Native users of American Sign Language manipulated sentences in four ways: sign them at slow rate, parse them, make relatedness judgments of pairs of signs taken from each sentence, and recall the sentences. Hierarchical performance structures for each of the sentences were highly similar across tasks. (Author/RD)

Differences in teachers' ability to use separate signs for English grammatical endings and the use of characteristics of American Sign Language were found. Deaf teachers deleted far fewer signs and used more elements of ASL while the inexperienced hearing teachers did the reverse. (Author/DB)

Reports research on the communicative behavior of a hearing child whose parents communicated with him, from birth, in both signs and words. The child's expressive ability accelerated in both modalities and this is possibly attributable to the addition of the signed component. (PJM)

To sensitize hearing people to the experience of deafness and to teach them methods of communicating with the hearing impaired, Rochester Institute of Technology and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf planned and delivered a program with the cooperation of merchants at an area shopping center. (SK)

A description of the sign language used in a Mexican village shows its parallels with other sign languages, its similarity to the folk gestural system of Mexico and its distinguishing aspects. Examples illustrate its syntax, grammar and lexicon. (PMJ)

Explores the operational and conceptual meanings of the iconicity of manual signs and sign languages. Empirical studies related to the operational definition of iconicity in American Sign Language are described, and implications of parallels between iconicity and "stimulus meaningfulness" are discussed in relation to the scientific…

The two groups were not significantly different on tests of lipreading and reception of signed English, but the hearing Ss were superior on tests of nonverbal reasoning and perceptual speed. Hearing Ss were greatly superior on a test of verbal reasoning. (Author/DLS)

Semiotics and its role in the college curriculum are discussed. Semiotics is defined as an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the study of those entities that effect communication between interpreters of signs. Specifics of the discipline are discussed through examples from various fields. (SF)

After several years of involvement with deaf and hearing-impaired students, numerous supportive projects have been developed for business students enrolled in typing, copy processing (duplicating), and machine calculation courses. (TA)

The mother of a 12-year-old medically fragile profoundly deaf child, urges the utilization of speech-language paraprofessionals in the schools in light of her successful experiences with paraprofessionals and the shortage of speech-language therapists competent in sign language. Training suggestions are also provided. (Author/DB)

First reviews the literature on bilingual/bicultural education for deaf students (DBiBi education). DBiBi education recognizes American Sign Language and English as distinct languages and deaf and hearing cultures as distinguishable sociocultural groups. It then describes environmental and pedagogical aspects that characterize DBiBi education as…

Investigated associations between expressive language and symbolic play in deaf children with deaf parents or with hearing parents, and hearing children with hearing parents. Defined three language level groups. Hearing status was associated with duration of symbolic play. Higher language levels were associated with more canonically sequenced and…

Argues against the linguistic account of children's responses to sentences with universal quantification and reports on investigations of their comprehension and production of quantificational sentences. The article concludes that young children have full grammatical competence with universal quantification. (58 references) (Author/CK)

Performance of 31 deaf students (ages 7-17) on 15 language and literacy measures found that students scoring highest on a passage-comprehension measure also demonstrated greater proficiency on specific skills (such as reading more listed words). In addition, students who used Signing Exact English (SEE) for 5 years or more scored better than those…

Discusses how American Sign Language does and does not resemble African American Vernacular English (Ebonics). The need for metalinguistic awareness in students is highlighted. Students are urged to learn Standard English, recognize and respect other languages they use, and know the link between language, status, and power. (CR)