Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals about the Mind

Documents life in a remote Bedouin village in Israel whose residents communicate through a unique method of sign language used by both hearing and non-hearing citizens, in an account that offers insight into the relationship between language and the human mind. 35,000 first printing.

The world of sign languages and cognitive research comes to life in this story of a remote Israeli village that's become a test bed for understanding how the human brain processes language. New York Times reporter Fox follows researchers, led by University of Haifa professor Wendy Sandler, to the Bedouin village of Al-Sayyid, where isolation, genetics and inbreeding have led to a higher than usual percentage of deafness in the population. In response, the villagers have created a home-brew sign language used by both the hearing and deaf. By studying this unique language, Sandler and her cohort hope to gain deeper insight into how the brain acquires and uses language. Chapters alternate between the painstaking work in Al-Sayyid and a history of sign language itself. Both are gracefully reinforced with vivid examples, from the early insistence of experts that proper sign language must produce words in one-to-one correspondence with spoken language to a lively gathering in Al-Sayyid where conversation flows freely in six languages: English, Hebrew, Arabic, American Sign Language, Israeli Sign Language and the local sign language. Fox takes readers on a fascinating tour of deaf communication, clearly explaining difficult concepts, and effortlessly introducing readers to a silent world where communication is anything but slow and awkward. (Aug. 21)
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New York Times reporter and linguist Fox joined a team of researchers as they traveled to a remote Bedouin village in Israel to record a unique sign language developed over generations. The language, used by deaf and hearing alike, afforded the researchers the ideal conditions for studying a "virgin sign" language, one developed through isolation and heredity, passed down through three generations. Fox recounts the experience of learning and adapting to a new culture—the Bedouin and the signing—as the researchers share meals, lodging, and common experiences with the families they encounter. Fox interweaves the research expedition with the long history of the politics and science behind the study of sign language and human language in general. Drawing on research by linguists, psychologists, and neurologists, Fox reveals the complexity of sign language and the efforts by the deaf to communicate with each other and the hearing. She recalls the contributions of pioneers, including Gallaudet College, Noam Chomsky, and Ursula Bellugi, as well as the Bedouins in their remote village, preserving a beautiful and expressive language. Bush, Vanessa