This book presents the first ever comprehensive overview of national laws recognising sign languages, the impacts they have and the advocacy campaigns which led to their creation. It comprises 18 studies from communities across Europe, the US, South America, Asia and New Zealand. They set sign language legislation within the national context of language policies in each country and show patterns of intersection between language ideologies, public policy and deaf communities' discourses. The chapters are grounded in a collaborative writing approach between deaf and hearing scholars and activists involved in legislative campaigns. Each one describes a deaf community's expectations and hopes for legal recognition and the type of sign language legislation achieved. The chapters also discuss the strategies used in achieving the passage of the legislation, as well as an account of barriers confronted and surmounted (or not) in the legislative process. The book will be of interest to language activists in the fields of sign language and other minority languages, policymakers and researchers in deaf studies, sign linguistics, sociolinguistics, human rights law and applied linguistics.

Fully illustrated and completely revised and updated with 32 pages of all-new signs for the digital age. The most convenient and concise way for learning commonly used phrases in sign language. Perfect for anyone-both deaf and hearing-from teachers and students to friends and family to anyone who wants to learn how to communicate better with hearing-impaired people. Features easy-to-follow instructions and simple, effective illustrations, and is conveniently arranged by topic, including: - Computer and technological terms - Greetings and introductions - Everyday expressions - Family and friends - Shopping and colors - Money and numbers - Leisure and sports - Food and restaurants - School, religion, and government - Time, holidays, and weather - Nature, science, and animals - Health conditions and medical emergencies

What does your baby want to say? You can find out-even before your baby can verbally speak-by using baby sign language. Signs of a Happy Baby gives parents everything they need to start signing with their baby, including a comprehensive dictionary with easy-to-follow photos of fun and practical American Sign Language (ASL) signs, and tips for integrating sign language into their everyday activities. Start signing with your baby now. What your baby has to say will blow you away!

With more than 100,000 copies in print, this easy-to-use pocket edition of Ameslan has become a classic in its field. Arranged in a dictionary format, the revised and expanded edition contains over 600 signing entries with accompanying directions, illustrations, and sample sentences.

An illustrated abridgment of the most authoritative reference book on sign language, with well-written and easily understood instructions for the use of each sign. More than 5,000 signs and 8,000 illustrations. And now includes more than 500 new signs and 1,500 new illustrations.

Ausgehend von der Idee des Glasperlenspiels, die Hermann Hesse in seinem gleichnamigen Roman entwirft, haben die Autoren in diesem Band die Moglichkeiten und Grenzen eines solchen Spiels im Umgang mit Wissen ausgelotet. Sie zeigen neue Methoden fur das Wissensmanagement auf und verbinden dafur Erkenntnisse verschiedener Wissenschaftsgebiete wie Logik, System- und Erkenntnistheorie sowie Semiotik, Kognition und Kommunikation. Das begleitende Computerprogramm unterstutzt Leser beim Experimentieren mit Wissen."

"Listen with your eyes . . .

Sign Language is a method of presenting thoughts via pictures made with one's hands."

People are adaptable. This trait is particularly useful when one of the five senses is weakened and another becomes more acute to compensate for the weakness. So the deaf, when they hear, hear with their eyes. To communicate to the deaf, then, is to translate the speech of the hearing world into the pictures of the seeing world.

"It is an amazing truth that Dr. Cathy Rice has had more influence on the ministry to the deaf, through her teaching of Sign Language and getting others to learn and teach it, than anyone else in the world. All around America, I have attended churches that have someone interpreting sermons for the deaf and teaching a class for the deaf. And in most cases, they learned the Sign Language at the Bill Rice Ranch and were taught by Dr. Cathy. I am so glad she has written this book. It is authoritative and important. God bless it." ―the late Dr. John R. Rice, Sword of the Lord Ministries, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

In 1953, the late Bill Rice, along with his wife, Cathy, founded the Bill Rice Ranch in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, as a ministry to deaf individuals. Since then, the Ranch has been the headquarters for ministries reaching the deaf for Christ both in this country and abroad.

The Ranch still maintains camp and conference grounds in Tennessee and in Arizona where deaf young people can attend one of several weeks of camp free of charge. Also, the sign language school that Dr. Rice began continues to train people through classes held at the Ranch each year. Well over eight hundred churches have established deaf ministries as a result of training received at the Ranch.

