Signs and Voices addresses the effects of a range of modern scientific and social developments - such as cochlear implants, genetic engineering, and educational mainstreaming - on deaf culture. The book is split into three sections, the first focusing on culture and identity, the second on language and literacy, and the third on American Sign Language in the arts. An excellent DVD supplements the text, providing footage of ASL performances of some of the poetry and dramatic works discussed in the arts section of the book.

GET D!RTY!
Next time you're signing with your friends, drop the ASL textbook formality and start flashing the signs they don't teach in any classroom, including:
- cool slang
- funny insults
- explicit sex terms
- raw swear words
"Dirty Sign Language" teaches casual everyday words and expressions like:
- Peace out!
- Asshole.
- Bit me!
- Dumbfuck!
- Boner
- I'm hung like a horse.

This remarkable volume examines the process by which three deaf, French biographers from the 19th and 20th centuries attempted to cross the cultural divide between deaf and hearing worlds through their work. The very different approach taken by each writer sheds light on determining at what point an individual's assimilation into society endanger his or her sense of personal identity.
Author Hartig begins by assessing the publications of Jean-Ferdinand Berthier (1803-1886). Berthier wrote about Auguste Bebian, Abbe de l'Epee, and Abbe Sicard, all of whom taught at the National Institute for the Deaf in Paris. Although Berthier presented compelling portraits of their entire lives, he paid special attention to their political and social activism, his main interest.
Yvonne Pitrois (1880-1937) pursued her particular interest in the lives of deaf-blind people. Her biography of Helen Keller focused on her subject's destiny in conjunction with her unique relationship with Anne Sullivan. Corinne Rocheleau-Rouleau (1881-1963) recounted the historical circumstances that led French-Canadian pioneer women to leave France. The true value of her work resides in her portraits of these pioneer women: maternal women, warriors, religious women, with an emphasis on their lives and the choices they made.
"Crossing the Divide" reveals clearly the passion these biographers shared for narrating the lives of those they viewed as heroes of an emerging French deaf community. All three used the genre of biography not only as a means of external exploration but also as a way to plumb their innermost selves and to resolve ambivalence about their own deafness.

From the authors of ?Baby?s First Signs? and ?More Baby?s first Signs? come two new brightly colored board books depicting the recognizable character with the hat signing all the primary and secondary colors and familiar animals and insects such as ?dog,? ?cat,? ?butterfly,? and ?squirrel.?

An essential accompaniment to the bestselling The American Sign Language Phrase Book, The American Sign Language Puzzle Book is an entertaining way for anyone learning to sign to test and build his or her knowledge. Featuring topics such as Everyday Expressions, Health, Clothing, Numbers, Time, and Money, The American Sign Language Puzzle Book incorporates an engaging variety of puzzle types, including scramble puzzles, word searches, matching puzzles, and crosswords, which are all complemented by exceptionally clear and helpful illustrations.

Armstrong's cogent, highly readable book explains the basic linguistic concepts and academic controversies in a way that makes for an excellent introduction to the study of language. But this is an introduction with an important difference. Unlike most authors, Armstrong includes gesture and signed language at every step, rather than teating the visual channel of language as an afterthought. He makes a strong case for the Whorfian, comparative, and relativist approach to languages as a necessary complement to the Chomskyan universalist perspective that has dominated the field in recent decades, and Armstrong's historical analysis illustrates how the politics of social attitude has influenced scientific views about such questions as whether or not a signed language can be a real language in its own right. His argument starts with the premise that both forms, signed and vocal, are kinds of language, and he examines the important differences as well as the similarities between them, providing insight into basic questions about the nature and evolution of language as a multimodal phenomenon--audio and visual in its essence.

In a book with far-reaching implications, Edward S. Klima and Ursula Bellugi present a full exploration of a language in another mode--a language of the hands and of the eyes. They discuss the origin and development of American Sign Language, the internal structure of its basic units, the grammatical processes it employs, and its heightened use in poetry and wit. The authors draw on research, much of it by and with deaf people, to answer the crucial question of what is fundamental to language as language and what is determined by the mode (vocal or gestural) in which a language is produced.

This illustrated text offers a unique approach to using American Sign Language (ASL) and English in a bilingual setting. Each of the 25 lessons involves sign language conversation using colloqualisms that are prevalent in informal conversations. Each lesson includes equivalent expressions in English, plus: glossed vocabulary review; translation exercises from ASL to English and to ASL; grammatical notes; substitution drills; and suggested activities. The text also includes practice tests and a glossed alphabetical index.

