The American Sign Language Handshape Dictionary - Hardcover

Tennant, Richard A.; Brown, Marianne Gluszak

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1563680432 ISBN 13: 9781563680434

Publisher: Gallaudet University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Now, students and others interested in learning American Sign Language (ASL) can look up specific signs without needing to know their meaning in English beforehand. The American Sign Language Handshape Dictionary can help users locate a sign whose meaning they have forgotten, or help them find the meaning of a new sign they have just seen for the first time. Instead of offering a conventional alphabetical arrangement of English words and their corresponding signs, The ASL Handshape Dictionary organizes more than 1,600 ASL signs by 40 basic handshapes and includes detailed descriptions on how to form each sign.
In easy-to-follow style, The ASL Handshape Dictionary explains how signs are used in ASL structure and presents clear, explicit directions on how to identify a sign and its meaning in the specific context of its use.
A complete English word index provides the option of referring to an alphabetical listing of English terms to locate an equivalent sign or choice of signs.

About this title

Reviews

This reference complements other American Sign Language (ASL) dictionaries by organizing signs by handshape rather than alphabetically by English word order. In so doing, it acts best as a recognition tool for the ASL learner, leading the user quickly to specific signs without having first to refer to an English-equivalent word. Multiple meanings of a single sign also allow deaf people to increase their English vocabulary. Like other ASL dictionaries, introductory material includes a brief synopsis of the history of sign language, the meaning and importance of the five parameters of a sign (handshape, orientation, location, movement, and nonmanual signals), grammatical rules, sign language variations (dialects), and finger-spelling principles. Tennant, a former mathematics instructor, and Gluszak Brown, a certified ASL interpreter, have provided a unique organization in their dictionary. But readers should note that a handshape is not a sign itself but rather a characteristic of a particular sign. Each individual sign presented in this dictionary is illustrated, paired with English-equivalent meaning(s), and described in terms of the five parameters, making it useful as a teaching reference as well as a recognition tool. A worthwhile complement to a public or academic library collection.?Andy Wickens, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Gallaudet University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1563680432
• ISBN 13: 9781563680434
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Nelson-Metlay Valerie
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 408