Sign Languages (Cambridge Language Surveys) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521883709 ISBN 13: 9780521883702

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2010

Synopsis

What are the unique characteristics of sign languages that make them so fascinating? What have recent researchers discovered about them, and what do these findings tell us about human language more generally? This thematic and geographic overview examines more than forty sign languages from around the world. It begins by investigating how sign languages have survived and been transmitted for generations, and then goes on to analyse the common characteristics shared by most sign languages: for example, how the use of the visual system affects grammatical structures. The final section describes the phenomena of language variation and change. Drawing on a wide range of examples, the book explores sign languages both old and young, from British, Italian, Asian and American to Israeli, Al-Sayyid Bedouin, African and Nicaraguan. Written in a clear, readable style, it is the essential reference for students and scholars working in sign language studies and deaf studies.

About this title

Book Description:

This thematic and geographic overview examines more than forty sign languages from around the world. Written in a clear, readable style, it is the essential reference for students and scholars working in sign language studies and deaf studies.

About the Author:

Diane Brentari is Professor of Linguistics and Director of the ASL Program at Purdue University. She is the author of A Prosodic Model of Sign Language Phonology (1998) and has published widely in the area of sign language phonology and morphology. Her current research involves the crosslinguistic analyses of sign languages.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0521883709
• ISBN 13: 9780521883702
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 714
• Editor: Brentari Diane