William Stokoe Jr

In 1955 Stokoe, a linguist, became fascinated with American Sign Language, the language of the deaf, when he went to teach English at Washington DC's Gallaudet University. At the time, deaf students were expected to learn from writing and lip reading. Long thought to be simple gestures that mimicked spoken English, when Stokoe watched students communicate among themselves by signing he realized ASL was a language unto itself, with its own vocabulary and grammar. In 1960, his book Sign Language Structure was published, and four years later he co-wrote A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles. These new scholarly studies gave ASL new respect, and ended its banishment in schools for the deaf. Stokoe died April 4 at home in Chevy Chase, Md. He was 80. From This is True for 9 April 2000 Suggestions for further reading: Teach Your Baby to Sign: An Illustrated Guide to Simple Sign Language for Babies by Monica Beyer Amazon Price: $12.21 Customer Review: I am a speech-language pathologist and am asked all the time, "Wont signing get in the way of my little one learning to talk?" NO--EMPHATICALLY NO! In fact, adding in sign PROMOTES spoken language! There are too many articles to cite here to back me ...   Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk, Third Edition by Linda Acredolo, Susan Goodwyn, Doug Abrams Amazon Price: $11.53 Customer Review: Our son is only eight months old right now, but one of the book testimonials indicated that it's a good time to start teaching him. He's starting to pick up on some of the simpler signs. I'm very excited about this process.   Barron's 500 Flash Cards of American Sign Language by Geoffrey S. Poor Amazon Price: $16.49 Customer Review: Good design. Honestly described. Box is quite serviceable. Indexing is functional. I have enjoyed using them. Would that there was a companion set with another 500 signs.   Talking With Your Hands, Listening With Your Eyes: A Complete Photographic Gu... by Gabriel Grayson Amazon Price: $17.79 Customer Review: This book is superb showing the Sign as well as describing it. I am learning as a hearing person. No matter who you are, this is a great learning tool.   Signing Illustrated (Revised Edition): The Complete Learning Guide by Mickey Flodin Amazon Price: $11.02 Customer Review: While this book is not a "conversational" book, it is an excellent beginners tool. You will not begin by learning phrases that could be used in conversation, but rather will learn signs centered around a theme. This approach helps a lot with memori...   Newsfeed display by CaRP

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