Several scholars have asked what are the relations between two recently developed concepts, Deaf ethnicity and Deafhood. The emergence of these concepts, along with others such as "audism" (Humphries 1977), "dysconscious audism," "Sign Language Peoples," and "Deaf Gain" reflects important attempts by Deaf…

Stokoe begins his seminal article in semantic phonology with complaints about the complexities of the sign phonologies that were emerging at the time. His insight was not just that phonology is somehow meaningful. Rather, semantic phonology suggests that language structures are built of components that are structurally identical to themselves:…

Codes of ethics exist for most professional associations whose members do research on, for, or with sign language communities. However, these ethical codes are silent regarding the need to frame research ethics from a cultural standpoint, an issue of particular salience for sign language communities. Scholars who write from the perspective of…

Reviews the book that reports the results of research conducted by Edward Klima, Ursula Bellugi, and others. The book aims to show American Sign Language as a true language and to detail the representational devices that the language employs. A chapter by chapter summary of the reported research is given. (PJM)

Explores the relationship between lexicography and variation in both spoken languages and sign languages. Examines the function of dictionaries and discusses the nature of linguistic variation, using an example of lexical variation in American Sign Language. (Author/VWL)

Comments on questions regarding Deaf culture, with particular reference to black Americans. It is suggested that it is essential to acknowledge that within cultures there is a range of views and values and that it is of fundamental importance to construct theories that embody that understanding as well as a dialectical relationship. (CK)

Grammars of signed languages tend to be based on grammars established for written languages, particularly the written language in use in the surrounding hearing community of a sign language. Such grammars presuppose categories of discrete elements which are combined into various sorts of structures. Recent analyses of signed languages go beyond…

This article argues that poetry written by nineteenth-century British and American deaf poets played an important role in the period's sign language debates. By placing the publication of this poetry in the context of public exhibitions of deaf students, I suggest that the poetry was mobilized to publicly defend the linguistic and intellectual…

Argues that deaf individuals who sign and use the majority language regularly (in written form, for example) are bilingual and, because they must adapt to both the hearing and deaf worlds, are also bicultural. Implications for the bilingual and bicultural education of deaf children are discussed. (17 references) (JL)

Focuses on the early career of the Deaf intellectual, Ferdinand Berthier. Berthier was a pioneer for deaf education and the use of sign language in the 1820s and 1830s. (Author/VWL)

In this article, the author discusses why it is difficult to transliterate American Sign Language (ASL) and the visual realities of a deaf individual's life into creative texts written in English. Even on the sentence level, she says, written English resists the unsettling presence of transliteration across modalities. A sign cannot be "said." If…

Two recently published sign language dictionaries, presenting British Sign Language and Italian Sign Language, are reviewed. Both dictionaries result from the cooperation of deaf and hearing individuals and government and corporate sponsors. (two references) (VWL)

Responds to an article on the use of artificially developed sign language for the teaching of biology, and discusses the inaccuracies presented concerning the Technical Signs Project, which emphasizes the collection of existing signs rather than the artificial development of signs. Sign guidelines based on naturally developed signs are appended.…

Tells the story of a 16-year-old boy who attended and was expelled from the Spanish National School for Deaf Mutes and the Blind during the 1870s. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the phonological deviance of the poetry of Dorothy Miles, who composed her work in both British Sign Language and English. Analysis is based on three poems performed by Miles herself. (Author/VWL)