Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet | cofounded the first school for the Deaf in America with Laurent Clerc, whom he brought from France | 1.1.1 TC: 0:42
Alice Cogswell | inspiration for the founding of the American School for the Deaf; first student of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet | 1.1.1 TC: 0:49
Polyglot | a person who knows and uses multiple languages or symbolic systems | 1.1.1 TC: 3:35
Polyglottism | polyglottism is equivalent to multilingualism, but the term Polyglottism is also used for explaining ability to comprehend individual symbolic forms from various modes but sharing the same concept | 1.1.1 TC: 3:35
Symbolic variety | making connections to concepts across various modes of communication (i.e., gloss, sign, and written text) | 1.1.1 TC: 4:29
Fingerspelling | use of the manual alphabet to spell a word | 1.1.1 TC: 5:58
Gloss | written referent for a signed form | 1.1.1 TC: 6:46; 1.1.3 TC: 0:37
Phonology | the study of a language’s sound system, relying on formal analysis of selectional and combinatorial rules | 1.1.1 TC: 8:56
IPA | International Phonetic Alphabet, used to represent speech sounds | 1.1.1 TC: 9:54
Grammar | a formal system including a language’s structural rules for the composition of words, phrases, and sentences | 1.1.2 TC: 0:21
Symbolic unit | any part of a language that carries meaning and can be combined with other units to form longer morphemic units | 1.1.2 TC: 0:47
Grammatical productivity | reorganizing units to produce new sentences or utterances | 1.1.2 TC: 1:01
Glossing conventions | the rules associated with gloss transcription of sign language utterances | 1.1.3 TC: 1:00
Abstract symbolism | the ability of a language to express abstract ideas | 1.1.4 TC: 0:32
Lexicon | the vocabulary of a language | 1.1.4 TC: 1:20
Syntax | the system governing how words are combined and arranged into a phrase, clause, or complex structure; also, how autosegmentals and morphemes can be arranged across tiers to inflect sentences | 1.1.4 TC: 1:25; 1.2.3 TC: 0:41; 2.2.1 TC: 0:08
Arbitrariness | the absence of a natural connection between a word’s meaning and its form | 1.1.4 TC: 2:12
1.2
Parameters | Components of visuo-manual information conveyed during sign production or encoded during sign perception; Includes location, movement, and hand configuration | 1.2.1 TC: 5:12
Hand orientation | The angle of one’s palm while holding or moving the hand | 1.2.1 TC: 6:10
Distinctive features | The auditory, visuo-manual, or tactile features of a form facilitating comprehension of a word sign | 1.2.1 TC: 7:13
Spatial referent | an established point in sign space for a noun entity or argument | 1.2.1 TC: 8:06
Keller, Helen | renowned DeafBlind author and activist; first DeafBlind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1904 | 1.2.2 TC: 3:40
Pro-Tactile | a formal mode of communication, which includes Tactile American Sign Language (TASL) and haptics (touch); used by the American DeafBlind community | 1.2.5 Resources
Phonemes | units of sound that may vary but perceived as same at the lexical level within a given language | 1.2.3 TC: 1:14
1.3
Abbé de l’Epée | French educator who established the Parisian Deaf School in 1760 | 1.3.2 TC: 0:09
The French Method | Pedagogy which originated in France in the 1760’s involving visual techniques to communicate with Deaf children on various subjects | 1.3.2. TC: 0:50
Laurent Clerc | A former pupil of the Paris School who came to America with Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet to establish the American School for the Deaf; first Deaf teacher in America | 1.3.2 TC: 3:51
Edward Miner Gallaudet | Son of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet; first administrator of Gallaudet University (then, National Deaf-Mute College) | 1.3.2 TC: 4:56
George Veditz | Deaf teacher and former president of National Association of the Deaf (NAD) during the 1910s; Deaf orator who presented “Preservation of the Sign Language” on film in 1913 | 1.3.3 TC: 0:20
ISN | Nicaraguan Sign Language; Idioma de Senas de Nicaragua; used by Deaf Nicaraguans who were schooled in the 1970s and 1980s; considered good for linguistic research because it shows the progression that a new language goes through |1.3.3b Glimpses
LSQ | Quebec Sign Language; Langue des signes québécoise; used mostly in French speaking communities in Canada|1.3.3b Glimpses
MSL | Mexican Sign Language; Lengua de señas Mexicana; used mostly in urban areas of Mexico | 1.3.3b Glimpses
