Signed Languages
Discoveries from International Research
Description
Signed Languages: Discoveries from International Research collects the thirteen freshest, most innovative papers presented at the sixth Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research conference in 1998, the largest of its kind ever convened. Presented together in this timely compendium, the research reflects the current trend toward focusing on international signed languages that previously have been ignored, including those of Sweden, Israel, Venezuela, and northern Nigeria.
The anthology is divided into six sections: Phonology, Morphology and Syntax, Psycholinguistics, Language Acquisition, Sociolinguistics, and Poetics. In Part One, articulatory constraints and the sign language of the Netherlands are addressed. In Part Two, researchers tackle noun classifiers, nonhanded signs, and verb classes in the signed languages of Sweden, the United States, and Israel respectively. Part Three offers the study, "Functional Consequences of Modality: Spatial Coding in Working Memory for Signs."
Language acquisition is analyzed in both adult learners and deaf children in Part Four. Part Five reports on the relationship between language and society around the world, focusing particularly on the signed languages of Venezuela and northern Nigeria. Part Six considers the techniques employed in British Sign Language poetry and ASL poetry.
Valerie Dively is a professor in the Department of Interpretation at Gallaudet University.
Sarah Taub is a former assistant professor in the Department of Interpretation at Gallaudet University.
Melanie Metzger is a professor and chair of the Department of Interpretation at Gallaudet University.
Anne Marie Baer is a former ASL Assessor/Evaluator for the Center for ASL Literacy at Gallaudet University. She currently conducts research in Colorado.