Linguistics of American Sign Language, 5th Ed.: An Introduction / Edition 5

by Clayton Valli, Ceil Lucas, Kristin J. Mulrooney, Miako Villanueva

Overview

Completely reorganized to reflect the growing intricacy of the study of ASL linguistics, the 5th edition presents 26 units in seven parts. Part One: Introduction presents a revision of Defining Language and an entirely new unit, Defining Linguistics. Part Two: Phonology has been completely updated with new terminology and examples. The third part, Morphology, features units on building new signs, deriving nouns from verbs, compounds, fingerspelling, and numeral incorporation. Part Four: Syntax includes units on basic sentence types, lexical categories, word order, time and aspect, verbs, and the function of space. The fifth part, Semantics, offers updates on the meanings of individual signs and sentences.

Part Six: Language in Use showcases an entirely new section on Black ASL in the unit on Variation and Historical Change. The units on bilingualism and language and ASL discourse have been thoroughly revised and updated, and the Language as Art unit has been enhanced with a new section on ASL in film. Two new readings update Part Seven, and all text illustrations have been replaced by video stills from the expanded video content. Also, signs described only with written explanations in past editions now have both photographic samples in the text and full demonstrations in the video.

You can find the supplemental video content on the Gallaudet University Press YouTube channel.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781563685071
Publisher:	Gallaudet University Press
Publication date:	08/31/2011
Edition description:	Fifth edition
Pages:	596
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Ceil Lucas is Professor Emerita of Linguistics at Gallaudet University.

Table of Contents

	Preface to the Third Edition	xi
	Acknowledgments	xiii
	Introduction	xv
Part 1	Basic Concepts
	Basic Concepts	1
Part 2	Phonology
Unit 1	Signs Have Parts	19
Unit 2	The Stokoe System	25
Unit 3	The Concept of Sequentiality in the Description of Signs	30
Unit 4	The Movement-Hold Model	37
Unit 5	Phonological Processes	42
Unit 6	Summary	47
Part 3	Morphology
Unit 1	Phonology vs. Morphology	51
Unit 2	Deriving Nouns from Verbs in ASL	53
Unit 3	Compounds	58
Unit 4	Lexicalized Fingerspelling and Loan Signs	64
Unit 5	Numeral Incorporation	72
Unit 6	The Function of Space in ASL	76
Unit 7	Classifier Predicates and Locative Verbs	78
Unit 8	Classifier Predicates and Signer Perspective	88
Unit 9	Subject-Object Agreement	93
Unit 10	Pronouns and Determiners	101
Unit 11	Temporal Aspect	107
Unit 12	Derivational and Inflectional Morphology	112
Unit 13	Time in ASL	115
Part 4	Syntax
Unit 1	Definitions	121
Unit 2	Simple Sentences with Plain Verbs	132
Unit 3	Simple Sentences with Agreement Verbs	136
Unit 4	Basic Sentence Types	139
Part 5	Semantics
Unit 1	The Meaning of Individual Signs	149
Unit 2	The Meaning of Sentences	159
Part 6	Language in Use
Unit 1	Variation and Historical Change	167
Unit 2	ASL Discourse	175
Unit 3	Bilingualism and Language Contact	183
Unit 4	Language as Art	190
Part 7	Supplemental Readings
	Analyzing Signs	199
File 4	Introduction: What Do You Know When You Know a Language	219
File 5	Introduction: Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Rules of Grammar	223
File 6	Introduction: Arbitrariness in Language	226
	Signs Have Parts: A Simple Idea	231
	Introduction from A Dictionary of American Sign Language	243
File 20	Phonetics: The Sounds of Speech	259
File 30	Phonology: The Value of Sounds: Phonemes	262
	American Sign Language: The Phonological Base	267
File 40	Morphology: The Minimal Units of Meaning: Morphemes	307
File 42	Morphology: The Hierarchical Structure of Words	311
File 43	Morphology: Word Formation Processes	314
	The Confluence of Space and Language in Signed Languages	318
	A Class of Determiners in ASL	347
	Syntax: Sentences and Their Structure	354
	Syntax: The Study of Sentence Structure	358
	Semantics: The Study of Meaning	374
File 120	Regional Variation: The Origin of American Dialects	389
File 123	Regional Variation: Variation at Different Levels	392
	Analyzing Variation in Sign Languages: Theoretical and Methodological Issues	394
	Sociolinguistic Aspects of the Black Deaf Community	416
	Toward a Description of Register Variation in American Sign Language	429
	Features of Discourse in an American Sign Language Lecture	443
	Language Contact in the American Deaf Community	458

Editorial Reviews

An undergraduate text on American Sign Language (ASL) structure, covering phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and language in use. Each unit provides an exercise requiring students to view and analyze a story on videotape. There is a 250-page section of supplemental readings. This third edition incorporates new findings in the field since 1995, and features discussion of the creation of iconic signs in ASL. Also new to this edition is discussion of the artistic forms of ASL, including storytelling, percussion signing, drama, comedy, and poetry. Valli formerly taught at Gallaudet University. Lucas teaches linguistics at Gallaudet University. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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