This book defines the notion of applied sign linguistics by drawing on data from projects that have explored sign language in action in various domains. The book gives professionals working with sign languages, signed language teachers and students, research students and their supervisors, authoritative access to current ideas and practice.

Signs and Wonders traces the intertwining of Protestant religion and the development of the deaf community from the nineteenth through the twenty-first century. Tracy Ann Morse draws on nineteenth-century speeches, sermons, and pamphlets; highlights the role of missionary movements in the spread of sign language; and shows how film and stage productions drew on religious themes in their portrayal of the deaf community and its struggles. The first book to take a serious look at the intersection of religion and the deaf community, Signs and Wonders breaks new ground and opens up new avenues for continuing study.

Evolving Paradigms in Interpreter Education brings together a cadre of world-renowned educators and researchers who conduct a rich exploration of paradigms, both old and new, in interpreter education. They review existing research, explicate past and current practices, and call for a fresh examination of the roots of interpreter education. Expert commentary accompanies each chapter to provide a starting point for reflection on and discussion of the growing needs in this discipline.

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.

Is it possible to identify sign languages by their prosody, that is, the rhythm and stress of sign production, and then determine if they are related to each other or other sign languages? If so, reasoned authors Donna Jo Napoli, Mark Mai, and Nicholas Gaw, perhaps they could offer such identification as a new way to typologize, or categorize sign languages by their structural features. Their new collaboration "Primary Movement in Sign Languages: A Study of Six Languages" traces the process and findings from this unique investigation.

Resolving on the direction of movement as the prosodic factor to track, they began their research by comparing five sign languages: American Sign Language (ASL), British Sign Language (BSL), Italian Sign Language (LIS), French Sign Language (LSF), and Australian Sign Language (Auslan). They soon discovered that the languages in their study clustered with respect to several characteristics along genetic lines, with BSL and Auslan contrasting with LSF, LIS, and ASL. They learned that sign languages with the same geographic origin evolved differently when relocated, and they isolated differences in each individual sign language. They compared four of these established sign languages with the newly emerging Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL), with the exception of ASL due to their past close contact, thereby validating their work as the first study to identify sign language relationships without depending on grammar.

The only child of deaf Puerto Rican immigrants, Andres Torres grew up in New York City in a large, extended family that included several deaf aunts and uncles. In Signing in Puerto Rican: A Hearing Son and His Deaf Family, he opens a window into the little known culture of Deaf Latinos chasing the immigrant American dream. Like many children of deaf adults (codas), Torres loved his parents deeply but also longed to be free from being their interpreter to the hearing world. Torres's story is unique in that his family communicated in three languages. The gatherings of his family reverberated with "deaf talk," in sign, Spanish, and English. What might have struck outsiders as a strange chaos of gestures and mixed spoken languages was just normal for his family. Torres describes his early life as one of conflicting influences in his search for identity. His parents' deep involvement in the Puerto Rican Society for the Catholic Deaf led him to study for the priesthood. He later left the seminary as his own ambitions took hold. Torres became very active in the Puerto Rico independence party against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement and protest against the Vietnam War. Throughout these defining events, Torres's journey never took him too far from his Deaf Puerto Rican family roots and the passion of arms, hands, and fingers filling the air with simultaneous translation and understanding.

Quick and easy phrases in ASL for daily life

"Perfect Phrases for American Sign Language" provides 150 essential phrases for hearing-impaired users of ASL and those who interact with them. ASL expert Barbara Bernstein Fant--carrying on the work of her late husband Lou--and illustrator Betty Miller make it easy for you to pick up key signs for everyday communication without having to have prior knowledge of signing. This handy reference is perfect for comfortably and confidently communicating with loved ones, coworkers, patients, or anyone who uses ASL.

"The Fourth Volume in the Interpreter Education Series"
From the moment the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI) was established in 2005, an overwhelming wave of requests from around the world arrived seeking information and resources for educating and training interpreters. This new collection provides those answers with an international overview on interpreter training from experts in Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Fiji, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Kosovo, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, and the United States. Whether from income-rich or income-poor countries, the 31 contributors presented here provide insights on how sign language interpreter training has developed in each nation, and also how trainers have dealt with the difficulties that they encountered.
Many of the contributors relate the movement away from ad hoc short courses sponsored by Deaf communities. They mark the transition from the early struggles of trainers against the stigmatization of sign languages to full-time degree programs in institutions of higher education funded by their governments. Others investigate how culture, religion, politics, and legislation affect the nurturing of professional sign language interpreters, and they address the challenges of extending training opportunities nationally through the use of new technology. Together, these diverse perspectives offer a deeper understanding and comparison of interpreter training issues that could benefit the programs in every nation.