Visual-Gestural Communication is a truly unique volume in non-language communication devoted to the study of universal gestures, facial expressions, body language, and pantomime. Readers develop the skill and confidence to interact -- sans shared language -- with individuals, such as someone who is deaf or hard of hearing, or who speaks a foreign language. The text and accompanying online resources feature a wealth of icebreakers, sequenced yet modular activities and assignments, as well as resources, student exercises, and teacher-guided tasks that explore aspects and amalgamations of nonverbal communication, theatre, and sign language. It is a tremendous resource for students of visual-gestural communication, sign language interpretation, American Sign Language (and other foreign sign languages), nonverbal communication, theatre, and performance studies, as well as community educators in deaf awareness and advocacy. In addition to the text's vital use in the theatrical arena, it is also applicable to teachers who wish to help their students maximize the use of their facial expressions, gestures, and body language as a prerequisite to learning ASL.

American Sign Language (ASL) is a vibrant, easy-to-learn language that is used by approximately half a million people each day. Current with the latest additions to ASL and filled with thousands of brand new photographs by Deaf actors, Learn American Sign Language is the most comprehensive guide of its kind. - Learn more than 800 signs, including signs for school, the workplace, around the house, out and about, food and drink, nature, emotions, small talk, and more. - Unlock the storytelling possibilities of ASL with classifiers, easy ways to modify signs that can turn "fishing" into "catching a big fish" and "walking" into "walking with a group." - Find out how to make sentences with signs, use the proper facial expressions with your signs, and other vital tips.

Sign Languages: Structures and Contexts provides a succinct summary of major findings in the linguistic study of natural sign languages. Focusing on American Sign Language (ASL), this book: offers a comprehensive introduction to the basic grammatical components of phonology, morphology, and syntax with examples and illustrations; demonstrates how sign languages are acquired by Deaf children with varying degrees of input during early development, including no input where children create a language of their own; discusses the contexts of sign languages, including how different varieties are formed and used, attitudes towards sign languages, and how language planning affects language use; is accompanied by e-resources, which host links to video clips. Offering an engaging and accessible introduction to sign languages, this book is essential reading for students studying this topic for the first time with little or no background in linguistics.

Sign language interpreter education is a relatively young field that is moving toward more theory-based and research-oriented approaches. The concept of sharing research, which is strongly encouraged in this academic community, inspired Christine Monikowski to develop a volume that collects and distills the best teaching practices of leading academics in the interpreting field. In Conversations with Interpreter Educators, Monikowski assembles a group of 17 professors in the field of sign language interpretation. Through individual interviews conducted via Skype, Monikowski engages them in informal conversations about their teaching experiences and the professional publications that have influenced their teaching philosophies. She guides each conversation by asking these experts to share a scholarly publication that they assign to their students. They discuss the merits of the text and its role in the classroom, which serves to highlight the varying goals each professor sets for students. The complexity of the interpreting task, self-reflection, critical thinking, linguistics, backchannel feedback, and cultural understanding are a sampling of topics explored in these exchanges. Engaging and accessible, Monikowski's conversations offer evidence-based practices that will inform and inspire her fellow educators.

The Academic Foundations of Interpreting Studies is the first introductory course book that explores the theoretical foundations used in sign language interpreting studies. Authors Roy, Brunson, and Stone examine the disciplines whose theoretical frameworks and methodologies have influenced the academic study of interpreting. With this text, explanations for how interpreted events occur, how interpreted products are created, and how the interpreting process is studied can be framed within a variety of theoretical perspectives, forming a foundation for the emerging transdiscipline of Interpreting Studies. As sign language interpreting has emerged and evolved in the last 20 years as an academic field of study, the scope of learning has broadened to include fields beyond the language and culture of deaf people. This text surveys six disciplines that have informed the study of sign language interpreting: history, translation, linguistics, sociology, social psychology, and cognitive psychology, along with their major ideas, principal scholars, and ways of viewing human interaction. Each chapter includes clear learning goals, definitions, discussion questions, and images to aid understanding. The Academic Foundations of Interpreting Studies is required reading for upper-level undergraduate or first-year graduate students in interpreting, Deaf studies, and sign language programs.

