American Sign Language Concise Dictionary - Softcover

Sternberg, Martin L. A.

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9780060809966: American Sign Language Concise Dictionary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060809965 ISBN 13: 9780060809966

Publisher: Perennial, 1990

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A portable but comprehensive dictionary of American Sign Language contains fifteen hundred commonly used words and phrases, each illustrated and cross-referenced

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About the Author:

Martin L. A. Sternberg, Ed.D., is a native New Yorker. Deaf since the age of seven, he has spent most of his career working with deaf people. The idea for this book came from Dr. Elizabeth Peet, Dr. Sternberg's sign language teacher at Gallaudet University (for the deaf), in Washington, DC. Dr. Sternberg kept Dr. Peet's ideas and methods, but expanded the work greatly. Early work on the project received a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare to New York University, the sponsoring institution. A graduate of the City College of New York, American University, and New York University, Dr. Sternberg has enjoyed a distinguished career as a teacher at Gallaudet, New York, Hofstra, and Adelphi Universities. HE is currently chairman of the board of trustees of Lexington School for the Deaf and Lexington Center for the Deaf. He is the author of four ASL dictionaries and a Codies Award-winning CD-ROM, all published by HarperCollins. He also received Emmy and Peabody nominations for his ASL series by the NBC network, "Speaking With Your Hands," as well as medals at various international film and television festivals.

Explanatory Notes

Sign Rationale

This term, admittedly imprecise semantically, refers to the explanatory material in parentheses which follows the part of speech. This material is an attempt to offer a mnemonic cue to the sign as described verbally. It is a device to aid the user of the dictionary to remember how a sign is formed.

Verbal Description

The sign and its formation are described verbally. Such terms as "S" hand, "U' position, "both 'B' hands," refer to the positions of the hand or hands as they are depicted in the American Manual Alphabet on page xxiii.

Terms such as "counterclockwise," "clockwise," refer to movement from the signer's orientation. Care should be taken not to become confused by illustrations which appear at first glance to contradict a verbal description. In all cases the verbal description should be the one of choice, with the illustration reinforcing it. The reader should place himself or herself mentally in the position of the signer, i.e., the illustration, in order to assume the correct orientation for signing an English gloss word.

Sign Synonyms

Sign synonyms are other glosses for which the same sign is used. They are found at the end of the verbal description, following the italicized Cf and are given in SMALL CAPITAL LETTERS.

It is important to remember that the words listed after the Cf. do not carry an equivalent sense in and of themselves. Because meaning for the signer springs from the sign, apparently unrelated glosses can be expressed by similar movements.

Illustrations

A. Illustrations appearing in sequence should not be regarded as separate depictions of parts of a sign. They are fluid and continuous, and should be used in conjunction with the verbal description of a sign, for they illustrate the main features of the sign as one movement flows into the next.

B. Arrows, broken or solid, indicate direction of movement. Again, they are designed to reinforce the verbal description and, where confusion may arise, the reader is cautioned to review the verbal description, always keeping himself or herself mentally in the position of the illustration (the signer).

C. As a general rule, a hand drawn with dotted or broken lines indicates the sign's initial movement or position of the hand. This is especially true if a similar drawing appears next to it using solid lines. This indicates terminal position in the continuum.

D. Groups of illustrations have been arranged as far as possible in visually logical order. They are read from left to right, or from top to bottom. Where confusion is possible, they have been captioned with letters A, B, C, etc.

E. Small lines outlining parts of the hand, especially when they are repeated, indicate small, repeated, or wavy or jerky motions, as described in the verbal section of an entry.

F. Arrows drawn side by side but pointing in opposite directions indicate repeated movement, as described in the verbal section of an entry.

G. Illustrations giving side or three-quarter views have been so placed to afford maximum visibility and to avoid foreshortening problems. The user of the dictionary should not assume a similar orientation when making the sign. As a general fule, the signer faces the person he or she is signing to.

H. Inclusion of the head in the figures permits proper orientation in the formation of certain signs. The head is omitted where there is no question of ambiguity.

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