Three attorneys and three linguistics scholars contribute five essays focusing on the intersection of language and law in deaf communities. Coverage includes the language problems of minorities in legal settings, the interrogation of deaf people, interpretation issues for juries that include deaf pe

This is a unified collection of the best and most current empirical studies of socio-linguistic issues in the deaf community, including topics such as studies of sign language variation, language contact and change, and sign language policy. Established linguistic concerns with deaf language are reexamined and redefined, and several new issues of general importance to all sociolinguists are raised and explored. This is a book which interests all sociolinguists as well as deaf professionals, teachers of the deaf, sign language interpreters, and anyone else dealing on a day-to-day basis with the everyday language choices that deaf persons must make. This is a unified collection of the best and most current empirical studies of sociolinguistic issues in the deaf community, including topics such as: - Studies of Sign Language Variation - Language contact and Change - Sign Language Policy - Language Attitudes - Sign Language Discourse Analysis

This book provides an up-to-date overview of the main areas of the sociolinguistics of sign languages.

Eight studies demonstrate the diverse patterns by which deaf people around the world interact with their hearing societies, and document changing attitudes among the deaf about their role in society. The topics include a village in Indonesia with so many deaf people that hearing people are fluent in both sign and spoken languages; variation in signing among gays, lesbians, and bisexuals; bilingual deaf education in Venezuela; visually constructed dialogue with young students; the interrogative in Italian Sign Language; and American Sign Language as a truly foreign language no more difficult to learn than any other. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Hill's new study shows various contradictions in the use of signed languages by exploring the linguistic and social factors that govern such stereotypical perceptions of social groups about signing differences.

This edited book presents an detailed analysis of the experience of deaf people as a bilingual-bicultural minority group in America. An overview of mainstream research on bilingualism and biculturalism is followed by specific research and conceptual analyses which examine the impact of cultural and language diversity on the experiences of deaf people. The book ends with poignant personal reflections from deaf community members. The contributors include prominent deaf and hearing experts in bilingualism, ASL and Deaf culture, and deaf education.

Describes language contact in the deaf community within the larger context of studies of language contact. This book reviews issues and research on language contact. It discusses the educational and teaching implications of findings with regard to language contact in the deaf community.