The manual teaches SignFont, a written form of sign language. Following a brief introduction, the first of three major sections describes the SignFont alphabet, structured according to the parts of every sign that is written (handshape, action area, location, movement). The second section discusses in greater detail how the SignFont characters are…

A project in Sweden focuses on the early linguistic development of preschool deaf children in families where the parents are also deaf. The School for the Deaf in Sweden is involved with describing the Swedish language as it appears to a deaf learner, a description to be used as a basis for teacher training and inservice in the teaching of the…

This paper sets forth step-by-step procedures which novice sign-language theatre directors can use as a guide for their first sign-language theatre experiences. Since the procedures were developed during the production of a play for a mixed adult and child audience, it is assumed that the general guidelines set forth are applicable to a production…

Presented are rules of sign language structure which have provided a framework for linguistic analysis in a project studying the acquisition of sign language by 10 deaf children of deaf parents. Two levels of rules are outlined: definition rules, which deal with definitions of terms used in the analysis and their relation to terms used in other…

Experiments in teaching language or language-like behavior to chimpanzees and other primates may bear on the problem of the origin of language. Evidence appears to support the theory that man's first language was gestural. Recent pongid language experiments suggest: (1) a capacity for language is not solely human and therefore does not represent…

Data on the natural acquisition of sign language occurring in deaf children of deaf parents were obtained through observation of 10 deaf children (9- to 75-months-old). Short biographical sketches were compiled for each S from the parents' family history. The children tested on a cortical audiometer as severely to profoundly hearing impaired. Over…

Sociolinguistic data regarding code selection and nonverbal modes of learning are examined in the gesture communication system of the (Oglala and Brule) Sioux. Sign language is viewed as an extra-linguistic mode of communication currently in use in Indian classrooms. It is one alternative to literacy as a means of communication; however, this is…

One of a series on Anthropology and Education by the Columbia Teachers College Press, this is a group of papers with a common focus upon language behavior in the classroom. The emphasis of the authors is not on the structure of language, but on how language is used to communicate between teachers and students. The book is divided into three parts:…

Presents the international flag and pennant code and suggests a variety of classroom uses of this means of communication. (CP)

In the debate over continuities versus discontinuities in the emergence of language, sign language is not taken to be the antithesis, but is presented as the antecedent of spoken languages. (Author/HP)

The historically attested change of two-handed signs on the face to one-handed variants, which occurs in two historically related sign languages, French Sign Language and American Sign Language, is used to test variation theory. The results of the study support viewing languages in a dynamic framework. (AMH)

A study utilizing deaf children investigating the question, "must a child experience language in order to learn language?" found that the children themselves actually devise their own communications system. There was no evidence that the childrens' language was an imitation of their mother's. (SL)

Results of a 10-week program in which 32 moderately retarded persons (3-19 years old) were taught to use American Indian Sign Language (AMERIND) suggested that AMERIND may be preferable to American Sign Language because of its concreteness and its intelligibility to untrained observers. (CL)

A study involving six institutionalized retarded males was designed to determine if sign-object and sign-word training would lead to acquisition of word-object associations. (Author)