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51 books match the query 'American Sign Language' and 12 start with s

cover of Seeing Language in Sign: The Work of William C. Stokoe

Seeing Language in Sign

The Work of William C. Stokoe

Jane Maher

Gallaudet University Press, 1996

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cover of Sign Language Archaeology: Understanding the Historical Roots of American Sign Language

Sign Language Archaeology

Understanding the Historical Roots of American Sign Language

Ted Supalla

Gallaudet University Press, 2014

This engrossing study investigates the infancy of American Sign Language (ASL). Authors Ted Supalla and Patricia Clark highlight the major events in ASL history, revealing much of what has not been clearly understood until now. According to tradition, ASL evolved from French Sign Language. The authors analyze the metalinguistic assumptions of these early accounts and also examine in depth a key set of films made by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) between 1910 and 1920. Designed by the NAD to preserve classic ASL, the films feature 15 sign masters, the model signers of that time. In viewing these films, the authors discovered that the sign masters signed differently depending on their age. These variations provide evidence about the word formation process of early ASL, further supported by data collected from dictionaries of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

     By tracing the writings of selected individuals, this study reconstructs the historical context for early ASL grammar. It describes the language used in each century and how it changed, and focuses on the rediscovery of the literary legacy of the Deaf American voice. Sign Language Archaeology reveals the contrast between folk etymology and scientific etymology and allows readers to see ASL in terms of historical linguistics.
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cover of Sign Language Interpreting: Deconstructing the Myth of Neutrality

Sign Language Interpreting

Deconstructing the Myth of Neutrality

Melanie Metzger

Gallaudet University Press, 1998

As with all professional interpreters, sign language interpreters strive to achieve the proper protocol of complete objectivity and accuracy in their translation without influencing the interaction in any way. Yet, Melanie Metzger's significant work Sign Language Interpreting: Deconstructing the Myth of Neutrality demonstrates clearly that the ideal of an interpreter as a neutral language conduit does not exist. Metzger offers evidence of this disparity by analyzing two videotaped ASL-English interpreted medical interviews, one an interpreter-trainee mock interview session, and the other an actual encounter between a deaf client and a medical professional.

          Sign Language Interpreting relies upon an interactional sociolinguistic approach to ask fundamental questions regarding interpreter neutrality. First, do interpreters influence discourse, and if so, how? Also, what kind of expectations do the participants bring to the event, and what do the interpreters bring to discussions? Finally, how do their remarks affect their alignment with participants in the interaction? Using careful assessments of how these interviews were framed, and also re-interviewing the participants for their perspectives, this penetrating book discloses the ways in which interpreters influence these situations. It also addresses the potential implications of these findings regarding sign language interpretation in medical, educational, and all other general interactions. Interpreter trainers and their students will join certified interpreters and Deaf studies scholars in applauding and benefiting from the fresh ground broken by this provocative study.
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cover of Sign-Me-Fine

Sign-Me-Fine

Laura Greene

Gallaudet University Press, 1989

Written for young adults, Sign-Me-Fine introduces American Sign Language (ASL) and emphasizes how its structure differs from English. Young readers will learn grammatically correct ASL sentences, sign games, and the full beauty of ASL in poetry and music.
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cover of Signing Fun: American Sign Language Vocabulary, Phrases, Games, and Activities

Signing Fun

American Sign Language Vocabulary, Phrases, Games, and Activities

Penny Warner

Gallaudet University Press, 2006

Here’s a great book for every young adult age 11 up, Signing Fun: American Sign Language Vocabulary, Phrases, Games, and Activities. Signing is visual, easy to learn, and fun to use. Author Penny Warner offers 441 useful signs on a variety of favorite topics: activities, animals, fashion, food, holidays, home, outdoors, parties, people, places, play, emotions, school, shopping, travel, plus extra fun signs for especially popular words. Each chapter includes practice sentences using everyday phrases to help new signers learn in a fun way.

Signing Fun provides dozens of entertaining games and activities, too, such as Alphabet Sign, Finger Fun Gesture Guess, Match Signs, Mime and Sign, Oppo-Sign, Picture Hand, Secret Sign, Sign-A-Gories, Signo Bingo, Snap and Sign, and Truth or Sign. It also features a list of tips on how to sign, including how to fingerspell, use numbers, and communicate with deaf people. Whimsical drawings clearly illustrate all of the signs, and a full index lists all of their English meanings for quick reference. Signing Fun is a terrific first book for learning sign while having a great time.

