bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Making Use of Nothing: The Sovereignties of King Lear
Authors: Sheerin Brian
Published: October 2013

Shakespeare's King Lear obsesses over iterations of "nothing," especially in relation to the play's monarch. Beyond the usual existential and materialist associations of this word, however, what does it convey politically? This article traces a deep-seated fascination with nothingness in English political writing extending back to Sir John Fortescue. In particular, the proto-republican tradition developed by thinkers such as John Ponet and George Buchanan struggled to theorize a sovereignty absent of ontology—where the monarch is merely a cipher of public will. The political climate in which King Lear was performed was thus one in which two conceptions of nothingness found themselves at odds, one (from the absolutist perspective) that would merely negate sovereign identity, and another (from the proto-republican perspective) that would paradoxically rehabilitate it by finding the political potential within absence itself. Within this context, Shakespeare's drama becomes neither politically nostalgic nor reactionary; rather, it dramatizes the tragic impossibility of reconciling two ideological preconceptions that differently signify "nothing." Even if "nothing comes of nothing" in the end, by no means has this been inevitable.
A Program to Prepare Language Specialists for Work with the Deaf
Authors: Woodward James C.
Published: October 2013

Many teachers of the deaf do not fully understand the language situation of the deaf. However, a number of schools for the deaf are now interested in switching to total communication. If these programs are to succeed, language specialists must be involved. Teacher training programs are not sufficient to produce the needed language specialists. This paper suggests a program that would create these specialists.
Categorization of Cheremic Errors in Sign Language Reception
Authors: Crittenden Jerry B.
Published: October 2013

The question of the relative importance of the cheremic dimensions of configuration, direction, and position to receptive sign reading was tested here. Direction, configuration, and position, in that order, were posited as the critically important cheremic dimensions. The results of testing two groups of college students who had recently learned a basic sign language skill supported the position taken here.
The Acquisition of American Sign Language Hand Configurations
Authors: McIntire Marina L.
Published: October 2013

Examination of American Sign Language - produced by a deaf child acquiring the language from deaf parents, and videotaped at age 13, 15, 18, and 21 months - shows conformity to many of the phonological rules operative for all languages. Active-hand configurations, i.e. dez handshapes, are learned in stages. A first-stage dez is substituted regularly for a dez of a later stage before second stage competence is reached. Rules specific to ASL dez substitution are posited.
How Visible is Visible English?
Authors: Reich Peter A. , Bick Margaret
Published: October 2013

The fingerspelling component of thirteen samples of Visible English used by teachers in classrooms in two schools for the deaf were analyzed linguistically. Only 56% of what should have been fingerspelled was present and legible. The variation in manual letter form that occurred was found to be similar to variation in phonological articulation. Seventeen percent of the function words present vocally were omitted manually. In order to get a feel for what the accuracy measures mean in terms of readability, a similar analysis was performed on samples of handwriting. The average fingerspelling of the teachers sampled was found to be no better than the worst handwriting samples we could find.
Sign Language versus Spoken Language
Authors: Stokoe William C.
Published: October 2013

In the debate over continuities vs . discontinuities in the emergence of language, sign language is not taken to be the antithesis but is presented as the antecedent of spoken languages. Several recent elucidations of face-to-face behavior microscopically observed show the importance of expression by gestural signs (gSigns) of the infant’s developing communicative needs. They show also smooth transition of the communicational synchrony achieved by very young infants in their performance of communicative actions (and in some instances of reflexive body movements) into the kind of behavior to be discerned in adult language competence. The ease of learning conferred by iconic gSigns leads to early lexicosemantic mastery when speech is not the major channel. Various parts of the grammar of a contemporary sign language (ASL), particularly its verb and pronoun systems, give convincing evidence that such grammar cannot have derived from the grammars of spoken languages; rather that the continuity is from cognitive activity expressed in gSigns toward linguistic organization both of the expressive material and the semantic, and thence into spoken language.
Teaching Spontaneous Sign Language to Nonverbal Children: Theory & Method
Authors: Schaeffer Benson
Published: October 2013

Nonverbal mentally handicapped children taught sign language often learn to sign spontaneously. The data available on their spontaneous signing is summarized here and possible reasons for the spontaneity discussed. Instructional techniques for promoting spontaneity are outlined, and implications of sign spontaneity for research are considered. Nonverbal children can learn to sign spontaneously to express their desires, to initiate social interaction, and to describe aspects of their world; they also sign egocentrically to guide their own behavior. This spontaneous signing, it is argued here, develops as an adaptation and extension of the behavior of goal-directed grasping to the tasks of social communication. To promote this spontaneity it is important to begin sign language instruction with the expression of desires, to de-emphasize imitation, and to use structured waiting. The developmental aspects of nonverbal children’s acquired spontaneity in signing suggest intriguing research possibilities.
Language Development in Another Mode: The Acquisition of Signs by a Brain-Damaged Adult
Authors: Bonvillian John D. , Friedman Robert J.
Published: October 2013

