Three experiments examined the relation between language acquisition and other symbolic abilities in 18- and 26-month-olds. Found that 18-month-olds spontaneously interpreted gestures, like words, as names for object categories. At 26 months, they spontaneously interpreted words as names and novel gestures as names only when given additional…

This response to a critique of "A Critical Analysis of the Use of MCE Systems with Deaf Students: A Review of the Literature," discusses the representativeness of studies included in the review, the representation of coded English in the primary form, and the effect of coded systems on English literacy. (Author/CR)

This study investigated whether deafness contributes to enhancement of visual spatial cognition, independent of knowledge of sign language. Comparison of 12 congenitally deaf children not exposed to sign language and 12 matched hearing controls found that the groups did not differ in their performance on visual spatial skills tests. (Author/DB)

Draws a parallel between the passage and implementation of a law requiring that English be the primary language of instruction in California and the case of whether to use sign language or English as the primary language of instruction for Deaf and hard of hearing learners in English-speaking countries. (Author/VW)

Examines the impact of nationalism on the linguistic rights of Deaf communities. Explores the subtle hegemony of nationalism in relation to linguistic minorities, and discusses the impact of nationalism on sign languages from two perspectives in two contrasting situations. (Author/VWL)

Researchers comparing the signing of deaf early and late learners of Swiss German Sign Language were struck by the difference in the production of signs by two groups of signers. Specifically that the signing of early learners was easier to watch and understand, because it was more rhythmic. Analyses were made of temporal aspects of the production…

This study investigated the knowledge and strategies that nonliterate adults use to identify print. Participants were 20 low-socioeconomic status Brazilian adults ranging in age from 20 to 74 years. Participants' ability to identify common environmental signs displaying varying degrees of contextual information was investigated along with their…

This article describes the predicative verbal system of Catalan Sign Language (LSC) as it is used by Deaf people in the province of Barcelona. We also present a historical perspective of the research on this topic, which provides insight into the changes that have taken place over the last few decades in sign language linguistics. The principal…

Recent research into signed languages indicates that signs may share some properties with gesture, especially in the use of space in classifier constructions. A prediction of this proposal is that there will be similarities in the representation of motion events by sign-naive gesturers and by native signers of unrelated signed languages. This…

This article is concerned with ethical aspects of the relations between language minorities using signed languages (called the Deaf-World) and the larger societies that engulf them. The article aims to show that such minorities have the properties of ethnic groups, and that an unsuitable construction of the Deaf-World as a disability group has…

This article presents a study that examined the impact of visual communication on the quality of the early interaction between deaf and hearing mothers and fathers and their deaf children aged between 18 and 24 months. Three communication mode groups of parent?deaf child dyads that differed by the use of signing and visual?tactile communication…

Deaf education is in a period of great transition in Japan as a result of the "Educational Reform Plan for the 21st Century" proposed by the Japanese education ministry. Unfortunately, the communication needs of deaf students have not been taken into account in the Plan's recommendations. One area where deaf students must attain the same…

Between 1998 and 2002, enrollment in American Sign Language (ASL) curricula at the postsecondary level has increased 433% nationally, representing the largest enrollment percentage gain of all world languages. This unprecedented demand for ASL linguistic study has created a wide range of instructional challenges, the most pervasive of which…

This paper examines the prominence of written English on shop signs in Japan. Based on data from a larger empirical study into multilingual signs in Tokyo, the most common ways of using English and the roman alphabet on Japanese shops signs are identified. It is argued that the ambivalent nature of English loan words plays a key role in the ever…

This investigation examined whether access to sign language as a medium for instruction influences theory of mind (ToM) reasoning in deaf children with similar home language environments. Experiment 1 involved 97 deaf Italian children ages 4-12 years: 56 were from deaf families and had LIS (Italian Sign Language) as their native language, and 41…