American Sign Language: A History

Thesis: Exploring the evolution of American Sign Language and how it has developed into the language it is today.

I. Introduction

II. Signed Languages: A Brief Overview

    A. What is Sign Language?

    B. How Long Have Signed Languages Been in Existence?

    C. Is Sign Language the Same Throughout the World?

III. American Sign Language: The Beginning

    A. Pierre Desloges Publishes Book About Deaf

    B. Abbe de l’Epee Develops New Sign Language Method

    C. Gallaudet and Clerc Bring Sign Language to U.S.

    D. Deaf Education is established in the U.S.

IV. Sign Language Flourishes

    A. New Schools for the Deaf are Established

    B. A Single Signed “Dialect” is Recognized

    C. Edward Miner Gallaudet Founds Gallaudet University

V. Sign Language Faces Oppression

    A. Rise of Oralism and Stifling of Sign Language

    B. Negative Attitudes Regarding Sign Language

    C. Congress of Milan and Abolishment of Sign Language

    D. Sign Language is Forced Underground

VI. Sign Language: the Resurgence

    A. Immigration and Subsequent Multiculturalism

    B. The 1960’s and its Influence on Deaf Culture

    C. William Stokoe Proves that Sign is a Language

VII. American Sign Language Today

    A. Interest in ASL Awakens and Grows

    B. Deaf Theater and the Arts

VIII. Conclusion
 

Since it's founding, the United States of America has always been synonymous with hope and opportunity. From the landing of the Mayflower on Plymouth Rock to the immigration movement of the early twentieth century, scores of people have risked life and limb in order to set foot on the shores of New York Harbor and catch a glimpse of Lady Liberty in all her beauty and glory. To these hopeful dreamers, America is more than just a nation – it symbolizes a dream where anyone can accomplish anything they desire, provided they have a mind to work and a will to make it happen. For some unfortunate souls, however, this vision of utopia fades to nothing more than a vapor when these desperate souls are faced with the cruel splendor of reality. Oftentimes it’s the innocent who fall through the crags of the system, all but forgotten by a world that is spinning too fast to stop and give them a helping hand. For those unfortunate enough to be labeled as “disabled” or “handicapped” - such as the deaf - this has frequently been the norm rather than the exception.

Traditionally and throughout history, the deaf have been the world’s forgotten - ignored, cast aside, isolated, and
even put in asylums. Relentlessly persecuted and all too often isolated from the hearing world around them, perhaps it is for this reason that the deaf have developed such close knit relationships unto themselves, even to the point of having their own community and culture. Throughout the centuries and despite overwhelming odds, time and time again the deaf have succeeded in adapting and overcoming any obstacle that comes their way. The contributions the deaf have made to society, though often overlooked and ignored, have not only enriched the deaf but the hearing world as well. Their biggest and most valuable contribution, without a doubt, has been the development and evolution of their own unique language – sign language.

What is sign language? According to George W. Veditz, seventh president of the National Association of the Deaf, sign language is “the noblest gift God has given to deaf people” (Gannon 359). To other individuals, however, sign language is not even considered a language at all, but rather a series of gestures, mime, and body language. While it is true that signed languages depend more on visual aids than do spoken ones (such as facial expression and eye movement), many are naïve to the fact that true signed languages also have their own grammar, syntax, and structure in the same way spoken languages do. In fact, it is these visual aids that contribute greatly to the structure of the language itself, in much the same way spoken languages depend on voice inflection, pauses, etc. to convey emotion and expression. In other words, just as spoken languages combine both physical and audible elements (such as pronunciation and voice inflection), signed languages also combine physical and visual cues (such as signs and facial expression) to convey meaning.

There are different schools of thought as to just how long signed languages have been in existence. Some claim they can be traced back to around 530 A.D. when Italian Benedictine monks, having taken a vow of silence, used sign language in order to communicate with one another (Gannon 359). Others,such as William Stokoe, former Professor of Gallaudet University and the founding editor of "Sign Language Studies", believed that man did not even evolve the capacity for speech until well after he was already using signs to communicate:

             “A species already in command of language in kinetic and visible form had hundreds of thousands of years to adapt guttural, oral, and nasal physiology for making sounds different enough to represent each visible sign and its meaning. Using this dual-channel system of signs and speech, they would have connected the vocal signs and the visible signs to the same meanings. The conventional association of audible sign to meaning then survived the gradual disuse of the visible sign. Hands were now freed for other tasks, and speech predominated (Stokoe 103).”