A 49-year-old brain-damaged, dysarthric patient was given in instructional program in sign language communication tailored to the needs of his particular disability. The man learned a large lexicon of signs and showed improvement in his sicial behavior over the nine-month period of the study. The patient’s success in acquiring a sign language vocabulary must be viewed in the light of a medical evaluation of severe cerebral damage, an aphasic condition, and partial paralysis, all resulting from an accident that occurred more than ten years before. This improvement is in contrast with his past history of failure to respond to speech therapy.
All in the Family: Kinship Lexicalization across Sign Languages
Authors: Woodward James C.
Published: October 2013

Native signs used as basic kin terms in 20 sign languages from several sign language families are examined. The distribution of the kin terms in these 20 languages shows similarity to that of kin terms in spoken languages and also presents some interesting implications both linguistic and socio-cultural that warrant further exploration.
Attitudes toward Deaf People on Providence Island: A Preliminary Survey
Authors: Woodward James
Published: October 2013

Most societies view deaf people as inferior to hearing people (Woodward 1975) and often actively discriminate against deaf individuals and groups (Padden & Markowicz 1976, Markowicz & Woodward 1975). Surprisingly the three thousand hearing people on Providence Island come closer to an equal acceptance and treatment of deaf people than do those in the other societies that have been studied. Interviews in two villages reveal that the hearing do not hold the deaf to be inferior in the areas of marriage, mental ability, occupations, and social integration.
The Perception and Processing of Information by Severely Dysfunctional Nonverbal Children: A Rationale for the Use of Manual Communication
Authors: Oxman Joel , Webster Christopher D. , Konstantareas M. Mary
Published: October 2013

Recent reports have indicated that nonverbal, autistic, and autistic-like children can learn to communicate with sign language. Whereas speech training has proven effective for children with some initial capacity for vocal imitation, it has been strikingly unsuccessful for many others who were mute or non-imitating. The information processing peculiarities of severely dysfunctional, nonverbal children appear to be better suited to the sensory and response requirements of a manual as compared to a vocal language medium. Motivational factors and unique characteristics of sign language systems and training procedures are suggested as contributing to these children’s ability to make progress within a manual communication medium. The role of linguistic retardation is stressed as central to the constellation of autistic symptoms, and manual language is recommended as an alternative mode of communication for children unable to profit from speech therapy.
Simultaneous Acquisition of ASL and Spoken English (in a Hearing Child of a Deaf Mother and Hearing Father): Phase I: Early Lexical Development
Authors: Prinz Philip M. , Prinz Elisabeth A.
Published: October 2013

This study describes the linguistic development in American Sign Language (ASL) and spoken English by a hearing female child whose mother is profoundly deaf and father is hearing. The data were collected from the age of 7 months, 6 days, when the first sign emerged, to the age of 19 months, 8 days, when the child began systematically combining signifiers. The first phase in this longitudinal research focuses on early word meanings. The results confirm previous findings that (1) the child’s first sign emerges several months before the first spoken word, (2) lexical acquisition in ASL and spoken English progresses through similar stages, and (3) the child initially develops one lexical system, with separate entries from both languages.
On the Scientific Status of Iconicity
Authors: Robinson Jacques H. , Griffith Penny L.
Published: October 2013

This paper explores the operational and conceptual meanings of the iconicity of manual signs and sign languages, by contrasting aspects of iconicity with parallel facets of stimulus meaningfulness in the Paired-Associates (PA) rote verbal learning literature. Historical, conceptual, and theoretical aspects of iconicity related to language systems in general and American Sign Language (ASL) in particular are treated in Section 1. Section 2 describes empirical studies related to operational definition of iconicity in ASL signs, and addresses the issues and implications of this literature. Section 3 describes parallels between iconicity and stimulus meaningfulness and the implications of these parallels for the scientific status of iconicity and of research related to the role of iconicity in sign language systems.
Simultaneous Communication in the Classroom: How Well is English Grammar Represented?
Authors: Marmor Gloria Strauss , Petitto Laura
Published: October 2013

Simultaneous communication as used in classrooms is here analyzed to determine how well it represents English grammar. Samples of the communication used in teaching were collected from two hearing teachers as they conducted regular classes at a large residential school for deaf children. Comparisons were made between teachers’ spoken and signed utterance with respect to grammatical construction, including declarative sentences, questions, relative clauses, pronoun use, and verb tense in English, and to such specifics as facial expression, head and body tilt, eye gaze, and use of space in American Sign Language (ASL). Results showed that signed utterances were predominantly ungrammatical with respect both to rules of English and to rules of ASL. The need to institute stricter requirements so that teachers of the deaf become better equipped to use simultaneous communication as well as other forms of communication is made salient by this study. Related issues requiring further research are also considered.
A Description of Pedagogically Imposed Signed Semantic-Syntactic Relationships in Deaf Children
Authors: Layton Thomas L. , Holmes David W. , Bradley Pamela M.
Published: October 2013

