Discoveries about the acquisition of American Sign Language (ASL) by deaf children are reviewed. Current research shows that ASL has developed as a fully autonomous language with complex organizational properties not derived from spoken language. Like spoken languages, ASL exhibits formal structuring at two levels and similar organizational…

The document reports on a seminar sponsored by the West Central Region for Low-Incident Handicapped Children, on the acquisition, construction, and use of American Sign Language with severely handicapped children. Topics addressed include the cognitive preconditions to language, sign formational rules, the structure of sign, and American Sign…

Examines the form that poetic function assumes in American Sign Language, a language that has a structural organization different from oral languages and where the possibilities for poetic organization are radically different. Examples of a complex type of composition called art-sign distinguished by three levels of structure are analyzed.…

The role of verbs in American Sign Language (ASL) is investigated. Verb mutations in ASL are very different from the kinds of grammatical deformations that occur in English, and are different from those that occur in spoken languages as a whole. (HP)

Code switching (between oral and manual communication ) was examined with seven prelingually deaf adults. Deaf signers with deaf parents who learned American sign language (ASL) at an early age evidenced the most code switching behavior and the most English-like signed segments. Early signers with hearing parents were least likely to vary from…

Hearing-impaired (N=45) and hearing (N=177) teachers of the deaf participated in a national survey on sign language preference and skills. An English-like sign model was preferred overall, although hearing-impaired teachers were split almost equally between that and American Sign Language. Teachers reported poor levels of sign performance and…

The article describes a language program for junior and senior high school deaf students in which American Sign Language was used to teach English language skills. Two examples illustrate the ways in which students use what they already know to approach new learning situations. (Author/CL)

Describes in detail the conventions of polite language of deaf Americans using American Sign Language and examines how it differs from the conversational patterns of English-speaking hearing Americans. (EKN)

Examines the role played by relative clauses in American Sign Language. (FL)

An interpreter's role is to facilitate communication and convey all auditory and signed information so that both hearing and deaf individuals may fully interact. The common types of services provided by interpreters are: (1) American Sign Language (ASL) Interpretation--a visual-gestural language with its own linguistic features; (2) Sign Language…

Discusses the paradigms in American Sign Language (ASL) resulting from a process called "numeral incorporation" and others in which numeral handshapes alternate to express different numerical values. Concludes that not only are the signs in the "decade" paradigm fixed units in ASL grammar, but so are all the other examples of numeral…

The SCHOOL/WORK program fosters the transition to work of deaf and hard-of-hearing high school students in Philadelphia. Students perform community service and work training activities while receiving academic instruction in mainstreamed as well as special education settings. (SK)

A teacher at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (District of Columbia) briefly describes the process of interpreting poetry and drama into American Sign Language (ASL) with his students. The process involves analysis and discussion, followed by mapping the subtext and adapting it to ASL. The process improves not only acting skills but also…

Twenty deaf adults were interviewed about their use of name signs. Results revealed underlying cultural values expressed in name signs, and also provided practical information about the making and bestowing of name signs, changing one's name sign, and evolution in the name sign system. (Author/CB)

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)