Sign Language of the Deaf

Sign Language of the Deaf: Psychological, Linguistic, and Sociological Perspectives provides information pertinent to the psychological, educational, social, and linguistic aspects of sign language. This book presents the development in the study of sign language.

Organized into four parts encompassing 10 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the fascinating account of sign language acquisition by small children. This text then explores the grammar of sign language and discusses the linguistic status of natural and contrived sign languages. Other chapters consider the many peculiarities of the lexicon and grammar of sign language, and its differences in such respects from oral language. This book discusses as well sign language from the angle of psycholinguistics. The final chapter deals with the educational implications of the use of sign language.

This book is a valuable resource for linguists and psycholinguists. Readers who are interested in sign language will also find this book useful.

Contenu

List of Contributors
Preface
Introduction
Part I Phylogeny and Ontogeny
1 The Phylogeny of Sign Language
The Question of Animal Language
Anthropoid Ape Communication
Theories About Gesture and Language-Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Early Nineteenth-Century Gestural Theories of Language Origin
Contemporary Gestural Theories of Language Origin
"Equal Time" Theories: Gestural and Vocal Languages Developed Together
Glottogenesis and Tools
Hunting and Glottogenesis
Language and the Mediation of Thought
Cognitive Demands on the Human Brain
The Antiquity of Spoken Language
Language after the Shift to Speech
Appendix
References
2 The Acquisition of Bimodal Language
Design Features in Speech and Sign
Nontraditional Language Acquisition
Traditional Transmission-Deaf Children of Deaf Parents
Connie's Children
References
Part II Linguistic Aspects
3 The Grammar of Sign Language
The Problem of Sign Language Grammar
Relative Position of Signs
The Grammatical Armory of Sign Language
References
4 Contrived Sign Language
Problems of Definition
Design Features for Language
Isomorphism between Speech and Signing
Classificatory Criteria for Signing Behavior
Contrived Signing Systems
References
5 Bilingual Interference
Introduction
Word and Sign
Bilingual Interference in Utterances
Conclusions
References
Part III Psychological, Sociological, and Educational Aspects
6 Some Psycholinguistic Aspects of Sign Language
Perception and the Production of Language
Perception and the Comprehension of Language
Perspectives and Conclusions
References
7 Sociolinguistic Aspects of the Use of Sign Language
Linguistic Methodology and Sociolinguistic Research
Sociolinguistics and Gestural Sign Language
Sociolinguistic Implications of Field Studies of Deaf Adults and Deaf Children
Cognitive Processes and Normatively Sanctioned Representational Systems
Concluding Remarks
References
8 Social-Psychological Aspects of the Use of Sign Language
Being Different
Sign Language and Total Communication
Communication between Deaf and Hearing Persons
Sign Language Interpreters
Family Constellations of the Deaf
Linguistic Problems in Connection with Mental Illness
The Deaf and the Christian Church
Associations and Clubs for the Deaf
Bulletins and Periodicals
Autobiographies and Fiction Dealing with the Deaf
Sign Language Dictionaries
Utilization of Films, TV, and Videotape
Theater of the Deaf
Concluding Remarks
References
9 Sign Language in the Education of the Deaf
The Varieties of Language
A Little Bit of the Recent History of the Education of the Deaf
Some Consequences of the Demography of Deafness
Manual Communication Instructional Materials
Learning a Communication Code-A Language
Communication
The Current State of Affairs
Some Final Words
References
Part IV Methodological Problems
10 Problems in Sign Language Research
Extrinsic Problems
Intrinsic Problems
Theories of Language
References
Index