Sign Language Studies: Books

Jack Hoza's study It's Not What You Sign, It's How You Sign It: Politeness in American Sign Language provides an in-depth comparison of the communication styles between English and ASL communities. Hoza's final analysis leads to a better understanding of the rich complexity of the linguistic choices of these language groups.

The latest addition to the Interpreter Education series expands the tools available to instructors with six new, vital chapters on new curricula and creative teaching methods.

Sign Language Interpreting: Exploring Its Art and Science is a comprehensive exploration of the practice and research relating to sign language interpreting. The reader is taken on a journey from the early days of interpreting, to the professionalization of interpreters, to an examination of past and present models of interpreting.

Deaf Cognition examines the cognitive underpinnings of deaf individuals' learning. Marschark and Hauser have brought together scientists from different disciplines, which rarely interact, to share their ideas and create this book. The general theme of the book is that deaf and hearing individuals differ to some extent in early experience, brain development, cognitive functioning, memory organization, and problem solving. Identifying similarities and differences among these domains provides new insights into potential methods for enhancing achievement in this traditionally under-performing population.

In The Human Right to Language, Siegel proposes that the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution be enforced so that Deaf students can possess that which virtually every other American child takes for granted - the right to receive and express thought in school. Siegel reveals that there are no judicial decisions or laws that recognize this missing right, and offers here a legal and constitutional strategy for change. His well-reasoned hypothesis and many examples of deaf children with inadequate communication access in school combine to make a compelling case for changing the status quo.

Sign to Learn is the first complete introduction to sign language curriculum for hearing preschoolers. In this unique resource, you will learn how to integrate American Sign Language (ASL) into your classroom to enhance the academic, social, and emotional development of children, and how to respectfully introduce children to Deaf culture.

Imagine a village where everyone "speaks" sign language. Just such a village -- an isolated Bedouin community in Israel with an unusually high rate of deafness -- is at the heart of Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind. There, an indigenous sign language has sprung up, used by deaf and hearing villagers alike. It is a language no outsider has been able to decode, until now.

This book focuses on American Sign Language to examine the grammatical and conceptual purposes served by directional signs. It guides the reader through ASL grammar, the different categories of directional signs, the types of spatial representations signs are directed toward, how such spatial conceptions can be represented in mental space theory, and the conceptual purposes served by these signs.

Featuring a completely revised section on morphology and syntax, 18 new and updated readings, and new homework assignments based on the accompanying DVD, the fourth edition of Linguistics of American Sign Language expands its purview as the standard introduction to ASL linguistics available today.

This volume collects for the first time various accounts of contact between sign languages throughout the world, presenting an exciting opportunity to further understand the structural and social factors of this linguistic component in Deaf communities.

This volume provides a complete description of ASL variation. 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.

Recent research on the syntax of signed language has revealed that, apart from some modality-specific differences, signed languages are organized according to the same underlying principles as spoken languages. This book addresses the organization and distribution of functional categories in American Sign Language (ASL), focusing on tense, agreement and wh-constructions.

Lucas, Valli (both Gallaudet U.) and Bayley (U. of Texas, San Antonio) present materials designed to introduce members of the Deaf community and the general public to the sociolinguistic variation in American Sign Language (ASL).