Because sign languages have two main articulators, signers simultaneously experience both possibilities and constraints in the articulation and perception of linguistic messages. Sign languages commonly convey different linguistic units with each hand, and additional information is conveyed in nonmanual signals. Meaningful perseverations (or sign…

Research suggests that English-language proficiency is critical if students who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) are to read as their hearing peers. One explanation for the traditionally reported reading achievement plateau when students are D/HH is the inability to hear insalient English morphology. Signing Exact English can provide visual…

A sample of elementary school-and high school-age deaf students in special education programs in the Australian state of Queensland using Australasian Signed English (ASE) took the Test of Syntactic Abilities (Quigley, Steinkamp, Power, & Jones, 1978) and wrote a story in response to a wordless picture sequence. Several analyses of the…

The syntax of lexical units, or signs, of American Sign Language (ASL) is analyzed. Previous areas of study concerning pauses, functional sentence perspective, theme and rheme, and topic and comment are discussed. A model is offered to depict topic-comment relationships in ASL using space, vectors, and relationship rules. (SW)

The role of verbs in American Sign Language (ASL) is investigated. Verb mutations in ASL are very different from the kinds of grammatical deformations that occur in English, and are different from those that occur in spoken languages as a whole. (HP)

The sign language of the American deaf community (ASL) is analyzed from a linguistic point of view. The history of the application of linguistic principles to sign language studies is briefly traced. The cherology (phonology) of sign language is treated with respect to finger spelling, manual numeration, ASL phonetics, and conventions of sign…

Spontaneous gestures of a deaf child unexposed to sign language were studied to determine whether regularities existing within gestures were akin to morphological structure. The child's gestures, handshape/motion combinations forming a matrix for communication, suggest that structural regularity at the intraword level is a resilient property of…

Examines whether manually coded English (MCE) sign language systems are learnable. Reading achievement and expressive English skills of deaf students educated using only a MCE sign system were examined. Deaf students had expressive English skills comparable to hearing students in respect to syntactical and lexical skills but were deficient in…

The study evaluated characteristics of instructional bimodal communication in classrooms for the hearing impaired using Signing Exact English or Signed English. Findings indicated some teachers accurately and proficiently encoded semantic information in their instruction. A requirement of 80% or better voice-to-sign ratio ability is suggested for…

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)

Experienced deaf-blind users (N=10) of sign language tested their ability to receive signed messages including isolated signs and sentences. A set of 122 isolated signs was received with an average accuracy of 87%. Signed sentence reception accuracy ranged from 60-85%, with errors accounted for primarily by deletions and phonological or…

This paper reviews research findings on the structural properties of deaf childrens' gestural communication systems and evaluates those properties in the context of data gained from other approaches to the question of the young child's language-making capacity. (over 100 references) (JL)

American Sign Language (ASL) is historically related to French Sign Language (FSL) of the early 19th century. A study underway at Gallaudet College is researching the historical development of both languages treating syntax, lexicon and formation. This paper deals with data in the form of still photos collected in France and published in a…

This digest uses a question-and-answer format to summarize basic information about the use of English-based sign systems with children who are deaf or hard of hearing. English-based sign systems are explained as using the vocabulary of American Sign Language (ASL) with the grammatical and syntactical features of English. These systems include…