|
Interview
with the Editor
David F. Armstrong
Editor, Sign Language Studies
Author, Original Signs
GUPress: GUPress brought Sign
Language Studies (SLS) back into print after it had ceased publication for a few
years, with you as editor. Did you make any changes in the scope of the journal
before starting to publish it again?
Dr. Armstrong: I felt that SLS
could fill a niche as a journal dedicated to publishing articles that would
appeal to a broad audience of people interested in signed languages, deaf
communities, and deaf studies generally. When Bill Stokoe created the journal
back in 1972, it was really the only place where researchers could publish
linguistic studies of ASL and other signed languages. Bill started it to help
establish the legitimacy of these languages in both the scholarly and
educational communities. It is now possible to publish technical linguistic
studies of signed languages in many other journals, but interest in all aspects
of deaf communities, including their histories and literatures has been
expanding exponentially.
GUPress: What are some of the new
areas of study that subscribers can look forward to reading about in SLS?
Dr. Armstrong: We have already
published a special section on the poetics of signed languages, and there are
more articles forthcoming on literary uses of ASL and the history of the
language. In addition, I have been receiving quite a few manuscripts on the
histories of various deaf communities. I should also mention that we have an
upcoming special issue on sign language dictionaries that will be published in
two parts in the spring and summer of this year.
GUPress: Sign Language Studies
continues to offer a steady diet of research on various facets of signed
languages and the communities that use them. Are there other disciplines that
would profit from the findings published in SLS?
Dr. Armstrong: I think that SLS
will be of interest to anthropologists and historians interested in deaf
communities and in disability studies in general, and I think it will continue
to appeal to linguists, as it has in the past. But perhaps the largest new
audience will be literary scholars who are interested in both the written and
performance based literatures of deaf communities.
Do you have questions for Dr. Armstrong? Address them
to gupress@gallaudet.edu with
“Questions for Dr. Armstrong”
as your subject. We'll answer a selection of them in the March newsletter. |
 5:2
Friday, February 21, 2003
“Excuse me.
Could you repeat that, please?”
Hearing loss -- what are the
early signs? What’s
fact and what’s
fiction? What are the different
types and
causes?
Written by Marcia B. Dugan, past president of Self Help for Hard of Hearing
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Living with Hearing Loss provides complete information about hearing loss from A to Z, including hearing
aids and other technology, speechreading, tinnitus and how to deal with it,
strategies for everyday situations, resources and related Internet sites, and
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In his foreword, Howard E.
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Stone, founder and executive director emeritus of SHHH, writes:
“Why is it
that persons with developing hearing loss take as much as seven years to seek
help? Stigma is still a valid answer. Hearing loss, often associated with aging
in a youth-oriented society, is seen as an embarrassment. In addition to stigma
and possible denial, lack of information about hearing loss and how and where to
seek help is certainly high on the list of why people don’t get help.”
Take advantage of your exclusive subscriber discount by
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you can begin to cope with hearing loss and avoid dependency upon others.
Reviewer’s Bookwatch, the online magazine
published by The Midwest Book Review, praises
Turn-Taking,
Fingerspelling, and Contact in Signed Languages in its January 2003 issue
stating: “The ten contributors bring to their work an expertise in their subject
matter and an ability to present their material with a careful balance of
scholarship and accessibility.” The reviewer goes on to say: “[It]
is a welcome and strongly recommended addition to Signing and Sign Language
academic reference collections and supplemental reading lists.”
Read the full
review and
order Turn-Taking.
Benjamin S. Wilfond has been added to
the program of the
“Genetics, Disability, and Deafness” conference to be held
April 2-4, 2003.
Dr. Wilfond,
Head, Bioethics Research Center, and Associate
Investigator, Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute
will be speaking about bioethics and genetics. To secure your reservation, go to
http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/gupiconference/index.html.
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Spring 2003 Catalog
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