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In 1999, many of today's notable researchers assembled at a special
conference in honor of William C. Stokoe to explore the remarkable
research that grew out of his original insights on American Sign
Language. The Study of Signed Languages presents the fascinating
findings from that conference. Part 1, Historical Perspectives,
begins with a description of the decline of sign language studies
in the 1800s. Past research on signed languages and its
relationship to language origins theory follows, along with a
consideration of modality and conflicting agendas for its study. In
Part 2, Language Origins, the first entry intrigues with the
possibility that sign language could answer conundrums posed by
Noam Chomsky's linguistic theories. The next essay considers how to
build a better language model by citing continuity, ethology, and
Stokoe's work as key elements. Stokoe's own research on the
gestural theory of language origins is examined in the section's
closing chapter. Part 3, Diverse Populations, delineates the impact
of sign language research on black deaf communities in America, on
deaf education, on research into variation in sign language, and
even on sign communication and the motor functioning of autistic
children and others. In its wide-ranging, brilliant scholarship,
The Study of Signed Languages serves as a fitting tribute to
William C. Stokoe and his work.
This book proposes a radical alternative to dominant views of the evolution of language, in particular the origins of syntax. The authors draw on evidence from areas such as primatology, anthropology, and linguistics to present a groundbreaking account of the notion that language emerged through visible bodily action. Written in a clear and accessible style, Gesture and the Nature of Language will be indispensable reading for all those interested in the origins of language.
In The Gestural Origin of Language, Wilcox and Armstrong use
evidence from and about sign languages to explore the origins of
language as we know it today. According to their model, it is sign,
not spoken languages, that is the original mode of human
communication. The authors demonstrate that modern language is
derived from practical actions and gestures that were increasingly
recognised as having the potential to represent and hence to
communicate. In other words, the fundamental ability that allows us
to use language is our ability to use pictures of icons, rather
than linguistic symbols. Evidence from the human fossil record
supports the authors' claim by showing that we were anatomically
able to produce gestures and signs before we were able to speak
fluently. Although speech evolved later as a secondary linguistic
communication device that eventually replaced sign language as the
primary mode of communication, speech has never entirely replaced
signs and gestures.
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