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cover of Signing With Your Clients

Signing With Your Clients

Florence Vold

Gallaudet University Press, 2001

Especially for use with deaf and hard-of-hearing clients, Signing with Your Clients shows how to sign the questions and statements most frequently used by clinicians.

       More than 500 line drawings illustrate the signs for 237 sentences with translations printed below. Each sentence begins and ends on the same page, and the spiral binding allows pages to be flipped easily, to leave hands free for signing. A special glossary with technical terms allows the creation of original sentences.

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cover of Signs Across America

Signs Across America

Edgar H. Shroyer

Gallaudet University Press, 1984

Signs Across America provides a fascinating and unique look at regional variations in American Sign Language. The authors contacted native signers in 25 states to find out their signs for 130 selected words. The results—more than 1,200 signs—are illustrated in this book. It is an invaluable reference for teachers of American Sign Language that explores the subtle differences in signs from different geographic areas.
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cover of Signs and Voices: Deaf Culture, Identity, Language, and Arts

Signs and Voices

Deaf Culture, Identity, Language, and Arts

Kristin A. Lindgren

Gallaudet University Press, 2008

Cochlear implants, mainstreaming, genetic engineering, and other ethical dilemmas  confronting deaf people mandated a new, wide-ranging examination of these issues, fulfilled by Signs and Voices: Deaf Culture, Identity, Language, and Arts. This collection, carefully chosen from the 2004 Signs and Voices Conference, the Presidential Forum on American Sign Language at the Modern Language Association Convention, and other sources, addresses all of the factors now changing the cultural landscape for deaf people. To ensure quality and breadth of knowledge, editors Kristin A. Lingren, Doreen DeLuca, and Donna Jo Napoli selected the work of renowned scholars and performers Shannon Allen, H-Dirksen L. Bauman, Adrian Blue, Brenda Jo Brueggemann, Teresa Blankmeyer Burke, Peter Cook, David P. Corina, Michael Davidson, Kristen Harmon, Tom Humphries, Sotaro Kita,  Heather Knapp, Robert G. Lee, Irene W. Leigh, Kenny Lerner, Carole Neidle, Peter Novak, AslI Özyürek, David M. Perlmutter, Anne Senghas, and Ronnie Wilbur.

Signs and Voices is divided into three sections—Culture and Identity, Language and Literacy, and American Sign Language in the Arts—each of which focuses on a particular set of theoretical and practical concerns. Also, the included DVD presents many of the performances from the Arts section. Taken together, these essays and DVD point to new directions in a broad range of fields, including cognitive science, deaf studies, disability studies, education, linguistics, literary criticism, philosophy, and psychology. This extraordinary showcase of innovative and rigorous cross-disciplinary study will prove invaluable to everyone interested in the current state of the Deaf community.

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cover of Signs and Wonders: Religious Rhetoric and the Preservation of Sign Language

Signs and Wonders

Religious Rhetoric and the Preservation of Sign Language

Tracy Ann Morse

Gallaudet University Press, 2014

Current academic discourse frequently understates the role of religion in the development of the American Deaf community. In her new study, Tracy Ann Morse effects a sharp course correction by delineating the frequent use over time of religious rhetoric by members of the Deaf community to preserve and support sign language.
           
       In Chapter One, Morse analyzes Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet’s use of religious references in his 1817 maiden address at the first American school for deaf students. She examines his and other speeches as examples of the intersection of education for deaf Americans and Protestant missionary efforts to convert them. In the second chapter, she presents the different religious perspectives of the two deaf education camps: Manualists argued that sign language was a gift from God, while Oralists viewed hand gestures as animal-like, indicative of lower evolutionary development.
 
