 14:1
Monday, January 30, 2012
The Difference Is Black and
White
A Study of a Distinct ASL Dialect Receives High
Honors
The
Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Its History and Structure, authored by
Carolyn McCaskill, Ceil Lucas, Robert Bayley, and Joseph Hill, along with its
accompanying DVD, present the first empirical study that verifies Black ASL as a
distinct form of ASL, including information on its antecedents. John G. Baugh,
Margaret Bush Wilson Professor in Arts and Sciences and director of African and
African American Studies at Washington University (St. Louis, MO), makes this
observation: “The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL offers readers unique insights
regarding Black American Sign Language in vivid social, historical, and
linguistic detail. Informed by universal linguistic principles, the authors
offer carefully crafted observations and analyses that will be of interest to
anyone who studies human language.”
This groundbreaking
book is the culmination of a four-year research project
called The Black ASL Project. The mission of the project is three-fold: to
create a filmed corpus of conversational Black ASL as it is used in the South,
to provide a description of the linguistic features that make Black ASL
recognizable as a distinct variety of ASL and of the history of the education of
Black Deaf children, and to disseminate the project findings in the form of
teaching materials and instructional resources. As a result, the stellar work
presented in The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL garnered it the National
Black Deaf Advocates’ Andrew Foster Humanitarian Award.
Read more about this one-of-a-kind study in
chapter one,
and
order your copy of The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL today.
 In
Show of
Hands: A Natural History of Sign Language, David F. Armstrong
casts a
wide net in history and geography to explain how sign languages have enriched
human culture in general and how their study has expanded knowledge of the human
condition, from early human anatomy to the ubiquitous benefits of “Deaf Gain.”
Choice magazine took notice
of this engrossing survey in its current issue stating: “Anthropologist
Armstrong offers a sweeping study of languages in human history. Drawing
primarily on the author’s previously published works, this compilation will
serve primarily advanced undergraduates and others with specialized knowledge in
sign language linguistics. Highly recommended.” And, Reference & Research Book
News made this observation: “The diverse terrain covered includes language
theory work of Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker, and Stokoe; discussion of the
anatomy of early human ancestors; evidence found in excerpts from the writings
of Shakespeare, Dickens, and Pound; observations from Socrates, Lucretius, and
Abbé de l’Epeé on signing among deaf people; and the development of sign
languages in isolated Bedouin communities and indigenous peoples of North
America and Australia.” Read more about this volume in chapter one,
“Seeing is Believing,”
and order Show of Hands
online or by mail.
 Reference
& Research Book News also highlighted author Stephanie W. Cawthon’s new
book, the first in the Deaf
Education series,
Accountability-Based
Reforms: The Impact on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students:
“Launching a new series, Cawthon
examines
how the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act
and other right-wing accountability-based (that is, testing-based) education
reforms have affected students who are deaf or hard of hearing. She looks at the
deaf education context, what an accountability reform is, what accountability
measures, how progress is measured, accountability and schools, educational
professionals and accountability reform, accountability to parents, and
accountability and students who are deaf or hard of hearing.” Read chapter one,
“The Deaf Education
Context,” and order Accountability-Based Reforms
online or by mail.
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