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\"Utilizing 1,150 sign illustrations and historical texts, this reference presents the detailed account of the origins of more than 500 ASL signs, including regional variations\"-- Provided by publisher.

In Language in Hand: Why Sign Came Before Speech, William C. Stokoe begins his exploration of the origin of human language with a 2400-year-old quote by Democritus: “Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity.” Stokoe capitalizes upon this simple credo in this far-ranging examination of the scholarly topography to support his formula for the development of language in humans: gesture-to-language-to-speech. Intrinsic to this is the proposition that speech is sufficient for language, but not necessary. Chance brought human ancestors down from the trees to the ground, freeing their hands for gesture, and then sign language, a progression that came from the necessity to communicate. Stokoe recounts in Language in Hand how inspiration grew out of his original discovery in the 1950s and ’60s that deaf people who signed were using a true language with constructions that did not derive from spoken English. This erudite, highly engaging investigation calls upon decades of personal experience and published research to refute the recently entrenched principles that humans have a special, innate learning faculty for language and that speech equates with language. Integrating current findings in linguistics, semiotics, and anthropology, Stokoe fashions a closely-reasoned argument that suggests how our human ancestors’ powers of observation and natural hand movements could have evolved into signed morphemes. Stokoe also proposes how the primarily gestural expression of language with vocal support shifted to primarily vocal language with gestural accompaniment. When describing this transition, however, he never loses sight of the significance of humans in the natural world and the role of environmental stimuli in the development of language. Stokoe illustrates this contention with fascinating observations of small, contemporary ethnic groups such as the Assiniboin Nakotas, a Native American group from Montana that intermingle their spoken and signed languages depending upon cultural imperatives. Language in Hand also presents innovative thoughts on classifiers in American Sign Language and their similarity to certain spoken languages, convincing evidence that speech originally copied sign language forms before developing unrelated conventions through usage. Stokoe concludes with a hypothesis on how the acceptance of sign language as the first language of humans could revolutionize the education of infants, both deaf and hearing, who, like early humans, have the full capacity for language without speech.

For over 25 years in some countries and more recently in others, bilingual education involving sign language and the written/spoken vernacular has been considered an essential educational intervention for deaf children. With the recent growth in universal newborn hearing screening and technological advances such as digital hearing aids and cochlear implants, however, more deaf children than ever before have the potential for acquiring spoken language. As a result, the question arises as to the role of sign language and bilingual education for deaf children, particularly those who are very young. On the basis of recent research and fully recognizing the historical sensitivity of this issue, we suggest that language planning and language policy should be revisited in an effort to ensure that they are appropriate for the increasingly diverse population of deaf children.

The common narrative about signing in North America starts in 1817 when Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc founded a school for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, providing the birthplace for American Sign Language. But long before ASL emerged, Indigenous peoples had been signing here for generations. Hand Talk , the collective term for Indigenous signed languages of North America, is used by both deaf and hearing members of Indigenous communities across the continent. The goal of this article is to raise awareness of Hand Talk, and to encourage individuals to share their knowledge of Hand Talk in contexts where they previously did not. By making Hand Talk a part of our shared understanding of signing in North America, we will improve opportunities for language reclamation efforts and repair the history of signing that is rooted in this land.

The past three decades of activism for linguistic human rights (Skutnabb-Kangas 2000) have witnessed examples of language planning by various national and supranational actors in national and international spaces, with an exchange of ideas and strategies employed by national, regional, and worldwide organizations. In many countries a key goal of deaf-led advocacy organizations has been promotion of the right to use sign language in a variety of settings, from those involving the larger society to those surrounding deaf children’s use of sign language. These organizations maintain that this is a core right, one that can ensure that deaf people are able to fully participate in society at large. This article traces the formation of a sign language– based human rights discourse by deaf communities and outlines what appear to be the main tenets of this discourse. It examines the historical period preceding the era of sign language legislation to explain why a particular form of language planning—status planning—figures so prominently in legislative measures to date. The application of this discourse can be seen in an overview of the legal recognition of sign language in subnational, national, and international settings. A look at research on the outcomes of existing legislation (and legislative efforts) reveals that subsequent outcomes have not fully realized deaf organizations’ stated linguistic human rights goals. A specific failure noted by deaf organizations is that current legislation has not brought about legally codified sign language rights for deaf children.

