This book provides a study of the communication and culture of deaf people, particularly among a community of the deaf in Britain. The authors' goal is to inform educators, psychologists, linguists, and professionals working with deaf people about the rich language the deaf have developed for themselves--a language of movement and space, of the hands and the eyes, of abstract communication as well as iconic story-telling. Early chapters discuss the history of sign language use, its social aspects and the issues surrounding the language acquisition of deaf children. The book's core examines the linguistic and psychological study of British Sign Language and compares and contrasts it with other signed languages. The book concludes with an examination of the applications of sign language research, particularly to education.

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"...a major contribution to the literature on the social psychology of deafness and the linguistic bases of BSL and will be of definite interest to students of language and to anyone working with deaf people. As most of the findings it reports were unknown just 10 years ago, it is an impressive achievement." Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography

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Product details

• Date Published: February 1988
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9780521357173
• length: 328 pages

• dimensions: 233 x 153 x 26 mm
• weight: 0.48kg
• availability: Available