Whichever theory one chooses to believe, however, the fact remains that man has never abandoned his need for visual communication, whether or not he communicates verbally. In fact, even today in many cultures both spoken and signed languages are used side by side, and given equal importance. One example is the Aboriginal tribe of the Warlpiri:

        “…the Warlpiri people in Aboriginal Australia treat their sign language and spoken language as equally valid, saying anything in one that they can say in the other; cultural rules indicate when it is appropriate to use each and who should do so (Stokoe 14).”

Another common misconception many have is that there is only one global sign language that is used throughout the world. Despite and somehow ignoring the fact that spoken languages number in the thousands, many that make the decision to learn sign language oftentimes have no idea which one they want to learn. Such new converts will simply state, “I want to learn sign language”, without realizing that signed languages are as unique and diverse throughout the world as spoken languages themselves. French Sign Language, British Sign Language, Swedish Sign Language, to name a few; each with their own unique pattern of development and style, and each similar enough to be recognized by the trained eye, yet diverse enough to not be understood by those who have not been properly trained. Indeed, spoken languages have evolved in much this same way. For example, a person might turn on the radio and recognize a Spanish broadcast; yet without knowledge of the Spanish language, the words are nothing but meaningless banter to the hearer. In much the same way, signed languages are somewhat distinguishable to those with a certain background and training, yet diverse enough to require an interpreter for these signs to be understood.

Just as Christopher Columbus was given credit for discovering America long after the natives were already living there, in much the same way there are certain individuals (mostly hearing) that have been given credit with “inventing” certain types of signed languages, despite the fact that the deaf have been communicating by sign for as long as they have been in existence. One cannot forget the contribution the deaf have made to modern sign language as we know it; yet all too often their efforts have been mentioned as either second place or merely a footnote in the annals of history. Men such as the Abbe l’Epee, Thomas and Edward Gallaudet – each owe their success to the hours of hard work and dedication the deaf have made in teaching them everything they know about their unique and beautiful language. Let us not forget this fact as we continue our journey through the evolution of American Sign Language.

While it is true that the term “American Sign Language” was not coined until the 1960s (Baynton 108), sign language in America has in fact been in existence for as long as there have been deaf in the United States. Communities such as the one in Martha’s Vineyard were home to many deaf individuals who were using signed languages to communicate with one another long before ASL was birthed in America. So, how did American Sign Language become the “official” sign language for American Deaf culture? Ironically, it did not originate in America at all, but in Europe – France, to be exact.

During the time of the French Enlightenment, a Parisian bookbinder by the name of Pierre Desloges published what could possibly be the first book written about the deaf by the deaf (Lane et al. 51). In his book, he defended the use of sign language in the face of criticism that stated deaf children should be forbidden to sign, and instead taught to speak. Desloge pointed out that Deaf Parisians indeed had a manual (signed) language long before even the French Sign Language came into existence (Lane et al. 52). It was these same deaf people that taught Charles Michel de l’Epee their language, who in turn used it “to integrate two apparently disparate forms of communication into an instructional medium that could express the full range of French syntax and vocabulary (Bornstein 2).” Using his knowledge of sign, along with some cues from the Spanish Manual Alphabet, Epee developed a method for teaching French deaf children, which came to be known as “Langue des Signes Francaise”, or FSL.

Charles Epee, or Abbe l’Eppe as he is commonly known, was a priest who dedicated his life to educating deaf children. He was not a man bound by the traditional ways of educating the deaf, but instead used his own novel approach of instruction. Instead of using pictures and words, Epee instead observed and learned the signs the deaf were using themselves, and used this as his method of instruction, along with inventing and adapting existing signs to correspond with the French language (Klima & Bellugi 67). He named this system “Old French Sign Language” (O-FSL) (Klima & Bellugi 68). The system was a success, and spread throughout other parts of Europe (with the exception of England, who still preferred the oral method).