The early semantic-syntactic utterances of three deaf children of hearing parents were analyzed using the scheme provided by Bloom et al. (1975). Based upon length of signed utterances, the three children as a group used all of the kinds of semantic-syntactic utterances expected except for recurrence; but order of usage for the relations differed between the three deaf children and the four hearing children in the study by Bloom et al. It is here suggested that the differences could be attributed to the “teaching” of language in school as opposed to acquiring language in a natural setting.
Negative Interference of Signed Language in Written English
Authors: Jones Philip A.
Published: October 2013

Deaf signers use both manual and non-manual signals but do not treat either as primary in American Sign Language. Deaf student signers, however, often write English that appears to translate the manually expressed parts and omit the non-manually expressed parts of a Pidgin Sign English version of the text.
Early Linguistic Environment: Interactions of Deaf Parents with their Infants
Authors: Moores Julia Maestas y
Published: October 2013

Data on interaction were obtained from 40 videotaped sessions of from ten minutes to one and one half hours in length. Most of the sessions involved infants six months of age and younger. The tapes show seven children interacting with deaf parent or parents in such home activities as bathing, feeding, and playing. Preliminary analysis reported here finds the interactive relationship relaxed, natural, and communicatively effective. Parents use several modes of communication and various strategies to encourage two-way communication. At a very early age infants show sensitivity to input and exhibit evidence of socialization.s
Potential for Expressive Signing Based on Motor Control
Authors: Shane Howard C. , Wilbur Ronnie B.
Published: October 2013

This paper outlines a procedure for predicting the appropriateness of signing as a communication technique for individuals with speaking impairments. The procedure compares a potential learner’s motor control with the motor skills necessary for producing intelligible signs. Motor requisites for signs were determined by a task analysis of handshapes, locations, and movements. The percentage of occurrence of the various motor components was calculated from an analysis of a core vocabulary selected to be appropriate as an initial vocabulary for nonspeaking individuals. A generalization procedure predicting ability to produce additional vocabulary items (from the Dictionary of American Sign Language on computer) is presented, allowing estimation of expressive vocabulary potential for American Sign Language.
Using Movement to Differentiate Patterns of Interaction and Situational Understanding in the Verbal Productions of a Two and a Half Year Old Child
Authors: Weitzner Lin Barbara , Duchan Judith
Published: October 2013

Recent literature shows that construction of language meaning depends on the situation in which the language occurs. Examination of the utterances-i.e. the simultaneous vocal and nonverbal output-of a two and a half year old child indicates that the person controlling the situation is relevant to the child’s construction of meaning in the situation in which his utterances occur. The child framed his spontaneous utterances with large trunk movements when engaged in interactions dominated by himself or his activity, but did not so frame his utterances when engaged in interactions dominated by an adult. Patterns in the synchrony between verbal utterances and large trunk movements indicate that the child adjusted his utterances to his trunk movement pattern and not the reverse.
A Computerized Lexicon of American Sign Language: The DASL 1965 in FORTRAN
Authors: Teuber Hartmut , Battison Robbin , Lane Harlan , Heck Joe , Stungis Jim
Published: October 2013

This paper describes our methods of organizing, storing, and retrieving lexical data from computerized files of American Sign Language. We present the results of sample searches of the dictionary files and discuss how these files and applications might be expanded. Such a computerized lexicon becomes a useful resource for both researchers and teachers of sign languages.
Timing Sensitivity and Age as Predictors of Sign Language Learning
Authors: Mills Carol Bergfeld , Jordan I. King
Published: October 2013

Timing sensitivity, age, and sex were studied as possible predictors of success in hearing adults’ learning of sign language. Four measures of success in sign language learning were used: semester grade in a sign language course, and evaluations by teachers of signing, fingerspelling, and overall expressive skills. The results revealed that timing sensitivity and age do predict sign language learning success. Those more sensitive to timing features learn sign language better than those less sensitive, and younger adults learn sign language better than do older adults. The relation of timing sensitivity to sign language learning suggests that timing is an important dimension of sign language.
Signed and Spoken Language Development in a Hearing Child of Hearing Parents
Authors: Holmes Kathleen M. , Holmes David W.
Published: October 2013

