The Linguistics Of Sign Languages

How different are sign languages across the world? Are individual signs and signed sentences constructed in the same way across these languages? What are the rules for having a conversation in a sign language? How do children and adults learn a sign language? How are sign languages processed in the brain? These questions and many more are addressed in this introductory book on sign linguistics using examples from more than thirty different sign languages. Comparisons are also made with spoken languages. This book can be used as a self-study book or as a text book for students of sign linguistics. Each chapter concludes with a summary, some test-yourself questions and assignments, as well as a list of recommended texts for further reading. The book is accompanied by a website containing assignments, video clips and links to web resources.

Sign Languages: Structures and Contexts provides a succinct summary of major findings in the linguistic study of natural sign languages. Focusing on American Sign Language (ASL), this book: offers a comprehensive introduction to the basic grammatical components of phonology, morphology, and syntax with examples and illustrations; demonstrates how sign languages are acquired by Deaf children with varying degrees of input during early development, including no input where children create a language of their own; discusses the contexts of sign languages, including how different varieties are formed and used, attitudes towards sign languages, and how language planning affects language use; is accompanied by e-resources, which host links to video clips. Offering an engaging and accessible introduction to sign languages, this book is essential reading for students studying this topic for the first time with little or no background in linguistics.

Completely reorganized to reflect the growing intricacy of the study of ASL linguistics, the 5th edition presents 26 units in seven parts, including new sections on Black ASL and new sign demonstrations in the DVD.

Now, deaf students, hearing students in Deaf studies programs, and students in interpreter training programs will find all they need to understand the structure of American Sign Language (ASL) in the new, expanded and revised Linguistics of American Sign Language: An Introduction. This unique resource presents authoritative readings on the most current linguistic concepts, including the fundamentals of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and the use of language. Individual chapters on these basics have been designed to stimulate discussion about the ongoing development of ASL linguistic theory. Linguistics of American Sign Language includes homework questions, themes for classroom interaction, and study sheets centering on a story signed in ASL on the course videotape. Each unit provides an exercise that requires students to view the story, then observe the use of specific signs isolated for close linguistic analysis, an invaluable process performed throughout the course.

What are the unique characteristics of sign languages that make them so fascinating? What have recent researchers discovered about them, and what do these findings tell us about human language more generally? This thematic and geographic overview examines more than forty sign languages from around the world. It begins by investigating how sign languages have survived and been transmitted for generations, and then goes on to analyse the common characteristics shared by most sign languages: for example, how the use of the visual system affects grammatical structures. The final section describes the phenomena of language variation and change. Drawing on a wide range of examples, the book explores sign languages both old and young, from British, Italian, Asian and American to Israeli, Al-Sayyid Bedouin, African and Nicaraguan. Written in a clear, readable style, it is the essential reference for students and scholars working in sign language studies and deaf studies.

This is the first British textbook dealing solely with sign linguistics.

This book presents the first ever comprehensive overview of national laws recognising sign languages, the impacts they have and the advocacy campaigns which led to their creation. It comprises 18 studies from communities across Europe, the US, South America, Asia and New Zealand. They set sign language legislation within the national context of language policies in each country and show patterns of intersection between language ideologies, public policy and deaf communities’ discourses. The chapters are grounded in a collaborative writing approach between deaf and hearing scholars and activists involved in legislative campaigns. Each one describes a deaf community’s expectations and hopes for legal recognition and the type of sign language legislation achieved. The chapters also discuss the strategies used in achieving the passage of the legislation, as well as an account of barriers confronted and surmounted (or not) in the legislative process. The book will be of interest to language activists in the fields of sign language and other minority languages, policymakers and researchers in deaf studies, sign linguistics, sociolinguistics, human rights law and applied linguistics.

New 4th Edition completely revised and updated with new DVD now available; ISBN 1-56368-283-4.