After Epee’s death, this work was carried on by a man named Roch Ambroise Cucurron Sicard. Sicard, who had studied with Epee for a year, returned to Bordeaux to establish his own school for the deaf (Lane et al. 54). Being somewhat critical of Epee’s methods – for instance, he claimed that “the deaf students were not taught to compose sentences themselves but were merely trained as automatons would be to translate what was presented (Bornstein 3)” – Sicard dedicated himself to improving upon the method Epee had started. Despite some of his misgivings, however, it should be noted that Sicard introduced no new signs, but rather made them more efficient (Bornsetin 3). He continued Epee’s work by taking over Epee’s school, which had recently been nationalized by the new French Republic (Lane et al. 54).

Seven years before the death of Sicard, a Protestant minister from Hartford, Connecticut by the name of Thomas Gallaudet had been commissioned to learn how to educate deaf children (Lane et al. 54). He was first sent to London to contact the Braidwoods, a family from Edinburgh who ran every deaf school in England. Unlike Eppe, however, the Braidwoods did not wish to divulge their secrets to Gallaudet. In his book "I See a Voice", author Jonathan Ree states:

        “The Abbe de l’Epee may have been indifferent to personal fame, but he made every effort to advertise his ministry to the deaf and dumb, always encouraging members of the public to observe his lessons, and inviting them to suggest improvements to his technique, or even learn it for themselves so that they could carry on his work around the world. This openness was of course an implicit reproach to the crabbed secrecy of other educators of the deaf. Braidwood of Edinburgh, for example, was determined to maintain a family monopoly in Scotland, and when in 1783 he moved his Academy to Hackney, then on the outskirts of London, he placed his new assistants under a bond to keep his method secret. This attitude so disgusted Francis Green…he withdrew his support and transferred it to the frank Abbe in Paris instead (Ree 154).”

After being refused admission by one English deaf school after another, it seemed as if Thomas Gallaudet was going to return to the United States empty-handed. As fate would have it, however, Sicard just happened to be in London giving demonstrations of his methods with Jean Massieu and one of his prize pupils, Laurent Clerc (Lane et al. 54). It was Clerc who agreed to accompany Gallaudet back to the United States and help him institute a method for teaching the deaf in America.

Laurent Clerc was not merely a substitute for Sicard or a spin-off, but was a remarkable man in his own right. After being badly burned as a toddler, Clerc was left without hearing and sense of smell. He was an oddity to many, who were not accustomed to a deaf teacher. Upon agreeing to accompany Gallaudet back to America, Laurent Clerc indeed had his work cut out for him. His mission was threefold: (1) to be the first teacher to the deaf in the U.S., (2) to instruct not only Gallaudet but other teachers on proper teaching methods, and (3) to instruct them on the use of methodical signs (Bornstein 4). As if this wasn’t enough, Clerc was to do this in a language he was not familiar with – English. Through hard work, perseverance, and extensive study between Clerc and Gallaudet, after only a year Clerc succeeded in establishing a system in America based on the method used by Epee in France, but with English-based signs instead (Bornstein 4).

Upon their arrival to America, both Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc began raising funds for a new school in which to educate the deaf (Gannon xxii). Their hard work was rewarded when in 1817 the first permanent school for the deaf was established in Hartford, Connecticut, called the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons. As mentioned earlier, Clerc had established a method of manual sign adapted to English, and it was this method of instruction that was instituted at the Hartford school. As time went on, however, an interesting phenomenon began to take place. As more and more students from across the country began to converge on that one deaf school, they brought with them their own unique and diverse methods and styles of signs. Although it was Clerc who instituted the English based method of sign, the deaf had been using their own methods of signing for many years before Clerc’s method had been introduced. As one could imagine, a convergence of several different signing styles led to a sort of hodgepodge, and even merging, of the various styles. Not only that, but new signs were introduced and generated within the school itself (Lane et al. 57). Eventually, what we know as “ASL” was birthed: a sort of creole of Clerc’s imported LSF, home signs, and indigenous signed languages (Lane et al. 57).

Less than twenty years after the Hartford school was founded, deaf education was flourishing in the United States. Many graduates and teachers left Hartford to both teach in other Deaf schools, and to establish new ones. By the time Laurent Clerc passed away in 1869, Hartford had produced over fifteen hundred graduates (Lane et al. 58). In addition, there were approximately thirty residential schools for the deaf in the United States alone, along with 3,246 students and 187 teachers, forty-two percent of them Deaf (Lane et al. 58). Along with this dissemination, American Sign Language was also beginning to blossom and take shape. By 1834, a single signed dialect was recognized in American deaf schools (Lane et al. 58). Furthermore, Thomas Gallaudet continued to weave a legacy in the area of deaf education and the subsequent evangelization of American Sign Language. By 1864, Edward Miner Gallaudet, son of Thomas Gallaudet, had founded the first college for the deaf in the world – Gallaudet College, later to become known as Gallaudet University (Lane et al. 59).

