List of Figures | p. ix |
Acknowledgments | p. xv |
Introduction: Language and the People Who Use It | p. 1 |
Languages of Signs | p. 2 |
Goals of this Book | p. 4 |
The Linguistic Structure of Israeli Sign Language | p. 11 |
The Basic Components of the Word in Sign Language | p. 19 |
The Meaningless Building Blocks of Words | p. 19 |
The Meaningless Building Blocks of Signs | p. 22 |
Additional Formational Characteristics of Signs | p. 26 |
Signing It Right | p. 30 |
The Phonology of Sign Language as a System | p. 32 |
Sequentiality and Simultaneity in Phonology of Signed and Spoken Languages | p. 35 |
Conclusion | p. 36 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 36 |
Vocabulary: Simple and Complex Words | p. 37 |
Difficulties in Finding and Recording the Words: The Lexicographer's Lament | p. 39 |
The Expressiveness of the ISL Lexicon: Words of Communication | p. 43 |
Adding New Words and Building Complex Words | p. 46 |
Novel Word Formation in Poetry | p. 55 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 58 |
Grammar in Space: The Pronominal System | p. 59 |
Points of Reference: The Basis of the Pronoun System in Sign Language | p. 60 |
The Pronominal System in Sign Languages | p. 61 |
Reference Points as a Means of Avoiding Ambiguity | p. 63 |
Other Pronouns in ISL | p. 66 |
Marking Number in the Pronominal System | p. 68 |
Indicating Reference with the Body: Role Shift | p. 69 |
Pronouns in Other Sign Languages | p. 71 |
Conclusion | p. 72 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 73 |
Grammar in Space: Verb Agreement | p. 75 |
What Is Verb Agreement? | p. 76 |
Verb Agreement in Sign Languages | p. 78 |
The Form and Meaning of Sign Language Verb Agreement | p. 81 |
Verb Agreement: Signed versus Spoken Languages | p. 85 |
Marking Number with Agreement Morphemes | p. 86 |
Conclusion | p. 87 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 88 |
Tenses and Aspects | p. 89 |
Tense versus Aspect | p. 90 |
The Aspectual System of ISL | p. 91 |
The Expression of Time | p. 100 |
Conclusion | p. 106 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 106 |
Shapes, Locations, and Motion in Space: Classifier Constructions | p. 107 |
What Are Classifiers? | p. 108 |
When Do You Use Classifiers? | p. 112 |
Classifiers in Different Sign Languages | p. 117 |
Classifiers in Spoken Languages | p. 118 |
Conclusion | p. 119 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 120 |
Word Order | p. 121 |
Topics First, and Then Comment | p. 123 |
How Is the Topic Determined? | p. 126 |
Word Order in Possessive Constructions | p. 127 |
Topic-Comment in Other Languages | p. 129 |
Conclusion | p. 131 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 132 |
Negative and Interrogative Sentences | p. 133 |
Negative Sentences | p. 134 |
Interrogative Sentences | p. 147 |
Conclusion | p. 156 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 156 |
Beyond the Hands: Facial Expression in ISL | p. 159 |
How We Say What We Say: The Prosodic Structure of Language | p. 160 |
Prosodic Structure in ISL and Intonation on the Face | p. 163 |
Facial Expression as Part of a Word | p. 171 |
Facial Expression as a Modifying Morpheme | p. 173 |
Mouthing | p. 176 |
Nonlinguistic Facial Expression: The Intonation of Emotions | p. 179 |
Conclusion | p. 179 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 180 |
Summary and Conclusion | p. 181 |
The Language and Its Community | p. 183 |
The History of the Deaf Community in Israel | p. 185 |
The Origins of the Community: A Few Friends and a School | p. 185 |
The Educational System and its Changing Attitudes toward Sign Language | p. 197 |
Deaf Society and Culture Today | p. 210 |
Snapshot of the Community | p. 213 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 216 |
The Emergence and Development of ISL | p. 217 |
The Impact of Other Sign Languages on Israeli Sign Language | p. 218 |
Stages in Vocabulary Development | p. 224 |
Conclusion | p. 235 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 236 |
Voices from the Community | p. 239 |
A Student's Journal | p. 240 |
From Bad Girl in Class to Honored Teacher | p. 244 |
The Awakening | p. 248 |
The Big Picture: ISL and Linguistic Theory | p. 253 |
Similarities and Differences Across Sign Languages | p. 255 |
The View that Sign Language is Universal | p. 256 |
Comparative Studies of Sign Languages | p. 259 |
Differences Across Sign Languages | p. 270 |
Communication among Deaf Signers of Different Languages | p. 271 |
Conclusion | p. 274 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 274 |
The Contribution of Sign Languages to Linguistic Research | p. 277 |
The Goal of Modern Linguistics: Characterizing Human Linguistic Ability | p. 278 |
How Sign Languages Help to Identify Universal Characteristics of Language | p. 284 |
Language out of Nothing: Communication Systems that have Developed Without a Language Model | p. 292 |
The Contribution of Research on Israeli Sign Language | p. 298 |
Conclusion | p. 304 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 304 |
List of Handshapes of Israeli Sign Language | p. 307 |
Main Places of Articulation of Israeli Sign Language | p. 309 |
Notational Conventions | p. 311 |
References | p. 313 |
Author Index | p. 323 |
Subject Index | p. 327 |
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