The Linguistics of Sign Languages

The Linguistics of Sign Languages PDF

Author: Anne Baker

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2016-06-23

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 9027267340

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How different are sign languages across the world? Are individual signs and signed sentences constructed in the same way across these languages? What are the rules for having a conversation in a sign language? How do children and adults learn a sign language? How are sign languages processed in the brain? These questions and many more are addressed in this introductory book on sign linguistics using examples from more than thirty different sign languages. Comparisons are also made with spoken languages. This book can be used as a self-study book or as a text book for students of sign linguistics. Each chapter concludes with a summary, some test-yourself questions and assignments, as well as a list of recommended texts for further reading. The book is accompanied by a website containing assignments, video clips and links to web resources.

British Sign Language

British Sign Language PDF

Author: Margaret Deuchar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-06-17

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1136188312

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This first linguistic study of British Sign Language is written for students of linguistics, for deaf and hearing sign language researchers, for teachers and social workers for the deaf. The author cross-refers to American Sign Language, which has usually been more extensively studied by linguists, and compares the two languages.

British Sign Language For Dummies

British Sign Language For Dummies PDF

Author: City Lit

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2010-12-13

Total Pages: 569

ISBN-13: 1119992168

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Learn British Sign Language quickly and easily with this essential guide and CD-Rom This lively guide introduces the key hand shapes and gestures you need to communicate in British Sign Language. The illustrations depict both the actions and facial expressions used to sign accurately, while the companion CD-Rom features real-life BSL conversations in action to further your understanding. With these practical tools, you’ll become an expert signer in no time! British Sign Language For Dummies includes: Starting to sign – learn about Deaf communication and practise simple signs to get you going Learning everyday BSL – develop the grammar and vocabulary skills that are the building blocks to using British Sign Language Getting out and about – sign with confidence in a wide range of real-life situations, from travelling to dating Looking into Deaf life – learn about the history of the Deaf Community and how they’ve adapted their technology and lifestyles to suit their needs For corrections to this book, please click here: http://www.wiley.com/legacy/wileyblackwell/BSLcorrectionslip.pdf Note: CD files are available to download when buying the eBook version

Sign Language and Linguistic Universals

Sign Language and Linguistic Universals PDF

Author: Wendy Sandler

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2006-02-02

Total Pages: 580

ISBN-13: 9780521483957

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Sign languages are of great interest to linguists, because while they are the product of the same brain, their physical transmission differs greatly from that of spoken languages. In this pioneering and original study, Wendy Sandler and Diane Lillo-Martin compare sign languages with spoken languages, in order to seek the universal properties they share. Drawing on general linguistic theory, they describe and analyze sign language structure, showing linguistic universals in the phonology, morphology, and syntax of sign language, while also revealing non-universal aspects of its structure that must be attributed to its physical transmission system. No prior background in sign language linguistics is assumed, and numerous pictures are provided to make descriptions of signs and facial expressions accessible to readers. Engaging and informative, Sign Language and Linguistic Universals will be invaluable to linguists, psychologists, and all those interested in sign languages, linguistic theory and the universal properties of human languages.

Exploring British Sign Language via Systemic Functional Linguistics

Exploring British Sign Language via Systemic Functional Linguistics PDF

Author: Luke A. Rudge

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-09-08

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 1350148962

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One of many natural sign languages in use around the world, British Sign Language (BSL) operates as a fully-fledged semiotic system in the visual-spatial modality, through the simultaneous use of embodied articulators. Filling a gap in current research, this book investigates visual-spatial communications from a functional perspective. Presenting a description and analysis of BSL from the perspective of Hallidayan Systemic Functional Linguistics, Luke A. Rudge explores how BSL users make meaning from three different yet interrelated perspectives: - How exchanges of information are managed at a social level (the interpersonal metafunction) - How experience is encoded in the language (the experiential metafunction) - How communications are organised into coherent parts and wholes (the textual metafunction) Examining these perspectives both separately and together, Exploring British Sign Language via Systemic Functional Linguistics places them within the context of current observations in sign linguistics, providing a complementary viewpoint on how visual-spatial communications may be understood as social semiosis.