It is the third most commonly used language in North America. It has its own beauty, its own unmistakable form, and its own inherent culture. It is American Sign, the language of the deaf. Now, Gabriel Grayson, teacher extraordinaire, has put together a book that makes signing accessible, easy, and fun. Using more than 1,400 photographs, he has created a comprehensive primer to the techniques, words, and phrases of signing. Each word is accompanied by a photo or series of photos that show hand, face, and body expressions. And along with each image is text that details every movement. The book begins by looking at the history and nature of both the language and the deaf community. Next, it explains the basics of signing, including the alphabet, numbers, physical movements, and facial expressions. The balance of the book provides a complete guide to words in sign language. Throughout the book, the author has included informative insets that focus on fascinating aspects of deaf history, culture, language, and trivia. Inset topics include how sign language got its start in baseball; how signing differs around the world; the latest advances in electronic communications for the deaf; and much more. Although Gabriel Grayson can hear, he is uniquely qualified to have authored this book. Born to parents who were both totally deaf, Grayson's first means of trained communication was sign language. The inspirational story of his childhood was first the subject of a published article, and then the basis for a moving ABC made-for-television movie. Professor Grayson is the chairperson of the Department of Sign Language at New School University in New York City. In addition, he is a principal court-appointed sign language interpreter for the NYC judicial system. As such, he has been involved in over 1,000 criminal cases as an advocate and interpreter. Gabriel Grayson also conducts sign language tours at the American Museum of Natural History for a

Communication is essential for all forms of social interaction, from parental care to mate choice and cooperation. This is evident for human societies but less obvious for bacterial biofilms, ant colonies or flocks of birds. The major disciplines of communication research have tried to identify common core principles, but syntheses have been few because historical barriers have limited interaction between different research fields.
Sociobiology of Communication is a timely and novel synthesis. It bridges many of the gaps between proximate and ultimate levels of analysis, between empirical model systems, and between biology and the humanities. The book offers the complementary approaches of a distinguished group of authors spanning a large diversity of research programs, addressing, for example, the genetic basis of bacterial communication, dishonest communication in insect societies, sexual selection and network communication among colonial vertebrates. Other chapters explore the role of communication in genomic conflict and self-organisation, and how linguistics, psychology and philosophy may ultimately contribute to a biological understanding of human mate choice and the evolution of human societies.
This highly interdisciplinary book highlights key examples of modern research to explore the genetic, neurobiological, physiological, chemical and behavioural basis of social communication. It identifies where consensus on the general principles is emerging and where the major future challenges are to be found. The book is therefore suitable for both for graduate students and professionals in evolutionary biology and behavioural ecology seeking novel inspiration, and for a wideracademic audience, including social and medical scientists who would like to explore what evolutionary approaches can offer to their fields.

Communication is essential for all forms of social interaction, from parental care to mate choice and cooperation. This is evident for human societies but less obvious for bacterial biofilms, ant colonies or flocks of birds. The major disciplines of communication research have tried to identify common core principles, but syntheses have been few because historical barriers have limited interaction between different research fields.
Sociobiology of Communication is a timely and novel synthesis. It bridges many of the gaps between proximate and ultimate levels of analysis, between empirical model systems, and between biology and the humanities. The book offers the complementary approaches of a distinguished group of authors spanning a large diversity of research programs, addressing, for example, the genetic basis of bacterial communication, dishonest communication in insect societies, sexual selection and network communication among colonial vertebrates. Other chapters explore the role of communication in genomic conflict and self-organisation, and how linguistics, psychology and philosophy may ultimately contribute to a biological understanding of human mate choice and the evolution of human societies.
This highly interdisciplinary book highlights key examples of modern research to explore the genetic, neurobiological, physiological, chemical and behavioural basis of social communication. It identifies where consensus on the general principles is emerging and where the major future challenges are to be found. The book is therefore suitable for both for graduate students and professionals in evolutionary biology and behavioural ecology seeking novel inspiration, and for a wideracademic audience, including social and medical scientists who would like to explore what evolutionary approaches can offer to their fields.

Even though more than half the world's population is bilingual, the study of bilinguals has lagged behind that of monolinguals. With this book, which draws on twenty-five years of the author's research, Fran ois Grosjean contributes significantly to redressing the balance. The volume covers four areas of research: the definition and characterization of the bilingual person, the perception and production of spoken language by bilinguals, the sign-oral bilingualism of the Deaf, and methodological and conceptual issues in research on bilingualism. While the author takes a largely psycholinguistic approach, his acute linguistic and sociolinguistic awareness is evident throughout and especially so in his reflections on what it means to be bilingual and bicultural. The book also defends increased co-operation among researchers in connecting fields such as the language sciences and the neurosciences.

