Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"...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
Synopsis
Designed to inform educators, psychologists, linguists, and professionals working with deaf people about the rich language the deaf have developed for themselves. Provides a broad framework on which researchers and professionals who work with the deaf can build.
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.