program administrators possess no concrete information on why students take ASL for foreign language credit, how they learn new signs and grammar, and how different learning techniques determines their achievement in ASL. This new book addresses these issues to better prepare high schools in their recruitment and education of new ASL students.

       Author Russell S. Rosen begins with the history of ASL as a foreign language in high schools, including debates about the foreign language status of ASL, the situation of deaf and hard of hearing students in classes, and governmental recognition of ASL as a language. Based on his study of five high school ASL programs, he defines the factors that motivate students, including community and culture, and analyzes strategies for promoting language processing and learning.  Learning American Sign Language in High School provides strategies for teaching ASL as a second language to students with learning disabilities as well. Its thorough approach ensures the best opportunity for high school students to attain high levels of achievement in learning ASL.
[more]
cover of Learning To See: American Sign Language as a Second Language

Learning To See

American Sign Language as a Second Language

Sherman Wilcox

Gallaudet University Press, 1997

As more and more secondary schools and colleges accept American Sign Language (ASL) as a legitimate choice for second language study, Learning to See has become even more vital in guiding instructors on the best ways to teach ASL as a second language. And now this groundbreaking book has been updated and revised to reflect the significant gains in recognition that deaf people and their native language, ASL, have achieved in recent years.

       Learning to See lays solid groundwork for teaching and studying ASL by outlining the structure of this unique visual language. Myths and misconceptions about ASL are laid to rest at the same time that the fascinating, multifaceted elements of Deaf culture are described. Students will be able to study ASL and gain a thorough understanding of the cultural background, which will help them to grasp the language more easily. An explanation of the linguistic basis of ASL follows, leading into the specific, and above all, useful information on teaching techniques.

       This practical manual systematically presents the steps necessary to design a curriculum for teaching ASL, including the special features necessary for training interpreters. The new Learning to See again takes its place at the forefront of texts on teaching ASL as a second language, and it will prove to be indispensable to educators and administrators in this special discipline.
[more]
cover of Legal Interpreting: Teaching, Research, and Practice

Legal Interpreting

Teaching, Research, and Practice

Jeremy L. Brunson

Gallaudet University Press, 2022

Linguistic minorities are often severely disadvantaged in legal events, with consequences that could impact one’s very liberty. Training for interpreters to provide full access in legal settings is paramount. In this volume, Jeremy L. Brunson has gathered deaf and hearing scholars and practitioners from both signed and spoken language interpreting communities in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Their contributions include research-driven, experience-driven, and theoretical discussions on how to teach and assess legal interpreting. The topics covered include teaming in a courtroom, introducing students to legal interpreting, being an expert witness, discourses used by deaf lawyers, designing assessment tools for legal settings, and working with deaf jurors. In addition, this volume interrogates the various ways power, privilege, and oppression appear in legal interpreting.

Each chapter features discussion questions and prompts that interpreter educators can use in the classroom. While intended as a foundational text for use in courses, this body of work also provides insight into the current state of the legal interpreting field and will be a valuable resource for scholars, practitioners, and consumers.
[more]
cover of Lend Me Your Ear

Lend Me Your Ear

Brenda Jo Brueggemann

Gallaudet University Press, 1999

The tradition of rhetoric established 2,500 years ago emphasizes the imperative of speech as a defining characteristic of reason. But in her new book Lend Me Your Ear, Brenda Jo Brueggemann exposes this tradition’s effect of disallowing deaf people human identity because of their natural silence.
 
     Brueggemann’s assault upon this long-standing rhetorical conceit is both erudite and personal; she writes both as a scholar and as a hard-of-hearing woman. In this broadly based study, she presents a profound analysis and understanding of this rhetorical tradition’s descendent disciplines (e.g., audiology, speech/language pathology) that continue to limit deaf people. Next to this even-handed scholarship, she juxtaposes a volatile emotional counterpoint achieved through interviews with Deaf individuals who have faced rhetorically constructed restrictions, and interludes of her own poetry and memoirs.
 
     The energized structure of Lend Me Your Ear galvanizes new thought on the rhetoric surrounding Deaf people by posing basic questions from a rhetorical context: How is deafness constructed as a disability, pathology, or culture through the institutions of literacy education and science/technology, and how do these constructions fit with those of deaf people themselves? The rhetoric of deafness as pathology is associated with the conventional medical and scientific establishments, and literacy education fosters deafness as disability, both dependent upon the premise that speech drives communication. This kinetic study demands consideration of deafness in terms of the rhetoric of Deaf culture, American Sign Language (ASL), and the political activism of Deaf people. Brueggemann argues strenuously and successfully for a reevaluation of the speech model of rhetoric in light of the singular qualities of ASL poetry, a genre that adds the dimension of space and is not disembodied. Ironically, without a word being spoken or printed, ASL poetry returns to the fading, prized oral tradition of poets such as Homer. The speech imperative in traditional rhetoric also fails to present rhetorical forms for listening, or a rhetoric of silence. These and other break-out concepts introduced in Lend Me Your Ear that will stimulate scholars and students of rhetoric, language, and Deaf studies to return to this intriguing work again and again.
[more]
cover of Linguistic Coping Strategies in Sign Language Interpreting