Along with this new found hope, however, seeds of opposition were growing. Just as it seemed the tides were turning for the deaf and their hopes for success in a world that had heretofore closed their doors to them, a new generation of opponents to sign language were beginning to let their voices be heard in the arena of deaf education. Many of them, disturbed at the turn of events taking place in deaf schools across the nation, decided it was time to “take back” the deaf schools. Some more compromising individuals wanted to reintroduce the original method of sign that was brought to the United States – manually coded English, and not the method that was prevalent in the schools (by this time, many deaf schools had abandoned the manually coded English entirely, criticizing it for being too cumbersome). Other opponents, called oralists, propagated a more militant and drastic approach. Their goal was to wipe out signing altogether, in favor of strict oralism. One such proponent of oralism, Alexander Graham Bell (who himself had a deaf wife), purported signed language in America to be “the French system” (in contrast to oralism being the German method) (Armstrong et al. 28). The French at this time were looked at with disdain because of their romanticism, while the Germans were admired for their intellect (Armstrong et al. 28). In turn, American sign was accused of being related to “effete emotionalism, romanticism, and…glories belonging to a past age (Armstrong et al. 28).” In the end, it was oralism that was to win the battle for supremacy, signaling the end of the revival of ASL – at least until the latter half of the twentieth century.

What was it about oralism that proved to be so influential, so much so that it ushered in a “Dark Ages” in the area of deaf education and sign language, not only in the United States but abroad as well? Perhaps it had to do in part with the prevailing attitudes that were beginning to take shape at the close of the nineteenth century and the start of the next one. Men were treading on grounds they had never dare trod before, both questioning their own origins and challenging age old ideas based on religion – many dismissing them as mere superstition and myth. In its place, new theories were beginning to emerge, such as Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. No longer was man a superior creature created in the image of God, but rather he had evolved side by side with every other living thing over millions of years from a primordial ocean of matter. With this new school of thought, a certain “survival of the fittest” attitude was also beginning to take root, and along with this a certain disdain for the deaf was starting to emerge, that eventually served to stifle the deaf in ways they hadn’t experienced in over 100 years.

Once thought beautiful and almost divinely inspired, those who used sign language – and in particular the deaf – were being increasingly equated with and thought of as nothing more than savages and “losers in the evolutionary struggle” for survival (Armstrong et al. 26). Even Charles Darwin himself considered sign language nothing more than something “used by the deaf and dumb and by savages” (Armstrong et al. 26).

        “Darwin associated lack of emotional control with childhood, insanity, and the lower stages of evolutionary development, contending also that the expression of an emotion by gesture intensifies it, while control of the gesture controls the emotion. A writer in "Science" wrote of students at a school for the deaf as ‘inmates making faces, throwing their hands and arms up and down….The effect is as if a sane man were suddenly put amidst a crowd of lunatics. Given the theory of the time that insanity was a kind of reversion to an earlier stage of evolution, the metaphors were closely related (Armstrong et al. 27).”

Furthermore, and partly in response to Darwin’s ideas as expressed in his book "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals", expression was seen as something shared between humans and animals (Armstrong et al. 28). In light of this idea, many that used signed languages were compared to and equated with monkeys and apes. In light of this new modern “age of reason”, it is no wonder that many abandoned the quest to learn and teach sign language. It became known as a relic of the past; something to pursue casually if one wishes (much as one would study a Petri dish under a microscope), but nothing to take too seriously. And, as usual, the deaf were the victims of this unfortunate tragedy.

It was under this antagonistic atmosphere that the climactic battle between signed language and oralism came to fruition, in what was to become known the final death blow to advocates of signed communication, and symbolic of evil in the Deaf-World. In 1880, the Congress on the Education of the Deaf convened in Milan, Italy – its purpose being to settle the score once and for all as to which method was superior, signing or oralism. Before the conference convened, many of the delegates went to see for themselves how the deaf schools were being run. Ironically, what they saw was (at best) biased and one-sided - a vast majority of schools visited had already abandoned sign for oralism. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that an overwhelming majority voted in favor of the oral method, citing it to be the superior method (it should be noted that the American representatives did not vote for oralism).

