Understanding Signed Languages (Understanding Language)

Cover
Endorsement
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction to Signed Languages
	1.1 Signed Languages and the Diversity of Human Language
	1.2 The Scientific Study of Language
	1.3 Debunking Common Misconceptions About Signed Languages
		1.3.1 Signed Languages Are NOT Universal
		1.3.2 Signed Languages Are NOT Simpler Than Spoken Languages
		1.3.3 Signed Languages Are NOT Derived From Spoken Languages
		1.3.4 Why Misconceptions About Signed Languages Persist
	1.4 Language Ideologies
		1.4.1 Gesture Vs. Sign
		1.4.2 Sign Vs. Speech
	1.5 Outline of this Book
	Comprehension Check
	References
2 Signed Language Communities
	2.1 Monks, Spies, and Rice Farmers: Sign Usage Over the Past Millennium
	2.2 Sociohistorical Contexts of Deaf Communities
		2.2.1 Sociohistorical Context of Signed Languages in Africa
	2.3 Language Ideology, Signing, and Language Socialization
		2.3.1 Defining a “Native Signer”
	2.4 Signed Language Varieties: Effects of Race and Gender
	Comprehension Check
	References
3 Phonetics and Phonology in Signed Languages
	3.1 What Is Phonology? What Is Phonetics?
	3.2 Handshape, Location, and Movement
	3.3 Non-Manual Features and Signed Language Phonology
	3.4 Simultaneity Vs. Sequentiality
	3.5 Poetry in Signed Languages
	3.6 Effects of Iconicity On Signed Language Phonology
	Comprehension ChecK
	References
4 Packaging Meaning in Signs and Constructions in Signed Languages
	4.1 What Is a Word?
	4.2 How Points Express Meaning
	4.3 How Signs Express Meaning
	4.4 Numeral Incorporation
	4.5 Verbal Aspect
	4.6 Depicting Signs
	4.7 Signed Sequences, Collocations, Clauses, and Constructions
	Comprehension Check
	References
5 Signed Language Discourse
	5.1 How Context Shapes Discourse
	5.2 Turn-Taking
	5.3 Reference Tracking in Discourse
	5.4 Body Partitioning
	5.5 Conceptualization and Discourse
		5.5.1 Space in Signed Languages
		5.5.2 Timelines in Signed Languages
		5.5.3 Metaphor
	Comprehension Check
	References
6 Signs of Change
	6.1 Documenting Language Change in Signed Languages
	6.2 Mechanisms of Language Change
	6.3 Types of Language Change
		6.3.1 Phonological Change
		6.3.2 Semantic Change and Polysemy
		6.3.3 Grammaticalization
	6.4 Gestural Roots of Modern Signs
	6.5 Typological Studies of Signed Languages: Kinship and Interrogatives
		6.5.1 Kinship
		6.5.2 Interrogatives
	Comprehension Check
	References
7 Language Acquisition in the Visual Modality
	7.1 Interplay of Sensory Information and Brain Development
	7.2 Socialization of Visual Engagement and Gaze Following
	7.3 Signed Language Acquisition
		7.3.1 Children With Deaf Parents
		7.3.2 Children With Hearing Parents
	7.4 Insights to the Critical Period From the Study of Deaf Signers
	Comprehension Check
	References
8 Deaf Communities Are Multilingual Communities
	8.1 Language Ecologies of Multilingual Deaf Communities
	8.2 ASL as a Global Language
	8.3 Code-Switching and Code-Blending
	8.4 Cross-Language Activation
	8.5 Effects of Language Contact in Signing Communities
	8.6 Communication Accommodation and Translanguaging Among Deaf Signers
	Comprehension Check
	References
Glossary
Index of Signed Languages
Index of Topics