American Sign Language (ASL), like many different signed languages, has a systematic way of using pointing signs for multiple types of nominal reference. Possibly the most basic function of pointing is to indicate, direct and modulate reference to physical objects located in proximal and distal areas called exophoric demonstratives. This study…

Narrative language samples can be used to measure language development in children, but research on narrative development in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children is scarce, limiting knowledge of developmental stages and best practices for collection and analysis. This scoping review included 39 articles that explored recent methodologies and…

While deaf children learning American Sign Language (ASL) from deaf caregivers generally develop along typical trajectories, some have been skeptical that deaf children who have hearing caregivers--the majority of deaf children--can similarly benefit from ASL exposure. This study tracked ASL fluency and academic achievement among a large sample of…

Numbers and letters are culturally created symbols that acquire meaning through extensive training, significantly influencing brain function. The distinct hemispheric specialization of cortical regions for these categories has been hypothesized to relate to the co-activated brain networks: the left language regions for letters, and the right…

Purpose: The aim of the study was to describe the expressive sign vocabularies of a group of children learning Australian Sign Language (Auslan). Method: The spontaneous signs of 44 children aged 3.0-6.8 years enrolled in one early-years bilingual-bicultural educational program were documented using a new approach, the Handshape Analysis Recording…

Purpose: Caregivers of deaf/hard of hearing infants are faced with challenging decisions regarding their child's communication method. The purpose of the current research note is to characterize the advice that caregivers receive and value as well as the factors that influence caregivers' decision making. Method: The current study enrolled 105…

In many countries across the world education for deaf people is limited and sign languages are undervalued. In this paper we discuss insights from an initiative to support deaf education for young adults in India, Ghana, and Uganda. Reporting here on the work in India, our project used a bilingual approach, with Indian Sign Language as the main…

Background: Early intervention is recommended for pre-school children with low language. However, few robustly evaluated language interventions for young children exist. Furthermore, in many interventions the theoretical underpinnings are underspecified and the 'active ingredients' of the interventions not tested. This paper presents a…

Incorporating Taiwanese Sign Language (TSL) evolved from Taiwan's historical linguistic ecology and intertwined with the linguistic ecology of Taiwan's Deaf community. Utilising a qualitative document analysis incorporating a language planning and policy framework [Cooper, R. L. (1989). Language planning and social change. Cambridge University…

Tailored support is crucial for deaf and hearing-impaired children to overcome learning difficulties, particularly during primary education. The absence of listening profoundly hinders the progression of the learning journey, as it plays a pivotal role in language acquisition. Employing assistive technology is one approach to address this issue in…

This article describes the newly developing form of poetic duets in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language). What do the two people performing a sign language duet poem do to make a duet different from a solo poem? How can we categorize their actions and the effects that these actions create? Drawing on examples of duet poems in Libras, we analyze…

Language development is an important facet of early life. Deaf children may have exposure to various languages and communication modalities, including spoken and visual. Previous research has documented the rate of growth of English skills among young deaf children, but no studies have investigated the rate of ASL acquisition. The current paper…

An empirical estimate of how many deaf and hard-of-hearing persons use sign language in the USA was obtained a half-century ago, but no study has measured how many people sign regardless of deafness. This study estimated the number of deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing adult signers. Concatenation of the 2010-2018 National Health Interview Surveys…

This paper is about attitudes toward sign languages. The paper presents an idea to help make sign language surveys better in the future. In 2018, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) published a sign language survey and a spoken language survey together for the first time. This was very important to show…

The following article undertakes another analysis of affixation in Polish Sign Language (PJM). This time the question concerns affixes carrying temporal significance. In a previous issue of this journal, negative affixation in PJM was discussed. As it turns out, in addition to these negative morphemes, PJM also possesses suffixes that relate to…