The national policy in deaf education in Mainland China primarily focuses on oral/aural instruction and hearing rehabilitation. The curriculum in primary grades is specifically structured on speech and hearing skills for language development. But there is little evidence that documents what early literacy instruction looks like or how teachers…

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…

The fingerspelling component of thirteen samples of Visible English (the system of communication in which all speech is supposed to be simultaneoously fingerspelled) used by teachers in classrooms in two schools for the deaf were analyzed linguistically. Only 56 percent of what should have been fingerspelled was present and legible. (Author/CFM)

Charles A. Ferguson's concept of "diglossia" (1959, 1964) is used in analyzing sign language. As in Haitian Creole or Swiss German, "two or more varieties" of sign language are "used by the same speakers under different conditions"--these are here called "High" (H) sign language and "Low" (L) sign language. H sign language is formally taught…

This paper deals with the integrative function of sign language in the British deaf community. Sign language communities exhibit a special case of diglossia in that they exist within a larger, hearing community not necessarily characterized by diglossia itself. British Sign Language includes at least two diglossic varieties, with different…

AN INVESTIGATION WAS UNDERTAKEN TO DETERMINE WHETHER EARLY MANUAL COMMUNICATION WITH DEAF CHILDREN INFLUENCES THEIR SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION OF (1) INTELLIGIBLE SPEECH, (2) READING ABILITY, (3) SPEECH READING ABILITY, (4) WRITTEN LANGUAGE, AND (5) PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT. THE DESIGN INVOLVED MATCHED PAIRS OF SUBJECTS BECAUSE OF THE LARGE NUMBER OF…

This book is written primarily for those studying linguistic topics in the area of sign language, but also can be useful to sign language teachers who want to understand more about American Sign Language (ASL). Pen-and-ink illustrations allow the reader with no knowledge of sign language to follow the discussion. The hypothesis examined in this…