Preface to Language in Motion: Exploring the Nature of Sign
continued . . .
Our treatment of the subject of sign language will try to avoid the jargon
of the disciplines that have now embraced sign language--linguistics,
psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, education, rehabilitation,
psychology, anthropology--and will try to find common paths through the
academic maze. As we examine some of the technical terms used, we will
assume that the reader is not acquainted with them, so each will be
explained as it is introduced. What is more, we will attempt a
comprehensive view of sign language, eschewing detail in favor of breadth.
To compensate for the lessened detail, we include a
sizable list of
references from the growing literature to guide readers who wish to pursue
their interests in further depth. (11)
About the Authors
Because modern study of sign languages used by deaf people only began in
the 1960s, and because much of what is written depends on informed opinion
rather than systematic research, readers have a right to demand more than
the usual knowledge about the authors of a book about sign. Our combined
experience with and research on sign language exceeds 75 years, but we
approach it from different perspectives.
For one of us signing is a way of life; he is deaf, and ASL is his
language. The other author learned to sign in adulthood and can hear
normally, and English is his language. Both of us have taught sign
classes, done research on sign language, and written at some length about
sign and about deaf people. Both hold doctorates in psychology, and both
have had the honor of being chosen for the University of Alberta's David
Pelkoff Chair of Deafness Studies, one of only two such university chairs
in the world.
While we have been involved with sign language for many years, we retain
our fascination with it and our enthusiasm for passing along what we have
learned about it and those who use it.
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