The communicative behavior of a hearing child of hearing parents was recorded from the child’s 26th week through the 17th month. Both parents communicated with the child from birth in signs and spoken words. Comparison with contemporary studies of spoken language development shows this child’s expressive communication in both modalities accelerated. It is hypothesized that the addition of a signed component may have been responsible for this child’s early acquisition of language.
Teaching Signed Speech to Nonverbal Children: Theory and Method
Authors: Schaeffer Benson
Published: October 2013

Many nonverbal mentally handicapped children can use signed speech (the simultaneous production of manual signs and spoken words) as an intermediate stage between spontaneous sign language and spontaneous speech. These children can be taught to communicate spontaneously in signed speech after they are taught sign production and sound production as independent skills. Because they use signs to communicate spontaneously, a transfer of spontaneity from signs to words occurs as they use signed speech. When the transfer is complete, the children fade the signs from their signed speech and with help from their teachers move on to spontaneous spoken language. This paper considers some of the data available on signed speech by nonverbal children and on the unsigned speech that grows out of it, discusses possible explanations for signed speech as development of linguistic functions, outlines the instructional implications of signed speech for language intervention programs, and makes suggestions for research that focus on the relation between the acquisition of language by nonverbal children and by normal infants.
Modality Preference and Facilitation of Learning Using Mixed and Pure Sign, Oral, and Graphic Inputs
Authors: Luftig Richard L. , Gauthier R. Adrian , Freeman Sally A. , Lloyd Lyle L.
Published: October 2013

Research interest has recently been generated concerning modality preference and advantages in learning via modality combination rather than via a single modality. Recent results supporting a visual preference as well as modality combination advantages may be confounded. The current experiment, utilizing a dual stimuli methodology, presented manual sign, graphic, and oral stimuli to normal adults with no signing experience. Subjects participated in one of six conditions of a paired associate task. Stimuli were presented either in a repeated single modality condition or in a combination modality condition. Sign-Sign condition performance learning was best, followed by Auditory-Auditory, Graphic-Sign, and Auditory-Sign. Graphic-Auditory and Graphic-Graphic were least facilitative of learning. Results are discussed in terms of facilitative effects of spaced repetition and the mediational properties of Sign.
The Role of Manual Encoding in Learning by Prelingually Deaf Subjects: An Initial Investigation
Authors: Stall C. Harmon , Marshall Philip H.
Published: October 2013

The hypothesis that interruption in the use of the manual encoding modality would retard learning in prelingually deaf subjects was tested with deaf adults who used fingerspelling as their primary means of communication. In a paired-associate learning paradigm, two groups of subjects participated in a series of eight study-test trial sequences. One group was instructed to use finger-spelling and finger numeration in learning the eight pairs of number-word combinations, while the other group was prohibited from using any manual encoding. The group utilizing fingerspelling as a means of encoding showed better recall and learned at a faster rate. The results of this experiment demonstrate that the interruption of the normal encoding modality for this population impedes learning. The results are discussed in terms of learning and/or performance effects.
Mouth Position & Mouth Movement in Norwegian Sign Language
Authors: Vogt-Svendsen Marit
Published: October 2013

This paper reports some highlights from a study of 37 signs taken from video recordings of deaf children and adults in natural discourse. The relation of mouth expression to other components is outlined and a tentative coding system is presented. Implications for the education of deaf children are also discussed.
Manual Sign Translucency and Referential Concreteness in the Learning of Signs
Authors: Luftig Richard L. , Lloyd Lyle L.
Published: October 2013

The transmission and interpretation of manual signs consist of the sign productions and the comprehension of the referents which the signs represent. Signs are translucent to the degree that an observer can perceive a relationship between a sign and its referent. Likewise, a referent is said to be concrete or abstract, depending on whether the referent can be envisioned in a psychological image. The present study investigated sign learning as a function of sign translucency and referential concreteness. Translucency and concreteness levels were varied, and naive sign language learners attempted to learn a list of signreferent pairs. The results indicated that signs high in translucency and referents high in concreteness facilitated learning, while low levels of each variable inhibited list learning. Mixed conditions led to intermediate learning performance. Implications for choosing initial sign lexicons for severely language-impaired, non-deaf populations (e.g. the mentally retarded) are discussed.
The Use of Gesturing and Pantomiming: The Language of a Nine-Year-Old Deaf Boy
Authors: Scroggs Carolyn L.
Published: October 2013

Analysis of the communication skills of a nine-year-old deaf boy with only minimal schooling showed pantomiming and gesturing to be his major means of communication. He used most commonly the semantic pattern, Agent + Action + Object (+ optional Locative); or Agent + Action (+optional Locative) + Object. Topic comment analysis revealed that in the child’s narratives, one of his hands expressed the topic throughout; and in most cases when this topic was active, it was expressed by the (dominant) right hand serving as handshape for the verb of action. When the topic was being described or acted upon, it was expressed by the left hand, with the action or description enacted by the right hand. Analysis also showed the presence of both formal and idiosyncratic signs in his vocabulary.
Are There Really Signs of Diglossia?: Re-Examining the Situation
Authors: Lee Dorothy M.
Published: October 2013