This English version of "A Language in Space: The Story of Israeli Sign Language", which received the Bahat Award for most outstanding book for a general audience in its Hebrew edition, is an introduction to sign language using Israeli Sign Language (ISL) as a model. Authors Irit Meir and Wendy Sandler offer a glimpse into a number of fascinating descriptions of the ISL community to which linguists and other researchers may not have access. An underlying premise of the book is that language is a mental system with universal properties, and that language lives through people.
A clear and engaging read, "A Language in Space "addresses relevant aspects of sign language, including the most abstract questions and matters related to society and community. Divided into three parts, the book covers:
*the linguistic structure of Israeli Sign Language;
*the language and its community; and
*a broad depiction of ISL and the contribution of sign language research to linguistic theory.
This book is intended for linguists (with or without a background in sign language), psychologists, sociologists, educators, students, and anyone with an interest in the human capacity for language.

Featuring easy-to-follow illustrated instructions for the most commonly used phrases and an extensive index for easy reference, The Kids' Pocket Signing Guide is organized by general topic, enabling children to converse with hearing-impaired friends and family members on such subjects as:

- Pets and animals

- Sports and hobbies

- Travel and holidays

- Snacks and food

- Numbers and money

- Clothes and colors

- Nature and science

- Time and weather

- School and careers

- And much more

The Perigee Visual Dictionary of Signing is the easiest, most comprehensive alphabetized guide to American Sign Language (Ameslan) available today. Unlike other signing books, which organize by "categories", the Visual Dictionary is arranged in a straightforward easy-to-use dictionary format. Inside you'll find special features offering a fast, simple approach to the art of signing, including over 1,350 signs - arranged alphabetically with directions on how to form each sign; detailed illustrations - showing precise hand positions and exact movements; memory aids - to assist in recalling how to make each sign; sample sentences - to clarify grammatical usage; numbers - from one to one million, including monetary signs; fingerspelling - a vital tool for communicating words for which there are no signs, or for when the sign has not yet been learned; helpful hints - suggestions and tips for easier signing; and comprehensive index - including all entries and their synonyms for easy cross-referencing.

A stirring and heart-warming tale of a young deaf girl who is determined to make a difference, the perfect read for fans of Wonder.

Iris was born deaf, but she's never let that define her; after all, it's the only life she's ever known. And until recently she wasn't even very lonely, because her grandparents are both deaf, too. But Grandpa has just died and Grandma's not the same without him. The only place Iris really feels at home anymore is in her electronics workshop where she loves taking apart antique radios.

Then, during a science lesson about sound waves, Iris finds out about a whale who is unable to communicate with other whales. The lonely whale awakens something in Iris. She's determined to show him that someone in the world knows he's there.

Iris works on a foolproof plan to help the whale but she soon realises that that is not enough: Iris wants to find the whale herself.

One stolen credit card, two cruise ship tickets, and the adventure of a lifetime later, Iris and the whale each break through isolation to help one another be truly heard in ways that neither had ever expected.

A quick-reference dictionary to sign language for everyone who wants to communicate with someone who is deaf or hearing-impaired. It can be used alone or in conjunction with the Living Language video, Say It By Signing. 1,080 black-and-white illustrations.

This text provides interpreting students with a broad knowledge base that encompasses the latest research, addresses current trends and perspectives of the Deaf community, and promotes critical thinking and open dialogue about the working conditions, ethics, boundaries, and competencies needed by a highly qualified interpreter in various settings. This volume expands the resources available to aspiring interpreters, including Deaf interpreters, and incorporates the voices of renowned experts on topics relevant to today's practitioners. Each chapter provides students with objectives, keywords, and discussion questions. The chapters convey clear information about topics that include credentialing, disposition and aptitude for becoming an interpreter, interpreting for people who are DeafBlind, and working within specialty settings, such as legal and healthcare. A key resource for interpreter certification test preparation, this text follows the interpreter's ethical, practical, and professional development through a career of lifelong learning and service.