      Chapter Three explores the religious rhetoric in churches, sanctuaries where sign language flourished and deaf members formed relationships. In the fourth chapter, Morse shows how Deaf activist George Veditz signed using religious themes in his political films. She also comments on the impact of the bilingual staging of Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which began to change the hearing world’s opinion about the Deaf community. Morse concludes with speculation on the shifting terrain for deaf people due to technological innovations that might supplant religious rhetoric as a tool to support the Deaf community.
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cover of Signs of the Times

Signs of the Times

Edgar H. Shroyer

Gallaudet University Press, 2011

•Completely Revised with New Signs and Lessons
•Each Sign Illustration Features Sentences in English and ASL Order
•New Class Activities and New Student Activities for Homework or Quizzes
•New Facts about American Sign Language Grammar and Deaf Culture

Now, the bestselling American Sign Language textbook Signs of the Times has been completely revised and updated. The new, second edition is an excellent beginner’s American Sign Language textbook designed for use in the classroom or at home. Organized into 44 lessons, it presents more than 1,300 signs representing 3,500 English glosses. Each lesson contains clear illustrations of all signs, English equivalent words and synonyms, sample sentences to define vocabulary context, and practice sentences to display and reinforce ASL usage.

Signs of the Times is a complete text that includes new class activities for teachers, plus new student activities that can be done in class, as homework, or as quizzes. The new edition features the Contextual Sign/Word Appendix, which displays groups of sentences using the same English word to show different meanings along with the corresponding ASL signs. It also provides an expanded index, vocabulary lists, and a reading reference list. The new edition offers facts on ASL grammar and Deaf culture and includes mind ticklers that enliven the lessons with hints, tips, and mnemonic devices.

The new Signs of the Times expands the features that made it a standard, easy-to-use ASL textbook. Signs are repeated in sentences throughout the book to provide excellent practice for the students. The clear, easy-to-understand sign illustrations facilitates the learning process, enhancing students’ success while also making ASL fun.

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cover of Sociolinguistic Pathways in Sign Languages: Studies in Honor of Ceil Lucas

Sociolinguistic Pathways in Sign Languages

Studies in Honor of Ceil Lucas

Joseph C. Hill

Gallaudet University Press, 2026

Sociolinguistic Pathways in Sign Languages honors the remarkable career of Ceil Lucas, a pioneering sociolinguist whose research, teaching, and mentoring profoundly influenced the study of sign language linguistics. Both a heartfelt homage and a scholarly resource, this edited volume is an essential resource that assesses Lucas’s legacy and impact while setting the stage for new directions inspired by her work. Lucas advanced the field of sociolinguistics by demonstrating that variation in American Sign Language (ASL) was systematic and shaped by broader social dynamics. By providing compelling evidence for rule-governed patterns of variation, Lucas and her colleagues strengthened the case for recognizing signed languages as deserving of the same rigorous study as spoken languages. During a distinguished career characterized by more than 130 publications, Lucas not only helped define the field of sign language linguistics but also played a pivotal role in bridging the gap between spoken and signed language research, frequently collaborating with Deaf co-authors. In addition to her groundbreaking work in sociolinguistics, Lucas was also a key member of the team spearheading the scholarly study of Black American Sign Language (BASL). Contributors reflect on Lucas’s pedagogy, scholarship, and mentoring, highlighting her essential role in expanding opportunities for future generations of sign linguistics researchers. Recognizing the enduring relevance of Lucas’s contributions to sociolinguistics, this volume offers new scholarship that illustrates and extends the theoretical and methodological impact of her work.
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cover of Sociolinguistic Variation in American Sign Language

Sociolinguistic Variation in American Sign Language

Ceil Lucas

Gallaudet University Press, 2001

The culmination of a seven-year project, this volume provides a complete description of American Sign Language (ASL) variation. For four decades, linguists have studied how people from varying regions and backgrounds have different ways of saying the same thing. For example, in English some people say “test,” while others say “tes’”, dropping the final “t.” Noted scholars Ceil Lucas, Robert Bayley, and Clayton Valli led a team of exceptional researchers in applying techniques for analyzing spoken language variation to ASL. Their observations at the phonological, lexical, morphological, and syntactic levels demonstrate that ASL variation correlates with many of the same driving social factors of spoken languages, including age, socioeconomic class, gender, ethnic background, region, and sexual orientation. Internal constraints that mandate variant choices for spoken languages have been compared to ASL as well, with intriguing results. Sociolinguistic Variation in American Sign Language stands alone as the new standard for students and scholars committed to this discipline.
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