Recent sign language research has been done with the assumption of the existence of diglossia, as described by Stokoe in 1969. This paper reevaluates the nine characteristics of diglossia with the current sign language situation in the United States. Currently there are some sign communities that do not fully represent these characteristics. There is indeed variation within these communities, but as is more typical in the linguistic communities of the world, code-switching and style-shifting rather than diglossia appear to be the norm.
Sign & Word Recognition: A First Comparison
Authors: Grosjean François
Published: October 2013

The results of a word recognition study (Grosjean 1980) are compared to those of a sign recognition study (Grosjean, Teuber, & Lane 1978) in order to determine which aspects of lexical access are comparable in speech and sign and which are specific to each of the two language modalities. The recognition of a lexical item appears to involve two distinct stages in both modalities: the isolation of the item (word or sign) from other candidates; and after some further processing, the acceptance or recognition of the lexical item. Factors such as the frequency of occurrence of a lexical item play a role in both word and sign recognition, but others such as word length in speech and frequency of location in sign are specific to the modality of expression. In both modalities, however, the word recognition process is complex and is strewn with “garden paths.” The future of sign recognition research is discussed in light of these findings.
Sign Language Studies with Children and Chimpanzees
Authors: Van Cantfort Thomas E. , Rimpau James B.
Published: October 2013

With the beginning of Project Washoe in 1966 a new field of scientific inquiry opened. Sign language studies with chimpanzees provide a new tool for studying linguistic behavior as an expression of intelligence and for understanding the continuity between human and non-human intelligence. In this article we have answered many of the criticisms of sign language studies with chimpanzees by taking a close look at the procedures and results of this new field of scientific inquiry. We have tried to shed more light than heat on the subject and hope that we have shown how the work of comparative psychologists has contributed to the understanding of the nature of language and intelligence.
Constituent Order & Location in American Sign Language
Authors: McIntire Marina L.
Published: October 2013

Whether ASL grammar has a “basic” or fixed order for its sentence constituents (i.e. Subject, Object, Verb) and if so what that order may be are answered variously. Analysis of locative constructions in elicited and narrative performances by native signers suggests that the notions “subject” and “object” are less helpful for understanding ASL grammar than are “topic” and “comment”, especially when the latter notions are related to “old” and “new” information and the semantic logic of location.
Communication Skills of a 4-year-old Deaf Child: Eleven Modes of Production in the Vocal and Motor Modalities
Authors: Weber Jack L. , Weber Susan E.
Published: October 2013

There persists in some quarters a fear that allowing young deaf children to use two modalities will cause conflict and confusion and the dominance of signing until attempts to learn speech, speech-reading, and the use of residual hearing will cease. Data was collected from one four-year old deaf girl during seven different activities in the home, while the child was at a pre-sentence expressive syntactic stage. Analysis found eleven modes of communication in the two modalities. The results of the study indicate that a bimodal communication approach has not hampered the development of skills in the vocal modality. Rather than inhibiting spoken language growth, the sanctioned use of a visual-motor modality has nurtured speech development by providing a much needed foundation for the spoken modes and especially by allowing for uninhibited spontaneous communicative exchange.
British Sign Language & West Indian Creole
Authors: Ladd Paddy , Edwards Vivian
Published: October 2013

Parallels in status of British Sign Language (BSL) and West Indian Creole (WIC) in Britain reflect popular attitudes towards the groups that use these two non-standard languages. Also similar are the social circumstances leading to pidginization and creolization: slaves from one language area in Africa were forcibly dispersed in the West Indies, and deaf children in schools were far from where their home signs were understood. Paired examples of utterances in each show the structural similarity of BSL and WIC. These several parallels have pertinent educational and cultural implications.
The Effects of Cued Speech on the Language Development of Three Deaf Children
Authors: Mohay Heather
Published: October 2013

The language development of three prelingually deaf children was studied in videotapes made monthly from the time of their enrollment in a Cued Speech program. Each child’s communication was analyzed in terms of the frequency of use of gestures, cues, and speech. Length and structure of multi-unit utterances and lexical development were also documented. The data were compared with data previously obtained from the same children while enrolled in an oral education program (Mohay 1982). With the introduction of Cued Speech the frequency with which the children used commuicative gestures dropped dramaticaly without a corresponding increase in speech production. Consequently the overall frequency of their communication was depressed. There was however a slight shift towards the production of longer spoken utterances. Spoken vocabulary showed a significant increase only in the child whose rapid vocabulary acquisition had commenced before her introduction to Cued Speech. The results suggest that the introduction of Cued Speech at an early age does not materially aid the spoken language development of profoundly deaf children.
Communication to Language: Deaf Children’s and Hearing Children’s Development Compared
Authors: Caselli M. Cristina
Published: October 2013

