You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
We now know that natural signed languages such as American Sign Language, French Sign Language, British Sign Language and others are fully independent languages. But natural signed languages are only one way of conveying language in the visual/gestural modality. Signed languages also have mechanisms for representing the material of oral languages. Fingerspelling is one example of such a representational system. This book examines fingerspelling from a phonetic perspective. Several studies of the kinematics of fingerspelling articulators are reported. From these detailed analyses of articulator timings and velocities, conclusions are drawn which suggest that, like speech, fingerspelling may be explained in terms of coordinative structures and task dynamics. The thrust of the book is to explore the notion that signed and spoken languages can be compared not only as abstract linguistic systems but also at the physical level as dynamically structured articulations. An implication of these studies is that a common basis in gesture can be found for the production, perception, and neural organization of signed and spoken languages.
In Ten Lectures on Cognitive Linguistics and the Unification of Spoken and Signed Languages Sherman Wilcox suggests that rather than abstracting away from the material substance of language, linguists can discover the deep connections between signed and spoken languages by taking an embodied view. This embodied solution reveals the patterns and principles that unite languages across modalities. Using a multidisciplinary approach, Wilcox explores such issues as the how to apply cognitive grammar to the study of signed languages, the pervasive conceptual iconicity present throughout the lexicon and grammar of signed languages, the relation of language and gesture, the grammaticization of signs, the significance of motion for understanding language as a dynamic system, and the integration of cognitive neuroscience and cognitive linguistics.
This book proposes a radical alternative to dominant views of the evolution of language, in particular the origins of syntax. The authors draw on evidence from areas such as primatology, anthropology, and linguistics to present a groundbreaking account of the notion that language emerged through visible bodily action. Written in a clear and accessible style, Gesture and the Nature of Language will be indispensable reading for all those interested in the origins of language.
As more and more secondary schools and colleges accept American Sign Language (ASL) as a legitimate choice for second language study, Learning to See has become even more vital in guiding instructors on the best ways to teach ASL as a second language. And now this groundbreaking book has been updated and revised to reflect the significant gains in recognition that deaf people and their native language, ASL, have achieved in recent years. Learning to See lays solid groundwork for teaching and studying ASL by outlining the structure of this unique visual language. Myths and misconceptions about ASL are laid to rest at the same time that the fascinating, multifaceted elements of Deaf culture ar...
This volume represents the first time that researchers on signed language and gesture have come together with a coherent focus under the framework of cognitive linguistics. The pioneering work of Sherman Wilcox is highlighted throughout, scaffolding much of the research of these contributors. The five sections of the volume reflect critical areas of Dr. Wilcoxs own research in cognitive linguistics: Guiding research principles in signed language, gesture, and cognitive linguistics, iconicity across signed and spoken linguistics, multimodality, blending, depiction and metaphor in signed languages, and specific grammatical constructions as form-meaning pairings. The authors of this volume exemplify and continue Dr. Wilcoxs work of bridging signed and spoken language disciplines by contributing chapters that represent a multiplicity of perspectives on signed, spoken, and gesture data. This volume presents a unified collection of cognitive linguistics research by leading authors that will be of interest to readers in the fields of signed and spoken language linguistics, gesture studies, and general linguistics.
In The Gestural Origin of Language, Sherman Wilcox and David Armstrong use evidence from and about sign languages to explore the origins of language as we know it today. According to their model, it is sign, not spoken languages, that is the original mode of human communication. The authors demonstrate that modern language is derived from practical actions and gestures that were increasingly recognized as having the potential to represent, and hence to communicate. In other words, the fundamental ability that allows us to use language is our ability to use pictures or icons, rather than linguistic symbols. Evidence from the human fossil record supports the authors' claim by showing that we were anatomically able to produce gestures and signs before we were able to speak fluently. Although speech evolved later as a secondary linguistic communication device that eventually replaced sign language as the primary mode of communication, speech has never entirely replaced signs and gestures. As the first comprehensive attempt to trace the origin of grammar to gesture, this volume will be an invaluable resource for students and professionals in psychology, linguistics, and philosophy.
This groundbreaking volume introduces readers to the key concepts and debates in deaf studies, offering perspectives on the relevance and richness of deaf ways of being in the world. In Open Your Eyes, leading and emerging scholars, the majority of whom are deaf, consider physical and cultural boundaries of deaf places and probe the complex intersections of deaf identities with gender, sexuality, disability, family, and race. Together, they explore the role of sensory perception in constructing community, redefine literacy in light of signed languages, and delve into the profound medical, social, and political dimensions of the disability label often assigned to deafness. Moving beyond provi...
The book is a themed, mutually referenced collection of articles from a very high-powered set of authors based on the workshop on Current developments in non-human primate gesture research, which was held in July 2010 at the European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. The motivation for this book following on from the motivation for the workshop series was to present the state of the art in non-human primate gesture research with a special emphasis on its history, interdisciplinary perspectives, developments and future directions. This book provides, for the first time in a single volume, the most recent work on comparative gestural signaling by many of the major scholars in the field, such as W.D. Hopkins, D. Leavens, T. Racine, J. van Hooff, and S. Wilcox (in alphabetical order).
Includes miscellaneous newsletters (Music at Michigan, Michigan Muse), bulletins, catalogs, programs, brochures, articles, calendars, histories, and posters.
The first volume to offer a thorough and systematic account of evidentiality and the expression of information source, Illustrated with extensive data from a range of typologically diverse languages, Introductory chapter offers practical advice for fieldworkers investigating evidentially, Interdisciplinary in nature with insights from typology, semantics, pragmatics, language description, anthropology, cognitive psychology, and psycholinguistics Book jacket.