Chafe's theory of generative semantics, which uses spoken language for illustration, can be applied to American Sign Language in two ways: to combat the erroneous assumption that sign languages simply represent spoken language in visible form and to explain various parts of the grammar of American Sign Language. (MSE)

As most deaf individuals experience two languages (American Sign Language, English) and three modalities (sign, speech, print), this article describes code variations and adaptations in particular situations at a school for the deaf. Most language was mixed in both code and mode; such mixing was seen to be a strategy which uniquely adapts…

Reports on a study of the status of sign language in universities and colleges that offer major concentration in education of the deaf. Results show that there is no standard for or consistency in the place of sign language at schools offering majors in the education of the deaf. (SED)

The use to and by 40 hearing impaired students (3 to 18 years old) of speech, signs, fingerspelling, writing, gestures, American Sign Language, and pictures was investigated. Findings of a nationwide study were combined with local data to make recommendations for a program concentrating on modes, usage, flexibility, and cognitive/linguistic…

Two deaf children of deaf parents were studied over a period of several years for their acquisition of "-ing", "-'s"; "-s", "-d", and the particle "to." Although the children soon perceived the signed forms of these morphemes, they were slow to understand the function of the morphemes. (Author/LMO)

Discusses the special problems of interpreting hymns written in archaic English and then matching words of a translation to music. Addresses the question of whether competence in ASL and knowledge of signs for religious terms are sufficient for hymns to be of value to deaf worshippers. (EKN)

Examination of a profoundly deaf child's fingerspelling in more than 100 hours of interaction videotaped at intervals over six years revealed a gradual acquisition of the rules for fingerspelling and knowledge of the relation of fingerspelling to signs and to printed and spoken words. (Author/CB)

A study examined whether deaf high school students' written English reflects their teachers' use of English sign markers in simultaneous communication by comparing the teachers' signed story with the students' interpretation. The students' output and teachers' input differed only in ways familiar from research on children's imitation and semantic…

Thirty audiologists, speech pathologists, educators of the deaf, and language teachers were asked to sort 60 compositions written by signing and nonsigning deaf students and by English as a second language (ESL) students. The professionals could not sort the compositions correctly but tended to attribute lower quality texts to deaf signers.…

A review of the research about languages, modes of expression, and usage rules and related cultural, linguistic, physiological, and sociopolitical issues concludes that more research is needed before any one method of communication can be recommended above others for the effective education of deaf children. (134 references) (CB)

Longitudinal study of a deaf child's (with deaf signing and speaking parents) speech functions revealed that the child, before age three, rarely attempted speech imitation. By age five, the child had acquired new words through speechreading and had adjusted language modes to listener needs for flexible communication, and speech behavior assumed…

Deaf and hearing children at two grade levels (fourth and eighth) provided written texts for an analysis of text structure and quality. Deaf writers used as many cohesive devices as hearing writers but used fewer different lexical terms per device. The deaf children's texts are discussed in terms of possible language transference. (66 references)…

Introduce articles which were first presented at the Annual Forum for Ethnography in Education at the University of Pennsylvania in 1984. The articles try to analyze what happens in the education of the deaf, what is experienced by the different parties involved, and the impact of these experiences on deaf children. (SED)

Analysis of hearing-impaired adolescents' signed and written sentences expressing simple locative state relations found noun reversal and pragmatic focus errors in 7 percent of signed and 15 percent of written responses. Most errors were produced by profoundly hearing-impaired signers attending public day school. (Author/CB)