Videotaped interaction of six children between 8 and 24 months old, some deaf (in an American Sign Language or Italian Sign Language environment), others hearing (in an English or Italian speaking environment), when analyzed, shows quite comparable stages and sequences of communicative development: the use of performative gestures or single vocalizations for general reference to situations precedes the use of referential gestures, signs, and words; and use of the latter precedes the combination of elements (signs, referential gestures, words); finally signs are combined with signs or words are combined with words, depending on the language to which the child is exposed.
Simultaneous Communication in the Classroom: What Do Deaf Children Learn?
Authors: Maxwell Madeline M.
Published: October 2013

Recent researchers have investigated the nature of the simultaneous communication used by teachers of the deaf and by deaf children. One assumption behind the use of signed codes for English (i.e. Manual English) is that deaf students will recognize the signed-and-spoken communication as English and learn to speak, sign, and write English. This paper examines whether deaf students’ written English reflects their teachers’ use of English sign markers in simultaneous communication. The study required seven high school deaf students to write stories that had been presented to them in simultaneous communication. The students’ output and the teachers’ input were not identical but differed in ways consistent with principles familiar from studies of imitation in children and from semantic memory research.
Levels of Development in the Language of Deaf Children: ASL Grammatical Processes Signed English Structures Semantic Features
Authors: Livingston Sue
Published: October 2013

This study describes the spontaneous sign language of six deaf children (6 to 16 years old) of hearing parents, who were exposed to Signed English when after the age of six they first attended a school for the deaf. Samples of their language taken at three times over a 15-month period were searched for processes and structures representative or not representative of Signed English. The nature of their developing semantics was described as the systematic acquisition of features of meaning in signs from selected lexical categories (kinship terms, negation, time expression, whquestions, descriptive terms, and prepositions/conjunctions).
Chafe’s Generative Semantics and the Structure of American Sign Language
Authors: Maxwell Madeline M.
Published: October 2013

The generative semantics of Chafe’s Meaning and the Structure of Language uses spoken language for illustration and example, but it can be turned to good account both to combat the error of thinking that sign languages merely represent spoken languages in visible form and to explain various parts of the grammar of American Sign Language.
Bilingual Education: Teacher’s Opinions of Signs
Authors: Stewart David A.
Published: October 2013

In order to find what teachers think is an appropriate means of communication with their deaf pupils, I assumed a bilingual perspective and designed a questionnaire to assess their opinions of two kinds of signing, American Sign Language and Signed English. Eighty-five teachers responded and their overall opinion was that: deaf children should begin signing at as early an age as possible, should use Signed English as their base language, should eventually be bilingual in Signed English and American Sign Language; and likewise that their teachers should be bilingual. There was also an attitude overall in favor of the implementation of bilingual education for deaf children in total communication programs.
The Role of Manual Encoding in Learning by the Prelingually Deaf: An Initial Investigation
Authors: Stall C. Harmon , Marshall Philip H.
Published: October 2013

To test the hypothesis that manual encoding aids learning in prelingually deaf persons, we tested 24 adults who use fingerspelling as their primary means of communication. Two groups of subjects participated in a paired-associate learning paradigm using eight study-test trial sequences. One group was prohibited from using manual encoding; the other group was told to use it. Those using fingerspelling showed more recall and a faster learning rate.
A Deaf Child’s Natural Development of Literacy
Authors: Maxwell Madeline
Published: October 2013

This case study reports the first investigation of a young deaf child’s experiences with books. It describes six steps in a developmental sequence of seven stages, from simply labeling pictures and signs to reading independently. One of the most interesting aspects of development was the child’s spontaneous analysis of sign drawings in storybooks that illustrate each word with a sign. These sign drawings provided a bridge between signed and spoken discourse and print. Concepts she discovered about books include: stories are to be enjoyed and repeated; they are means both of social interaction and of private satisfaction; characters have styles of speaking and books have narration and dialogue; stories have plots. Concepts about print relate to directionality, letter patterns, and that print, signs, and speech interrelate.
Similarities & Differences in Two Brazilian Sign Languages
Authors: Brito Lucinda Ferreira
Published: October 2013

The sign language used by Urubu-Kaapor Indians in the Amazonian jungle and the sign language used by deaf people in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city are contrasted sociolinguistically and in a few details of structure.
Factors Influencing Manual Sign Learning in Hearing Adults
Authors: Mills Carol Bergfeld
Published: October 2013

