Researchers examining the structure of questions in signed languages, often using elicited data from informants, have proposed that there are specific manual and nonmanual actions produced by signers to indicate different question types (e.g., Zeshan 2004), for example, raised eyebrows for polar questions. In the current study, we add to this body…

Mongolian Sign Language (MSL) is a visual-gestural language that developed from multiple languages interacting as a result of both geographic proximity and political relations and of the natural development of a communication system by deaf community members. Similar to the phonological systems of other signed languages, MSL combines handshapes,…

Two experiments questioned whether deaf signers agree on the location of sign boundaries in American Sign Language (ASL), as well as where in time the boundaries are located. Results indicated that the deaf subjects were using linguistic knowledge of ASL when making judgments of the location of sign boundaries. (SL)

In the debate over continuities versus discontinuities in the emergence of language, sign language is not taken to be the antithesis, but is presented as the antecedent of spoken languages. (Author/HP)

Examines the relation of Pidgin Sign English to American Sign Language and the written English of deaf persons. (AM)

This paper discusses some expressive units of behavior which appear to have a widespread geographical distribution (in both morphology and significance); have a precocious ontogeny in infancy and childhood; and are used in appropriate social psychological settings even by congenitally blind, deaf-blind, and multiply handicapped youngsters.…

A study tested the hypothesis that manual encoding aids learning in the prelingually deaf. Twenty-four adults who used fingerspelling as their primary means of communication participated in two groups of a paired-associate learning paradigm, using eight study-test trial sequences. Those using fingerspelling showed more recall and a faster learning…

Systematic sampling was done of signing between five home-reared chimpanzees who had had 4-7 years of complete immersion in integrating their signing interaction into their nonverbal communication. Eight-eight percent of all signs reported fell into the social categories of reassurance, social interaction, and play. (SL)

mparison of sign language used by Urubu-Kaapor Indians in the Amazonian jungle (UKSL) and sign language used by deaf people in Sao Paulo (SPSL). In the former situation, deaf people are more integrated and accepted into their community than in Sao Paulo, because most hearing individuals are able and willing to use sign language to communicate with…

Study indicates that hearing impaired residential students are more proficient users of American Sign Language than are hearing impaired children enrolled in local, public school programs, and older such residential students are more proficient in the language than are younger students. (SL)

Motivational factors and unique characteristics of sign language systems are suggested as contributing to the ability of severely dysfunctional nonverbal children to make progress within a manual communication medium. (Author/EJS)