After the session was over, a conference was held in the UK the following year to discuss the implications of the Milan vote (Kyle and Woll, 42). Its criticisms were many, including: (1) the lack of English interpreters, (2) imbalanced voting, (3) imbalanced representation (54% Italian, 34% French, 7% English and American), and (4) questionable backgrounds regarding the pupils initially questioned during the school demonstrations (Kyle and Woll 42). When the smoke settled, however, the damage had already been done. In response to the Milan vote, deaf teachers were fired, older students were quarantined in the residential schools, and extreme (even cruel) measures were used to prevent new students from using signed languages (Lane et al. 61). It was a bitter battle, and oralism had come out as the victor.

As history has always revealed, however, persecution seldom succeeds in wiping out or eliminating a group of people or even an idea – rather, it merely serves to force it underground to operate in secret. The victory in Milan was no exception. Far from being dead, sign language continued to be used in secret, despite drastic measures often taken to prevent it (such as tying the perpetrator’s hands in brown paper bags). According to deaf leader F. Maginn, “If you try to suppress signs you will teach deceit, for the deaf will always use it on the sly. To deprive a deaf-mute of the sign language is like clipping a bird of its wings (Gannon 363).” Just like the biblical story of old, oralism had indeed cut Samson’s hair - but eventually that hair was going to grow back.

Not many decades after the Congress of Milan, the United States began to undergo another metamorphosis – the industrial age. Along with these new scientific and technological advances, a new exodus to the United States was underway. By the droves, immigrants from many other countries were landing on the shores of the United States in hopes to seize their golden chance for success in the land of opportunity. Just as the deaf children brought their signed languages with them to the Hartford school those many decades ago, in turn these immigrants brought with them many aspects of their home culture. America was becoming the melting pot of the world. It was not uncommon to walk or drive through an American city and see myriads of different cultures, ranging from Chinese, to Irish, Polish, to Jewish. In this ever growing era of multiculturalism, a new revolution of thought was beginning to take hold, which would eventually signal a turning point in the oppression of the deaf and the resurgence of American Sign Language.

By the 1960’s, the United States of America had become a nation of intense change. After facing years of oppression and silently bearing the injustice, many of the “less privileged” were becoming more and more outspoken in their need for equal rights. No longer willing to be swept under the rug and forced to comply with a system that did not cherish them or their values, many began expressing themselves in various ways, ranging from passive resistance to outright militancy. Indeed, an awakening and cultural revolution was taking place. This was the age of flower children, hippy culture, sexual liberation, and rebellion against authority. It was also during this era that a man by the name of William Stokoe - often called the Father of American Sign Language – began to make his mark on American Deaf culture.

When William Stokoe first arrived at Gallaudet University in 1955 to become chairman of the English Department, he was in for an extreme case of culture shock. Before his arrival, Stokoe was instructed to address the students in the “normal” mode of instruction: speaking normally while making a few signs representing the English words that were spoken, and fingerspelling those words which he didn’t know (a method of sign where the actual word is spelled using different handshapes for each of the letters) (Stokoe 2). Stokoe himself explained the first meeting this way:

        “Worse than being unprepared is being misprepared. Some of the old-timers, who considered themselves ‘dedicated teachers of the deaf’, loved to remind us how little we knew. Some of them told me over and over that deaf students could understand only the simplest language. They explained that a deaf person did not really have any language and so could not achieve mull mental development. On one occasion, I must have looked sad when I heard this repeated again because the college nurse who said it tried to reassure me. She added that I would still enjoy teaching deaf students because they tried so hard to please a teacher, “just like dogs and nigrahs”, she said (Stokoe 3).”

