 3:9
Monday, September 24,
2001Linguists Say "Same
Word, Different Sign" How
do you pronounce the following words --
“which”
and
“test”?
“Which”
or
“hwich”?
“Test”
or
“tes’”?
In Sociolinguistic
Variation in American Sign Language, Ceil Lucas, Robert Bayley, and Clayton
Valli along with a host of exceptional researchers devoted seven years to
applying techniques for analyzing spoken language variation to American Sign
Language. In the same manner that people of different ages, socioeconomic class,
gender, ethnic backgrounds, regions, and sexual orientation speak English
differently, the same word in ASL is signed in different ways. For example, DEAF
can be signed by moving the index finger from the ear to the chin; by reversing
the order to touch the chin first, then the ear; or simply by touching the
cheek. Sociolinguistic
Variation in American Sign Language is the seventh volume in the Sociolinguistics
in Deaf Communities series.
“The idea for the project grew directly out of my training and research
experience in spoken language variation,” Lucas writes in her introduction.
“The original idea was to provide a comprehensive description of the variables
and constraints at work in sign language variation, with four decades of
research on spoken language variation as the foundation.” Sociolinguistic
Variation in American Sign Language is the crowning achievement of a triumphant
crusade that began forty years ago. Read
more about this intriguing volume and order
Sociolinguistic Variation in American Sign Language at a
special savings of 20% off.  
In its September 2001 issue, CHOICE hails Special
Education in the 21st Century: Issues of Inclusion and Reform as
“beautifully written...the volume is to be commended because it is readable,
thought-provoking, and offers material appropriate for those interested in the future
of special education.” Editors Margret A.
Winzer and Kas Mazurek's Special Education in the 21st Century also
earned the endorsement of Disabilities Studies Quarterly (DSQ) in its
Summer 2001 issue:
“Winzer and Mazurek do an admirable job in presenting an intelligent,
well-organized, interesting overview and discussion of inclusion....This is a
valuable item for any library, whether personal or professional...” Read the reviews of CHOICE
and DSQ and order Special Education in
the 21st Century. You can also read an excerpt from Chapter 11:
“Bilingual/Bicultural Education for Deaf Students” here.
Simon Winchester, author of the bestselling book The Professor and the
Madman, A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English
Dictionary, will be the keynote speaker at the Gallaudet University Press
Institute international conference
“Dictionaries and the Standardization of Languages,” November 7 and 8, 2001.
Prior to his current success, Winchester earned a reputation as a talented
writer and world-traveler who contributed to National Geographic, Condé Nast Traveler, and Smithsonian magazine, and as the
foreign correspondent for The Guardian and the Sunday Times. He
had written six previous books before learning of Dr. W.C. Minor, the brilliant, insane surgeon
serving a life sentence for murder who teamed with Professor James Murray, a respected
scholar, to
create the Oxford English Dictionary. Enamored with words himself, Winchester
seasoned The Professor and the Madman with wry definitions related to the
book's events, and provided a brief, engrossing history of dictionaries.
Winchester will open the conference at 9:00 a.m., November 7th in the
Gallaudet University Kellogg Conference Center. For more information about the
conference and registration, go online to http://dictionaries.gallaudet.edu.
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