- Benderly, B.L. (1980) Dancing Without Music: Deafness in America, Gallaudet University Press: Washington, D.C.
- A fascinating book written at the time when public awareness of Deaf culture in the US
was first emerging. The chapter on "Talking to the Eyes" is particularly helpful for a hearing person
trying to grasp some rudimentary knowledge of the nature of ASL.
- Klima, E. & Bellugi, U. (1979) The Signs of Language, Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.
- A classic text on the linguistics of ASL. Klima and Bellugi provide lots of examples that illustrate
the grammatical regularity and complexity of ASL. The first chapter clearly disabuses the reader
of the notion that ASL is an iconic language that depends on pantomime.
- Lane, H. (1984) When the Mind Hears: A History of the Deaf, Random House: New York.
- The title of this massive history of Deafness is taken from Hugo, "What matters deafness of the ear, when the mind hears. The one
true deafness, the incurable deafness, is that of the mind." This book sets out the whole sordid tale
of Deaf education.
- Lane, H., Hoffmeister, R., & Bahan, B. (1996) A Journey into the DEAF-WORLD, DawnSignPress: San Diego, CA.
- A recent book that gives a more current view of Deaf culture. The chapter on Language
and Literacy contains a clear and useful description of the various combinations of ASL and English
Sign that have been devised for educational purposes.
- Neisser, A. (1983) The Other Side of Silence, Gallaudet University Press:Washington, DC.
- A good read that provides the reader with insight into the history and politics of Deaf education in the
US. The chapter on "Apeing Language" is riveting and recasts the whole talking apes question
in a way that reveals the large role played by the scientists misconceptions about the nature
of sign language.
- Poizner, H., Klima, E.S., Bellugi, U. (1990) What the Hands Reveal About the Brain, MIT Press:Cambridge, MA.
- These authors provide neuropsychological case study material and analysis to demonstrate that sign languages
have the same form of brain representation as spoken languages: they are lateralized, generally to the
left side of the brain, and can be selectively impaired. Damage to
Broca's area results in slow signing where most grammatical inflections are
omitted. In contrast, damage to Wernicke's area leaves signers signing fluently
and rapidly, but making little sense, and experiencing great difficulty
understanding others' signs.
- Petitto, L.A. & Marentette, P.F. (1991) Babbling in the manual mode:
Evidence for the ontogeny of language, Science, 251,1493-1496
- A concise paper that makes it clear that the phenomenon of babbling is important for language development and is not
restricted to the auditory mode. Babies who are surrounded by ASL babble with their hands.
Further, their
babbling developed through the same sequence the vocal babbling of hearing
infants and on a similar time course. Hearing children produce "vocal jargon
babbling" (meaningless jargon babbling that sounds like sentences) at 12-14 months;
similarly the deaf infants produced manual jargon babbling: they produced
possible but nonexistent forms in the ASL lexicon, mimicing its patterns of stress
and and rhythm. There was continuity between the syllabic forms used in the deaf
infants' manual babble and their first signs.
- Rymer, R. (1988) Signs of Fluency, The Sciences, September/October, 5-7.
- A short piece by a science writer that describes some recent work of Elissa Newport and Sam Supalla.
It gives a good sense of their day to day laboratory work, and the excitement of constructing
linguistic research on ASL. Rymer describes the "verbs of motion" test which gives the reader
an inkling of the grammatical complexity of ASL and its radically spatial nature.
- Sacks, O. (1989) Seeing Voices, University of California Press: Berkeley.
- Sacks writes with his characteristic elegance and grace in this fascinating exploration
of sign language, the brain, and culture. Section 1 covers the history of Deafness in an
accessible and brief fashion. Section 2 contains extended discussion of brain and language through the
lens of sign language. Sacks presentation of case studies of relevance to the critical period for
language acquisition is admirably clear and engaging. Section 3 informs us about a political event
in the DEAF-WORLD: the student protest that resulted in the appointment of the first Deaf president
of Gallaudet University.
- Wright, D. (1969) Deafness, Stein and Day: New York.
- A beautifully written autobiographical account by a man who became Deaf postlingually
and experienced a completely oral education.