Stokoe, with a background of cultural and linguistic anthropology, knew better than to accept an opinion of group of people on the basis of someone else’s statements or comments (Stokoe 4). Instead of accepting what the critics and so-called “experts” had to say, he decided instead to study the deaf on the campus for himself. After extensive interaction with them, what Stokoe found was that the deaf were indeed communicating one to another in their own unique way – by signing. Deeply fascinated by the idea than this method of communication used by the deaf might in fact be an actual language, Stokoe decided to propose something that would shock the academic world. He submitted that not only did deaf people have their own language, but he wished to study it in depth with the assistance of his colleagues. The response was less than overwhelming. With prevailing attitudes ranging from apathy to direct opposition - not only from the hearing, but the deaf as well - many thought Stokoe to be out of his mind to even imagine such an idea. Undaunted by popular opinion, in 1957 Stokoe began an after hours and summer endeavor called the Linguistic Research Project, in which he filmed demonstrations in sign language given by the students of the university. Being the first linguist to perform such a study, he spent long hours scrutinizing every detail, until at last he began to notice familiar patterns of language – contrast, morphemes, and syntactical patterns – each necessary ingredients of language (Gannon 365). With new enthusiasm and excitement, Stokoe submitted his findings to his colleagues. Again he was met with the same prevailing attitudes of apathy, indifference, and criticism. In much the same way as Galileo and Columbus were treading on uncharted waters, William Stokoe had an uphill climb to convince others that American Sign Language was more than just gestures and pantomime, but a living, breathing language.

The turning point for Stokoe came in 1965 when he published his findings in a book entitled, "A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles". The book attracted the attention of linguists around the world, and soon after became a legitimate and worthy subject of interest for Stokoe’s peers. Many joined in this endeavor by studying sign language for themselves, and the topic even spilled over into other areas of study, such as anthropology, sociology, and psychology (Gannon 365). By 1973, the first doctorate on the subject of American Sign Language was awarded to James Woodard for his dissertation at Georgetown University (Gannon 365). Indeed, the tides were turning from that fateful day in Milan. The news was out: American Sign Language was not dead, but like a phoenix rising from the ashes, had begun to breathe in new life again. Stokoe had awakened a sleeping giant.

Today, both American Sign Language and Deaf American culture are enjoying the biggest revolution and revival in history, and are one of the fastest growing phenomenons on American college campuses. According to William Stokoe, who passed away in April, 2000 soon after completing his last book "Language in Hand", ASL “is the natural language of some 200,000 to 400,000 deaf Americans and deaf Canadians (Gannon 367).” Not only that, but Stokoe’s work has helped immensely by allowing deaf culture to flourish in a way it has never done before. It’s as if a new awakening and Renaissance is taking place. Theaters such as the Fairmount Theater of the Deaf, which produced ASL productions in the 1970’s and early 1980’s (Peters 7), have exposed the public to the beauty of American Sign Language. Furthermore, American Sign Language has left its mark in virtually all aspects of literature – including stage productions, poetry, drama, art, and even music. Thanks in part to the “Deaf President Now” movement at Gallaudet in 1988 and groups such as the National Theater of the Deaf, deaf drama has gone beyond postsecondary institutions and crossed over into mainstream American culture. Not only is ASL becoming more and more integrated and intertwined, it has given the deaf a new found awareness, self worth, and pride in themselves – catching many of the ‘old-timers’ by surprise.

The following excerpt is taken from a poem written by Willard J. Madsen, which has received worldwide attention and has been translated into seven different languages (Gannon 380):

        “What is it like to comprehend
        Some nimble fingers that paint the scene,
        And make you smile and feel serene
        With the “spoken word” of the moving hand
        That makes you part of the world at large?
        You have to be deaf to understand.

        What is it like to “hear” a hand?
        Yes, you have to be deaf to understand (Gannon 380).”
 

Works Cited

    Armstrong, David F., Karchmer, Michael A., and Vickrey Van Cleve, John, Eds. "The Study of Signed Languages". Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 2002.

    Baynton, Douglas C. "Forbidden Signs". Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996.

    Bornstein, Harry, Ed. "Manual Communication: Implications for Education". Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 1990.

    Gannon, Jack R. "Deaf Heritage: A Narrative History of Deaf America". Silver Spring, Maryland: National Association of the Deaf, 1981.

    Klima, Edward, and Bellugi, Ursula "The Signs of Language". London, England: Harvard University Press, 1979.

    Kyle, J.G., and Woll, B. "Sign Language: The Study of Deaf People and Their Language". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

    Lane, Harlan, Hoffmeister, Robert, and Bahan, Ben "A Journey into the Deaf World". San Diego: DawnSign Press, 1996.

    Peters, Cynthia L. "Deaf American Literature: From Carnival to the Canon". Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 2000.

    Ree, Jonathan. "I See a Voice". New York: Metropolitan Books, 1999.

    Stokoe, William C. "Language in Hand: Why Sign Came Before Speech". Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 2001.