Head Thrust is a significant nonmanual signal in American Sign Language (ASL). It occurs on the final sign in a conditional clause, in combination with a brow raise and a rotated head position. The signal is unlike other grammatical signals involving a brow raise. (Author/CB)

Proposes that a mute verbal modeling system gets lodged in the brain, because the brain is human and modeling, representing, and communicating create connections in the brain. (Author/VWL)

Presents three sets of data (signs from the "Dictionary of ASL," 1976; loan signs; and case histories of specific signs) that demonstrate the involvement of the "knuckle-wrist connection" with American Sign Language phonology. (AM)

Examines the relation of Pidgin Sign English to American Sign Language and the written English of deaf persons. (AM)

Describes a study that determines if an interrelationship exists between cognitive level, gestural development, and spoken English development in five hearing-impaired preschool children. Results suggest that a deaf child's cognitive development may be related to his/her communicative ability, especially in terms of pragmatic-semantic…

Describes the details of a semantic extension of the American Sign Language lexical item "stuck," as it was used during the 1981-82 school year at a U.S. high school. Sees this semantic extension as indicative of poor communication between teacher and students at the high school. (SED)

Research supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. (DD)

This study seeks to understand American Sign Language (ASL) as heterogeneous communication and to use it as a model for developing in other modalities alternative heterogeneous communication systems with the same advantages. (26 references) (CK)

Attempts to prove that users of American Sign Language (ASL) do perform within a closed system of manual and nonmanual sign production features (phonemes and distinctive features). Deaf signers are quite capable of creating nonsense words as well as communicating with signers of other languages through pantomime and other paralinguistic features.…

Reports on an investigation into the gestural repertoire of a deaf child raised in an oral environment. (AM)

The performance of two sign language interpreters in interpreting and transliterating two English texts in 1973 and again in 1985 was analyzed. Both interpreters significantly increased their use of four linguistic features of American Sign Language: classifiers; rhetorical questions; noun-adjective word order; and nonmanual negation. (Author/CB)