Discusses Providence Island Sign Language (PSL), an autochthonous and relatively immature language of about 20 speakers. It is a nascent and evolving language whose description can produce rich results for linguistic theory. Such a description will also be an explanation of the phylogeny of a linguistic system. (Author/PJM)

Discusses the Brazilian Sign language digital encyclopedia, which contains a databank of 5,600 signs glossed in Portuguese and English, along with descriptions and illustrations of their signed form. (Author/VWL)

Explores the outcome of a publicly-funded research project titled "Redesign of the British Sign Language (BSL) Notation System with a New Font for Use in ICT." The aim of the project was to redesign the British Sign Language variant of Stokoe notation for practical use in information technology systems and software, such as lexical…

"Patterns of the Mind," by Ray Jackendoff, and "The Language Instinct," by Steven Pinker, are reviewed. Each are written to support the theory that language is predetermined by genetically endowed brain structure but also include discussions of studies that use sign language to confirm the standard model of linguistic theory. (Contains seven…

Thirty-eight hearing adults' ability to comprehend English homonyms was evaluated from their transcriptions of two versions of a videotaped story, signed in either a literal sign model (Seeing Essential English 2) or a conceptual sign model (Pidgin Sign English). Participants' transcriptions were more successful after watching the literal version.…

Visual language mediation by hearing offspring was studied in deaf-parented families as part of a larger program of cross-sectional descriptive research into aspects of deaf parents' child-rearing performance. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 profoundly deaf adults and the oldest hearing school-aged offspring in the home. (12…

Explores the active role of the sign language interpreter in resolving simultaneous and overlapping speech, guided by social and linguistic knowledge of the entire communicative situation in making linguistic choices about what to interpret. (29 references) (Author/CB)

Offers a preliminary examination of several sign language varieties in use in Costa Rica and attempts to explain the relationship among these varieties. Based on comparative lexical data, it is postulated that at least four distinct sign languages exist in Costa Rica. Implications for future research are also discussed. (eight references) (JL)

Examines the status and methods of bilingual education for deaf children, involving the teaching of a signed language, and compares such education to bilingual education involving two spoken languages. (Author/CB)

Examines attempts to teach primates how to communicate using sign language. Much of the debate over whether it is possible to teach primates to communicate centers on the definition of language. (Author/VWL)

Provides an overview of the nature of different types of signed languages and offers a detailed discussion of the research currently available with respect to South African Sign Language. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the interaction of phonology with syntax, and to some extent, with meaning in a natural sign language. Adopts a theory of prosodic phonology, testing both its assumptions, which had been based on data from spoken language, and its predictions on the language of the Deaf community in Israel. (Author/VWL)

A case is described of a patient who has a compelling and persistent desire to become deaf. She often kept cotton wool moistened with oil in her ears and was learning sign language. Living without sound appeared to be a severe form of avoidance behavior from hyperacusis and misophonia. She had a borderline personality disorder that was associated…

George Veditz's "The Preservation of the Sign Language" was a popular film about the deaf language. Sixty five years later, in 1977, Veditz's film was retrieved and screened at the opening of a conference on the research and teaching of American Sign Language. Despite the age and the condition of the film, the screening held the audience…

This article examines the various ways in which deaf people have protected and promoted sign language during the early decades of the twentieth century. Arguing that deaf people played an active role in their own history, the author shows how members of the community--through formal and informal collaboration--ultimately defeated strict oralist…