"Dictionary of all know texts featuring illustrations of early American Sign Language and historical images of French Sign language and linking them with contemporary signs"--

"This study investigates the origins of American Sign Language, its evolution from French Sign Language, and evidence about the word formation process of ASL, including data from the 19th and early 20th century dictionaries as well as the Gallaudet Lecture Films."--

Introducing the first revised edition to the original and most extensive pocket-size American Sign Language dictionary ever published. Included are more than 2,500 of the most widely used words, phrases and idioms in the language, with easy-to-follow illustrations of the hand, arm and facial movements that express each one. Completely updated and modernized, this monumental work introduces 500 new signs that have recently been added to the evolving American Sign Language lexicon.

How meaning works—from monkey calls to human language, from spoken language to sign language, from gestures to music—and how meaning is connected to truth. We communicate through language, connecting what we mean to the words we say. But humans convey meaning in other ways as well, with facial expressions, hand gestures, and other methods. Animals, too, can get their meanings across without words. In What It All Means, linguist Philippe Schlenker explains how meaning works, from monkey calls to human language, from spoken language to sign language, from gestures to music. He shows that these extraordinarily diverse types of meaning can be studied and compared within a unified approach—one in which the notion of truth plays a central role. “It’s just semantics” is often said dismissively. But Schlenker shows that semantics—the study of meaning—is an unsung success of modern linguistics, a way to investigate some of the deepest questions about human nature using tools from the empirical and formal sciences. Drawing on fifty years of research in formal semantics, Schlenker traces how meaning comes to life. After investigating meaning in primate communication, he explores how human meanings are built, using in some cases sign languages as a guide to the workings of our inner “logic machine.” Schlenker explores how these meanings can be enriched by iconicity in sign language and by gestures in spoken language, and then turns to more abstract forms of iconicity to understand the meaning of music. He concludes by examining paradoxes, which—being neither true nor false—test the very limits of meaning.

Amerikansk tegnsprogsordbog.