Interest in British Sign Language (BSL) is growing at a fantastic rate, and classes for hearing people are mushrooming all over the country. This lively introduction to the principles of the language and its vocabulary will therefore be widely welcomed, giving a vivid insight into a form of communication that can appear quite difficult for those whose first language is English.As the author takes pains to stress, BSL is not a mimed version of English. Equally rich and complex, it is visual, gestural and spatial, able to convey information and subtleties of meaning as fluently as any spoken language. Once learners have ceased to think in terms of individual words, they will come to revel in a language that involves the whole person: facial and bodily expression and movement, eye contact and gaze, lip pattern and the fluid movements of the signs themselves, all combining to form an integrated language system with rules of its own.Using detailed drawings throughout to illustrate the nuances of meaning, the author groups the signs according to type, introducing each theme and showing how facial expressions, hand and finger movements and placements are used and combined to vary the sense of what is being communicated. Her aim is to equip the reader with a basic understanding of the principles of sign language and a working knowledge of its vocabulary.In an ideal world BSL would be part of every school's curriculum, whether the pupils were deaf or not, thus giving deaf people the status in society which is their right. Meanwhile, this book will make an important contribution to the growing interest in learning the language, so that more and more people will appreciate that signs really do make sense.

The New York Times bestseller that helps you explore whether romance is in the stars. Linda Goodman’s Love Signs addresses the question asked by everyone familiar with astrology: How do I relate to someone of another sign? Each sign is “related” to the twelve signs of the zodiac in a different and unique way. Each section addresses the differences for a male and a female with the same sign matches. This is an updated edition of Linda Goodman’s lively bestseller, which has introduced millions to the concept of astrological compatibility. “What seems to set Goodman’s books apart from other stargazing guides is their knowledgeable approach and comprehensive reach.” —Newsweek

From reviews for the bestselling Danish edition: "... dashing and idiomatic language that is a pleasure to read." -- Berlingske Tidende "... an appetizer and eye opener... Hoffmeyer is a modernistic pioneer in the wide open spaces of the natural sciences... " -- Politiken "... extremely well written and interesting manifesto for a bioanthropology... " -- Inf. "It should be read by anyone who likes to be wiser and at the same time to be challenged in his habitual conception of the relations between culture and nature." -- Weekend Avisen On this tour of the universe of signs, Jesper Hoffmeyer travels back to the Big Bang, visits the tiniest places deep within cells, and ends his journey with us -- complex organisms capable of speech and reason. What propels this journey is Hoffmeyer's attempt to discover how nature could come to mean something to someone -- by telling the story of how cells, tissue, organs, plants, animals, even entire ecosystems communicate by signs and signals.

'Sign Language Companion' aims to help young people become more fluent in British Sign Language by presenting signs that link ideas and concepts, and enabling students to construct their own combinations in everyday conversations.

Although we may not think we notice them, storefronts and their signage are meaningful, and the impact they have on people is significant. What the Signs Say argues that the public language of storefronts is a key component to the creation of the place known as Brooklyn, New York. Using a sample of more than two thousand storefronts and over a decade of ethnographic observation and interviews, the study charts two very different types of local Brooklyn retail signage. The unique and consistent features of many words, large lettering, and repetition that make up Old School signage both mark and produce an inclusive and open place. In contrast, the linguistic elements of New School signage, such as brevity and wordplay, signal not only the arrival of gentrification, but also the remaking of Brooklyn as distinctive and exclusive. Shonna Trinch and Edward Snajdr, a sociolinguist and an anthropologist respectively, show how the beliefs and ideas that people take as truths about language and its speakers are deployed in these different sign types. They also present in-depth ethnographic case studies that reveal how gentrification and corporate redevelopment in Brooklyn are intimately connected to public communication, literacy practices, the transformation of motherhood and gender roles, notions of historical preservation, urban planning, and systems of privilege. Far from peripheral or irrelevant, shop signs say loud and clear that language displayed in public always matters.

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Making Sense explores the experiential, ethical, and intellectual stakes of living in, and thinking with, worlds wherein language cannot be taken for granted. In Nepal, many deaf signers use Nepali Sign Language (NSL), a young, conventional signed language. The majority of deaf Nepalis, however, use what NSL signers call natural sign. Natural sign involves conventional and improvisatory signs, many of which recruit semiotic relations immanent in the social and material world. These features make conversation in natural sign both possible and precarious. Sense-making in natural sign depends on signers' skillful use of resources and on addressees' willingness to engage. Natural sign reveals the labor of sense-making that in more conventional language is carried by shared grammar. Ultimately, this highly original book shows that emergent language is an ethical endeavor, challenging readers to consider what it means, and what it takes, to understand and to be understood.

Learn sign language alongside your baby with this adorable storybook for ages 0 to 3 Story time is the perfect time to practice sign language with your child. My First Book of Baby Signs is part storybook and part sign language guide, designed to encourage you and your baby to learn new words and signs as you read together. Practice communicating with important, everyday signs for everything from basics like “eat,” “milk,” and “mommy” to more advanced ideas like “help,” “potty,” and “I love you.” This book makes it fun and easy to learn helpful baby signs with: Storybook style—Each sign is paired with engaging text and charming illustrations of diverse families to help depict the meaning of the word. Interactive learning—Every page includes written and visual instructions that demonstrate how to sign properly and allow you and your baby to learn and practice together. 40 real ASL signs—These signs are the accurate and up-to-date versions from American Sign Language, and you’ll even find a guide to the full alphabet and basic numbers. This book of baby signs is the perfect way to start communicating with your baby before they learn to speak.