Recent research has shown that a distinct variety of American Sign Language, known as Black ASL, developed in the segregated schools for deaf African Americans in the US South during the pre-civil rights era. Research has also shown that in some respects Black ASL is closer than most white varieties to the standard taught in ASL classes and found in ASL dictionaries. This article explores the circumstances that resulted in the creation of a distinct ASL variety, with attention to the role of language in education policy in both the white and Black Southern schools for the deaf. Archival research shows that while white deaf students were long subjected to oral instruction and forbidden to sign in class, Black students, although their severely underfunded schools provided only basic vocational education, continued to receive their education in ASL, with classes often taught by deaf teachers. The differences in language education policy explain the difficulties Black students experienced in understanding their teachers and white classmates after integration occurred, despite great resistance, in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the fact that Black signers from the South, particularly older Black signers, are more likely than their white counterparts to use traditional features.

This article offers a brief overview of historical linguistics and explores the value of historical sign linguistics. The specific focus of the article is on the question of the extent to which the concept of “sign language families” is a legitimate and useful one. It is suggested that although lateral transmission and interference may account for a great deal of the similarity between and among sign languages, descent from a common linguistic ancestor (as in the cases of American Sign Language and French Sign Language) can also often be documented. It is observed that sign languages seem to change at a much more rapid rate than do spoken languages, but this is suggested to have at least as much to do with factors such as the intragenerational transmission of most sign languages as any other variable. Finally, it is argued that regardless of its status in historical linguistics more generally, lexicostatistics has consistently been demonstrated to be a powerful methodological tool in understanding the relationships between and among different sign languages.

While current debates oppose the cochlear implant's privileging of speech acquisition to teaching sign language, nineteenth-century debates, in contrast, opposed those who saw sign language as a tool for learning to read and write, and those who saw in it an autonomous language for organizing thought itself. Should the order of gestural signs follow written syntax? Or should it have its own coherence, that is, possibly a different syntax and order of enunciation? Starting with these questions, distinct teaching legacies developed, specifying which kinds of signs to use in which context and what role signs were to fulfill. This article focuses on French deaf and hearing teachers whose positions were influential throughout Europe and the United States, moving from Abbé de l'Epée's 1784 method to Rémi Valade's 1854 publication of the first sign language grammar.

Abstract   Migrants come from countries with varying vaccination coverage, but ensuring equitable access to vaccines-crucial for preventing infectious diseases and reducing morbidity and mortality-remains a major challenge. The Vaccination Service (VS) of ASL Roma 4 has implemented targeted and inclusive vaccination initiatives: some organized periodically in collaboration with municipalities, the Italian Red Cross, the Community of Sant'Egidio, Caritas, and other local organizations; others directly within two Extraordinary Reception Centers (CAS). The CAS in Allumiere hosts women and children (75 guests, including 25 minors), while the one in Fiano Romano accommodates adult men (about 150 guests). The high turnover of guests, with frequent arrivals and departures, makes vaccination planning and delivery complex. The main objective is to ensure timely, fair, and sustainable vaccine access for all migrants in the CAS through a replicable operational model. The VS developed an efficient system: the ASL's foreign clinic promptly reports new arrivals for constant monitoring. Allumiere CAS guests are invited to dedicated vaccination sessions at the city clinic, where they are welcomed by VS staff and cultural mediators. In Fiano, VS staff reach the CAS using a mobile vaccination van, overcoming logistical barriers. All forms-medical history, consent, privacy, and vaccination-are translated into multiple languages. From April 2024 to February 2025, 100 of 150 migrants in Fiano were vaccinated, with 109 doses administered. In Allumiere, all 25 minors received mandatory and recommended vaccines, essential for school enrollment. Vaccinating the center staff further strengthened collective protection. The experience confirms the effectiveness of flexible strategies. Thanks to the trust that has been built, the migrants of the Allumiere CAS now spontaneously access the vaccination clinic for their children, accompanied by the center's staff member, during regular sessions. Key messages • Building trust through inclusive strategies enables migrants to independently access vaccination services. • Flexible and collaborative models improve vaccine equity in multicultural settings.

The emergence of a national sign language in Trinidad and Tobago can be traced back to the first deaf school, which was opened in the 1940s. This article describes some of the ways in which signing in the country has been shaped by changing educational practices, and complex, multi-modal language contact. At various stages, Trinidad and Tobago Sign Language has been influenced by BSL, the ASL manual alphabet, ASL, English, and Trinidad English Creole. The article traces the emergence of new forms, the modification of existing ones, and the disappearance of others. It argues that understanding the emergence of the language can help clarify issues of variation, and correct misrepresentations that erase important aspects of the history of the Trinbagonian Deaf community.