ASL as a langauge

Gestures emerged as the first form of human communication, that eventually turned into spoken language

Believed gestural communication was more effective because of its silent and spatial way of describing

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australopithecines (first human beings) communicate with their hands

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stokeo traces the development of of language in humans, gesture - language - speech :

Believes language is a cognitive system linked to physical system

"language is done by the brains, mouth happens to be 1 way it comes out from"

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thought that chance is what brought ancestors to the ground, freeing hands for gestures-sign-with progression necessity to comm.

"everything existing in universe is fruit of chance and necesity" - democritus

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sign is to expressing with the body instead of voice, stokeo forward on mime to sign

ASL capable of expressing 3D ideas

demonstrate change in size- deflation, expansion, etc.

describe height, width, interiro, exterior

describe people/obejects in action

words and ideas are expressed and valued in sign langauge

spoken languages have similar structure with vowel and constonants

signs languages have holds and movements: handdhapre, positions of hand, orientation of hand

signs are to be seen -signs developed ton boundaries of human visual system

one handed signs below the neck tend to become two handed

two handed signs contact with face tend one handed

sign prod. ties to become fluid by dropping parts of sign

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with influx of immigrants, foreign languages were banned especially in school, ASL was also considered foreign

sign was main communication between dorms counselors and peers but was not taught

first taught speak their name, then write, and then their asl name, then fingerspelling

deaf children forced to remember definitions of nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc with use of 'Fitzgerald key', 'Barry five-slate'

now students learn sign name, then finger spell, before learning how to write or pronounce names

students still lack bilingual education

In 1975 with a grant stokeo created research lab, convinced that sign language had highly developed linguistics

he received a lot of backlash from the deaf community, but continued research

they believed this would be a step backwards, Alexander bell graham granddaughter said

he published a book and a dictionary with English translations and signs internal structure, ex. handshape, location, movement

1950-1960s negative social climate probably had to do w negative feelings towards stokeo research

people were stilling thinking ASL as extension of English, which it was not it was its own complex lanuage

1970s attitudes changed, realized deaf culture is real, & centered around ASL, stokeo research was the basis for other research

father of ASL linguistics

new findings: hand shape, location, movement, orientation

morphology is what helps expand asl vocabulary, assimilation like "home", two signs begin to look more like each other in process of becoming one sign

in asl, linguists identify facial and. body behavior to determine senate type, there are 7

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