The manual alphabet was used as an adjunct to a linguistic reading system to achieve the following goals with primary grade learning disabled children: (1) ensure attention, (2) reinforce the learning of phonemes, (3) guide the student if he had difficulties, (4) introduce prefixes and suffixes, and (5) provide the child with an independent…

Presents results of a survey of sign language interpreter training and provision in European Community countries. The questionnaire addressed such areas as: language forms used by deaf people and interpreters; training funding and priorities; interpreter evaluation, registration, availability, and salaries; and societal acceptance of sign language…

Analysis of videotapes of five trained teachers of deaf children found that the teachers did not fingerspell often, but when they did they sought to express a specific English word. Clarity of fingerspelled utterances varied greatly, ranging from whole-word gestalts to words wherein individual letters could be discerned. (Author/CB)

Examination of a profoundly deaf child's fingerspelling in more than 100 hours of interaction videotaped at intervals over six years revealed a gradual acquisition of the rules for fingerspelling and knowledge of the relation of fingerspelling to signs and to printed and spoken words. (Author/CB)

A study of 10 typical women investigated the effect of fingerspelling task length on temporal characteristics and perceived naturalness of speech produced during simultaneous communication. Speech produced during simultaneous communication was rated as less natural and demonstrated increased interword interval, diphthong, work, and sentence…

Intended to raise researchers' and teachers' awareness of fingerspelling as an important part of signed communication, a study examined its use with deaf children in the classroom. Five trained teachers of the deaf, participating in a demonstration total communication project in a public school in the Midwest, were videotaped in their own…

In this paper the author takes a positive not a negative view of sign language. It is the center of attention, not as an object of interest to the specialist in language, but as the central feature in the complex sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic system that makes the deaf person part of general American culture and at the same time part of a…

Among British deaf adults there are at least two varieties of Sign Language in use. The structure and functions of sign language in the deaf community at Reading are examined to consider whether the British deaf community might be diglossic. The process used is described and references are included. (AMH)

A description of 14 communication systems used by the deaf blind is provided. (PHR)

A review of research and theory on the structure of signed and spoken languages explores the relationship between the two language types and how the study of signed languages can inform researchers about the human capacity for language. (29 references) (CB)

Observation study of a profoundly deaf person led to the conclusion that finger spelling and universal sign language could link deaf and hearing cultures. The complex and rewarding modality of finger spelling warrants further research as a cross-cultural communication medium. (SK)

Describes fingerspelling as it is used within the American deaf community and the development of fingerspelling skills in deaf (and hearing) children, suggesting that fingerspelling is largely discounted despite its potential for linkage to English orthography and literacy development. Strategies for increasing the use of fingerspelling by…

Examines the relationship between ability to invent spellings and ability to finger-point read memorized text in 109 kindergartners in whole-language classrooms. Finds that letter name knowledge and phonemic awareness account for ability in finger-point reading, but that invented spelling, because it requires the left-to-right alphabetic principle…

In this article we discuss an application that translates hand gestures of the American Sign Language (ASL) alphabet and converts them to text. The FingerSpell application addresses the communication barrier of the deaf and the hearing-impaired by eliminating the need for a third party with knowledge of the American Sign Language, allowing a user…