Discover the intricacies of American Sign Language with this comprehensive, essential guide to learning the basics of sign language. The appeal of American Sign Language (ASL) has extended beyond the Deaf community into the mainstream-it's even popular as a class in high school and college. You are guided through the basics of ASL with clear instruction and more than 300 illustrations. With a minimum of time and effort, you will learn to sign: the ASL alphabet; questions and common expressions; numbers, money, and time. With info on signing etiquette, communicating with people in the Deaf community, and using ASL to aid child development, this book makes signing fun for the entire family.

Attitudes towards spoken, signed, and written language are of significant interest to researchers in sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, communication studies, and social psychology. This is the first interdisciplinary guide to traditional and cutting-edge methods for the investigation of language attitudes. Written by experts in the field, it provides an introduction to attitude theory, helps readers choose an appropriate method, and guides through research planning and design, data collection, and analysis. The chapters include step-by-step instructions to illustrate and facilitate the use of the different methods as well as case studies from a wide range of linguistic contexts. The book also goes beyond individual methods, offering guidance on how to research attitudes in multilingual communities and in signing communities, based on historical data, with the help of priming, and by means of mixed-methods approaches.

Attitudes towards spoken, signed, and written language are of significant interest to researchers in sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, communication studies, and social psychology. This is the first interdisciplinary guide to traditional and cutting-edge methods for the investigation of language attitudes. Written by experts in the field, it provides an introduction to attitude theory, helps readers choose an appropriate method, and guides through research planning and design, data collection, and analysis. The chapters include step-by-step instructions to illustrate and facilitate the use of the different methods as well as case studies from a wide range of linguistic contexts. The book also goes beyond individual methods, offering guidance on how to research attitudes in multilingual communities and in signing communities, based on historical data, with the help of priming, and by means of mixed-methods approaches.

As confirmed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, infant sign language is a boon for enhancing communication between parents and babies, helping to forge an important bond early in a child's life. The Baby Signing Bible provides step-by-step instructions for parents and other caregivers, as well as insight into why baby sign language is useful for children of all ages. Kids with special needs can also benefit greatly from this program. Featuring 400 signs, the book covers essential nouns such as milk, verbs such as eat, and descriptors such as more. In addition, The Baby Signing Bible features real-life stories from parents who have successfully signed with their children, along with fun songs and games that help families learn to "sign and sing." Confidence-building illustrations enhance the basics for mastering vocabulary words.

Gestures are a special sort of action. They communicate the individual's moods and desires to the world and they operate under different psychological and cognitive constraints to other actions. The connections between gesture and language - spoken and signed - pose some fascinating questions. How intimately are gesture and language connected? Did one evolve from the other? To what extent are they similarly processed in the brain? In what ways are signed languages akin to spoken language and gestures?

Gesture, Speech, and Sign examines these questions, bringing together an international array of expertise to explore the origins, neurobiology, and uses of these three communication systems. A unique feature of the book is its discussion of how a greater understanding of these issues can be used to improve human-computer interactions. Designed to appeal to a multi-disciplinary audience Gesture, Speech, and Sign will be of interest to advanced students and researchers in neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, computer science, and those involved in deaf studies.

For the fourth most used language in the United States, there has not previously been a manual that did more than simply show how to make individual signs. Signing Made Easy teaches how to use signing as a language.

Featuring more than 1,000 ASL sign drawings arranged alphabetically by English terms, plus delightful color illustrations and practice sentences for each sign, the Gallaudet Children's Dictionary stands alone as the best, most entertaining ASL reference volume for deaf and hearing children alike. This bilingual dictionary serves a two-fold purpose - to increase and improve deaf children's English vocabulary skills and to teach American Sign Language to hearing children.

Video relay service (VRS) is a federally funded service that provides telecommunications access for deaf people. It is also a for-profit industry with guidelines that may limit the autonomy of the sign language interpreters who work in VRS settings. In this volume, Erica Alley examines how VRS interpreters, or "Communication Assistants," exercise professional autonomy despite the constraints that arise from rules and regulations established by federal agencies and corporate entities. Through interviews with VRS interpreters, Alley reveals the balance they must achieve in providing effective customer service while meeting the quantitative measures of success imposed by their employer in a highly structured call center environment. Alley considers the question of how VRS fits into the professional field of interpreting, and discovers that--regardless of the profit-focused mentality of VRS providers--interpreters make decisions with the goal of creating quality customer service experiences for deaf consumers, even if it means "breaking the rules." Her findings shed light on the decision-making process of interpreters and how their actions are governed by principles of self-care, care for colleagues, and concern for the quality of services provided. Professional Autonomy in Video Relay Service Interpreting is essential reading in interpreter education courses and interpreter training programs.