Twenty deaf adults were interviewed about their use of name signs. Results revealed underlying cultural values expressed in name signs, and also provided practical information about the making and bestowing of name signs, changing one's name sign, and evolution in the name sign system. (Author/CB)

The study compared scores on a literacy battery of hearing-impaired subjects exposed to either an instructional communication system that attempts to completely encode a language (e.g. oral English, Signing Exact English) or to signed systems that incompletely encode spoken English. Students using the completely encoded language tended to perform…

Briefly describes five dictionaries of the signed languages used in Australia, Mexico, Italy, New Zealand, and Thailand. (CB)

Investigation of profoundly deaf adolescent students' ability to read signs in peripheral vision revealed a mean success rate of about 80 percent. Results support the supposition that peripheral vision may be linguistically and communicatively useful for deaf people, particularly as signs in isolation are more difficult to read than signs in…

Four writers (Yerker Andersson, Trevor Johnston, Leila Monaghan, and Brian Street) respond to Graham Turner's discussion of deaf culture, considering labeling categories and approaches to definitions of "deaf culture." (Contains 24 references.) (LB)

Turner's responses to discussion of deaf culture cover these topics: deaf perspective; approaches to description; transparency and explicitness; labeling; historical awareness; and "thinking beyond." (Contains seven references.) (LB)

This article encourages hearing individuals in the elementary school community to learn sign language. Suggestions include having students teach students, having family sign classes, incorporating sign instruction throughout the day, giving everyone a name sign, and having schoolwide events in which signing is featured. (DB)

Attempts to formulate an appropriate linguistic generalization for the occurrence of inhibited periodic eyeblinking by fluent American Sign Language (ASL) signers. It is shown that signers' eyeblinks are sensitive to syntactic structure, from which intonational phrases may be derived. (19 references) (MDM)

Critiques the previous article by Torigoe and others (1995) and discusses research on indigenous gestural systems developed by people with deafness and shared with local hearing communities. Poses questions for further research in the field of indigenous gestural communication. (Seven references) (MDM)

This investigation explored recognition memory for sign language vocabulary in sign language students. Ten beginning and 10 advanced students were asked to judge their familiarity with 50 old and new vocabulary items presented in both written (sign gloss) and signed stimulus modes. (JL)

Proposes the use of semantic phonology, a simple method of sign phonology. Semantic phonology invites one to look at a sign--a word of a primary sign language--as a marriage of noun and verb. (GLR)

A mother of a hearing-impaired two year old offers examples of utilizing siblings (who have learned sign language) to foster the language development and socialization of the younger child. (DB)

Demographic study of the number of deaf users of Australian Sign Language (Auslan) identified over 15,000 deaf who used Auslan daily in interactions with deaf and hearing persons, and evidence of strong social and linguistic cohesion in the deaf community, but high levels of unemployment and underemployment. (16 references) (Author/CB)

Examines two sex-based variations in the Irish Sign Language of Dublin, Ireland, commonly referred to as "female" and "male" signs. The differences between women's knowledge of "male" signs and men's knowledge of female signs are a result of differences in cultural opportunities to acquire full facility with both…

This article analyzes arguments for a written form of American Sign Language (ASL) and suggests the need for empowerment of people who are deaf. It concludes that suggestions to "alphabeticize" ASL or to utilize English glosses would not be appropriate, and proposes that deaf people themselves develop a visual symbol system. (DB)