Sign Language: The Study of Deaf People and their Language

by Jim G. Kyle, Bencie Woll, G. Pullen, F. Maddix

Overview

This book provides a study of the communication and culture of deaf people, particularly among a community of the deaf in Britain. The authors' goal is to inform educators, psychologists, linguists, and professionals working with deaf people about the rich language the deaf have developed for themselves—a language of movement and space, of the hands and the eyes, of abstract communication as well as iconic story-telling. Early chapters discuss the history of sign language use, its social aspects and the issues surrounding the language acquisition of deaf children. The book's core examines the linguistic and psychological study of British Sign Language and compares and contrasts it with other signed languages. The book concludes with an examination of the applications of sign language research, particularly to education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521357173
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/26/1988
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.17(h) x 1.02(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The deaf community; 2. British Sign Language; 3. Historical aspects of BSL; 4. Sign language acquisition; 5. The building blocks of sign language; 6. The structure of signs; 7. Sign morphology and syntax: the grammar of BSL; 8. Comparing sign languages; 9. Learning and using BSL; 10. The psychology of sign; 11. Sign language interpreting; 12. Sign language in schools; 13. Which sign language?; 14. Developments for sign language; Appendix; References; Subject index; Index of signs in the text; Index of names in the text.

Editorial Reviews

"...a major contribution to the literature on the social psychology of deafness and the linguistic bases of BSL and will be of definite interest to students of language and to anyone working with deaf people. As most of the findings it reports were unknown just 10 years ago, it is an impressive achievement." Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography

From the Publisher