Linguistic Coping Strategies in Sign Language Interpreting

Jemina Napier

Gallaudet University Press, 2016

This ground-breaking work, originally published 15 years ago, continues to serve as the primary reference on the theories of omission potential and translational contact in sign language interpreting. In the book, noted scholar Jemina Napier explores the linguistic coping strategies of interpreters by drawing on her own study of the interpretation of a university lecture from English into Australian Sign Language (Auslan). A new preface by the author provides perspective on the importance of the work and how it fits within the scholarship of interpretation studies.

       The concept of strategic omissions is explored here as a tool that is consciously used by interpreters as a coping strategy. Instead of being a mistake, omitting part of the source language can actually be part of an active decision-making process that allows the interpreter to convey the correct meaning when faced with challenges. For the first time, Napier found that omission potential existed within every interpretation and, furthermore, she proposed a new taxonomy of five different conscious and unconscious omission types. Her findings also indicate that Auslan/English interpreters use both a free and literal interpretation approach, but that those who use a free approach occasionally switch to a literal approach as a linguistic coping strategy to provide access to English terminology. Both coping strategies help negotiate the demands of interpretation, whether it be lack of subject-matter expertise, dealing with dense material, or the context of the situation.

       Napier also analyzes the interpreters’ reflections on their decision-making processes as well as the university students’ perceptions and preferences of their interpreters’ linguistic choices and styles. Linguistic Coping Strategies in Sign Language Interpreting is a foundational text in interpretation studies that can be applied to interpreting in different contexts and to interpreter training.
[more]
cover of Linguistics of American Sign Language: An Introduction, 5th Ed.

Linguistics of American Sign Language

An Introduction, 5th Ed.

Clayton Valli

Gallaudet University Press, 2011

Completely reorganized to reflect the growing intricacy of the study of ASL linguistics, the 5th edition presents 26 units in seven parts. Part One: Introduction presents a revision of Defining Language and an entirely new unit, Defining Linguistics. Part Two: Phonology has been completely updated with new terminology and examples. The third part, Morphology, features units on building new signs, deriving nouns from verbs, compounds, fingerspelling, and numeral incorporation. Part Four: Syntax includes units on basic sentence types, lexical categories, word order, time and aspect, verbs, and the function of space. The fifth part, Semantics, offers updates on the meanings of individual signs and sentences.
 
Part Six: Language in Use showcases an entirely new section on Black ASL in the unit on Variation and Historical Change. The units on bilingualism and language and ASL discourse have been thoroughly revised and updated, and the Language as Art unit has been enhanced with a new section on ASL in film. Two new readings update Part Seven, and all text illustrations have been replaced by video stills from the expanded video content. Also, signs described only with written explanations in past editions now have both photographic samples in the text and full demonstrations in the video.
 
*** You can find the supplemental video content on the Gallaudet University Press YouTube channel. ***

[more]
cover of Linguistics of American Sign Language: An Introduction, 6th Ed.

Linguistics of American Sign Language

An Introduction, 6th Ed.

Julie A. Hochgesang

Gallaudet University Press, 2026

Grounded in the scholarship and reflecting contemporary developments in the field of signed language linguistics, the sixth edition of Linguistics of American Sign Language provides a clear, comprehensive, and fresh introduction to the structure of ASL. Focusing on language in everyday contexts, this new edition treats ASL as a dynamic system shaped by the diversity of its communities.

Organized into two parts, Linguistics of American SignLanguage begins by exploring fundamental concepts of language within communities, addressing language features, registers, variation and historical change, multilingualism, ideologies, and discourse. This first section sets the stage for in-depth analysis into core areas of linguistic study: syntax, phonology, and morphology. New content provides depth, exploring topics such as the representation of signed languages in texts, corpus linguistics, heritage-language signers, and Black ASL. To show how language is used by multilingual and multimodal individuals within their communities, the book pairs discussion with “grounding texts,” videos of ASL within varied authentic settings.

Linguistics of American Sign Language is supported by a companion website that provides access to the grounding texts and supplementary materials, including downloadable resources for hands-on analysis such as annotated videos and readings. Designed for readers with no background in linguistics, each unit opens with guided questions to prompt reflection and concludes with exercises and recommended readings.

Refining the standard for sign language scholarship, the sixth edition of Linguistics of American Sign Language guides readers beyond technical analysis to explore ASL as a vibrant system rooted in community, culture, and language.

[more]