The effect on learning manual signs of four predictor variables was tested by learners’ ratings. The variables are translucency (perceived relationship between a sign and its referent), complexity judged as relative difficulty in producing the sign, rated concreteness of the sign referent, and frequency of occurrence of the word glossing the sign referent. The first three (translucency, complexity, and concreteness) were rated by 80 sign-naive hearing adults, who also provided the sign learning data. Frequency of the word (used to gloss the sign) was taken from Kucera & Francis (1967). Correlational analyses showed that translucency and concreteness are significant predictors of sign learning. These variables had similar effects in two different learning contexts: signs presented with semantically similar signs and with formationally similar signs. In addition, frequency was a significant predictor in the latter context. These results have implications for teaching sign language signs to hearing adults.
First Signs Acquired by a Norwegian Deaf Child with Hearing Parents
Authors: Von Tetzchner Stephen
Published: October 2013

Signs learned and used by a Norwegian deaf child with hearing parents are described, both as vocabulary and as phonological development, and compared with reported acquisition of other children learning to speak or to sign. The phonological development seems to indicate that in certain aspects the acquisition of signs may follow a different developmental course from that of words. There is some indication that parents' receptive language skills may influence their children's acquisition of signs, a finding with implications for the education of hearing parents who have deaf children.
Cognitive & Communicative Development in Hearing-Impaired Preschool Children
Authors: Kricos Patricia B. , Aungst Holle L.
Published: October 2013

The cognitive and communicative development of five hearing-impaired preschoolers were evaluated over a three month period to determine if any interrelationships exist among cognitive level, gestural development, and spoken English ability. Level of cognitive development did not appear to be related to the number of separate pragmatic intents and semantic functions expressed nonverbally. However, cognitive level appeared to be related to the number of combinations of pragmatic-semantic categories, and to a lesser degree to the total number of gestural acts used. The one subject who was able to communicate vocally showed the highest cognitive level and an increase in the number of vocal combinations expressed across the three months. Implications for facilitating cognitive and communicative growth in the preschool deaf child are discussed.
Natural Phonetic Processes Underlie Historical Change & Register Variation in American Sign Language
Authors: Rimor Mordechai , Kegl Judy , Lane Harlan , Schermer Trude
Published: October 2013

Historical change in ASL is characterized by a variety of reduction phenomena that facilitate articulation and perception. We show that similar changes can be induced under laboratory conditions. Two experiments are reported. In the first serial transmission and speeded discourse were used in the laboratory to induce reductions in signs performed in their old forms. The changes were found to be similar to historical change; reductions occurred in both signs and non-linguistic pantomime and for both signers and non-signers, implying the work of natural phonetic processes. In the second experiment, similar reductions were exhibited in signs when they underwent register shift, from citation form to conversational form. The results of the two experiments suggest that synchronic variation and diachronic change stem from the same natural phonetic processes that favor ease of articulation and ease of perception.
Cheremic Perception by Deaf Children
Authors: Hamilton Harley
Published: October 2013

Deaf children perceive signs of a sign language cheremically; i.e. they like deaf adults have more difficulty discriminating between lexical items that are minimal pairs in the language than between those that are not.
Language Dominance in Deaf Students
Authors: Stewart David A.
Published: October 2013

An examination of the effects of a dominant language in unbalanced bilingual deaf students. The hypothesis was that when asked to retell a story, signing deaf subjects will tend to retell the story in their dominant language. Stories were presented in Signed English (SE) and American Sign Language (ASL) to 36 profoundly deaf subjects (mean age, 16;9). Results showed that ASL dominant bilinguals translated English stories to ASL in retelling, but English dominant bilinguals also preferred to retell English stories in ASL. This evidence is a partial investigation of the implications of a bilingual education program that uses English and ASL with signing deaf students.
An Assessment Instrument for Sign Language Interpreters
Authors: Strong Michael , Rudser Steven Fritsch
Published: October 2013

This instrument for objective assessment of sign language interpreters provides a highly reliable means for assessing the accuracy of interpreted output from videotape, by examining individual units of meaning and comparing the interpreted propositions with the original messages. Interpreters’ use of fingerspelling, the adjustments they make in response to cultural factors, and the extent to which they use American Sign Language or English are also taken into account. It is suggested that this instrument might be of use to interpreter trainers, researchers, and interpreters themselves.
Music to Their Eyes: Song-to-Sign Interpreting at the Hudson Clearwater Festival
Authors: Sutherland Elaine
Published: October 2013

Interpreting popular music into Sign for deaf audience members has become increasingly common. Interpretation of the songs permits the deaf community to participate in a congenial forum where significant social and political views are aired. Fifteen interpreters were interviewed at a Hudson Clearwater Festival and their ideas recorded on popular music interpreting and its differences from speech interpreting and transliterating. Nineteen members of their deaf audience were interveiwed for their reactions and opinions. The central concerns of the deaf audience differ somewhat from those of the interpreters. The future of concert interpreting will be determined not by educators or by the benevolence of the hearing world but by economic factors such as the appeal of sign language “music” to paying audiences, both deaf and hearing.
Nativization, Linguistic Theory, and Deaf Language Acquisition
Authors: Gee James Paul , Goodhart Wendy
Published: October 2013

The acquisition of language by deaf children of deaf parents and deaf children of hearing parents is considered in the light of such linguistic theories as Andersen’s “nativization-denativization” and Bickerton’s “bioprogram,” and found to show both support for the theories and complexities that the theories do not exactly explain.
Elaboration & Interference: Influences on Sign Learning?
Authors: Luftig Richard L
Published: October 2013

ASL signs of high and low translucency and ASL signs of high and low cheremic similarity were presented to sign-naive subjects in a paired associates learning experiment. Word glosses were shown 3 seconds after individual signs were shown. One hypothesis, that translucency would facilitate learning, was confirmed; a second, that cheremic similarity would retard sign learning, was not.
The Meaning of Duality of Patterning and its Importance in Language Evolution
Authors: Pulleyblank Edwin G.
Published: October 2013

Developing ideas discussed in Pulleyblank 1983, I argue that duality of patterning characteristic of all human spoken languages differs crucially in kind and not merely in degree, or differs to such a degree as to amount to a difference in kind, from that which can be found in other sign systems, namely those that are not in some way derivative from spoken language, such as spontaneously developed systems of manual signs or non-phonetically based pictograms. Furthermore, the arbitrariness of the relationship between symbol and referent that is made possible by duality of patterning is what gives human language its unlimited potential as a tool for conceptualizing the world. This is not the whole story in the evolution of human mental capacities but it was probably this new potential more than anything else that was responsible for the exponential cultural growth that began in the Upper Palaeolithic.
Head Thrust in ASL Conditional Marking
Authors: Liddell Scott K.
Published: October 2013

A descriptive issue is addressed here. The form of the nonmanual marking of conditionals in ASL has been variously described, perhaps because of variability in the data, but more likely because it is difficult to pick out the recurrent nonmanual features that are ever present in ASL signing. This paper describes head thrust as a significant nonmanual signal, which occurs on the final sign in a conditional clause, in combination with a brow raise and a rotated head position (found in other constituent markings). This makes conditional marking in ASL unlike the other grammatical signals involving a brow raise, because it involves both a static configuration (brow raise and head rotation) throughout the clause and a dynamic movement of the head (head thrust) only during the production of the final sign of the clause.
An Examination of Some Personal Characteristics & Abilities of Sign Language Interpreters
Authors: Rudser Steven Fritsch , Strong Michael
Published: October 2013

Very little research has focused on those characteristics of sign language interpreters predictive of high levels of skill in interpreting. This study analyzes data collected some 13 years ago by Quigley et al. (1974) on 25 interpreters who were given interpreting tasks to perform and were measured on a number of personal variables. Using a specially designed objective instrument for the evaluation of interpreting abilities, the present authors found that most of the predictor variables hypothesized in the earlier study as related to interpreting skills were indeed poor predictors. Multiple regression analysis revealed the importance of certain personality traits, which differed according to whether the interpreters came from hearing or deaf families. These data provide a basis for comparison with contemporary interpreters in order to document the nature and extent of the changes that are apparently widespread throughout this profession. Further research is called for to examine carefully practicing interpreters and to take into account variables that were not considered when these data were originally collected.
Creating Artificial Sign Languages: Guidelines & Constraints
Authors: Reagan Timothy G.
Published: October 2013

There may be instances in which the creation of an artificial sign language will be both defensible and desirable. One such case is in South Africa. With many diverse spoken and signed languages in the country, there is a compelling case for developing a unified national sign language for use by and with the deaf of all ethnolinguistic groups. The Communication Committee of the South African National Council for the Deaf is engaged on such a project; however, sound principles of linguistic engineering ought not to be ignored, and so a number of guidelines are here presented that ought to be observed both in the process of devising such an artificial language and in the product itself.
Imitative Production of ASL Verbs of Movement and Location: A Comparative Study
Authors: Hamilton Harley , Lillo-Martin Diane
Published: October 2013

Deaf children (age 7–10) of deaf and of hearing parents (DDP, DHP), shown ten two-sentence sequences produced by a native ASL signer, repeated what they saw. The signing of DDP and DHP differed significantly in morphology (specifically, in correct noun phrases, verb phrases, movement roots, movement affixes, noun agreement markers, and noun placement morphemes) and in overall errors. It differed also but non-significantly in sentence syntax. The evidence suggests that for deaf children learning a sign language, fluency is a function of linguistic experience and motor ability. Cognitive ability, also a factor in determining productive fluency (4, 19), was not addressed in this study.