MVSL | Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language; extinct signed language; used by both hearing and deaf residents of Martha’s Vineyard island from the early 1700’s until the death of its last Deaf signer in 1952 |1.3.3b Glimpses
NAD | National Association of the Deaf
WFD | World Federation of the Deaf
Sign Masters | selected individuals noted for their sign language proficiency | 1.3.4 TC: 2:14
Milan Conference | an international conference held in Milan, Italy in 1880 which resulted in a ban on sign language use in schools | 1.3.4 TC: 2:58
Grammaticalization | the process in which content words become grammatical particles or clitics within a language | 1.3.4 TC: 5:48
Pidgin | a simple communication system that develops between individuals or groups who do not share a common language. Pidgin languages typically lack standard lexicon and morphology | 1.3.4 TC: 6:31
Creole | developed from a pidgin language when the following generation of children contribute more formal morphology and expand the lexicon | 1.3.4 TC: 6:41
Phonocentrism | the belief that anything regarding language should be used auditorily; audism is another term which shares this meaning | 1.3.4 TC: 9:58
1.4
Lexical change | historical or sociolinguistic phenomena involving the way a sign is articulated, thus affecting its status as a word | 1.4.1 TC: 0:15
Lexical variation | alteration of sign articulation involving additions, deletions, substitutions, or modifications of features | 1.4.1 TC: 0:15
Reduction | occurs when a complex movement is simplified so that a sign is easier to produce | 1.4.1 TC: 0:34
Sociolinguistic variation | encompasses the various ways individuals and groups produce signs; can be based on geographic area, gender, social class, heritage, and education | 1.4.1 TC: 1:30
Black ASL | a dialect of ASL that developed as a result of racial segregation among schools for the deaf | 1.4.1 TC: 6:23
Social mobility | geographic or socioeconomic movement of a community affecting social interaction or status among members | 1.4.1 TC: 8:31
HSLDB | Historical Sign Language Database | 1.4.2; 1.4.3a
Morphology | the study of units of meaning and how they are combined | 1.4.3 TC: 0:06
Cross-referencing | making a relation between texts through the process of using a known language to decipher parallel texts in an unknown language or dialect | 1.4.3 TC: 3:46
1.5
(William) Stokoe | an American researcher who created a written notation for sign language (Stokoe notation) in the 1960s | 1.5.1 TC: 1:44
Chereology | the study of the visual components of sign formation; includes handshape (dez), location (tab), and movement (sig) | 1.5.1 TC: 2:56; 3.2.1 TC: 6:03
Mimographie | a notation system for sign language that emphasizes movement to analyze the different components of signs; invented by Bebian, a French educator | 1.5.1 TC: 5:24
(Roch-Ambroise) Bebian | a French educator during the early 19th century who created a written notation for sign language (mimographie) | 1.5.1 TC: 5:24
Casterline, Dorothy | Deaf colleague of William Stokoe and Carl Croneberg; “A dictionary of American sign languages on linguistic principles” | 1.5.3 TC: 0:17
Diacritics | a mark on, under, or through a written symbol which affects the way the symbol is produced (ex: adding additional information regarding hand orientation to the dez) | 1.5.3 TC: 4:40
Orthography | the conventions for arranging symbols in a notation system | 1.5.5 TC: 4:04
Classifier | designated morphemes to provide description of size, shape, or other properties of a noun entity; expressed as handshape in a classifier predicate | 1.5.6 TC: 1:18
ASLphabet | a writing system for ASL; modified and streamlined version of SignFont; used in educational settings with Deaf children | 1.5.8a Tutorial
Asymmetrical hands | sign configuration with one hand stationary while the other hand moves, the handshapes in this case would be more likely to be asymmetrical | 1.5.5a Homework part 3
1.6
Psycholinguistics – field which integrates methods used in psychology and linguistics (1.6.1 TC: 2:52)
Linguistic encoding – the cognitive process of parsing language into units; occurs during both production and reception of language (1.6.1 TC: 4:31)
Sublexical processing– a particular level of cognitive processing required for parsing features in a sign or word (1.6.2)
Subjective introspection | to use one’s own views to reason and reach conclusions | 1.6.2 TC: 0:54
Wilhelm Wundt | famous psychologist; started the field of psychology through an approach that relied on introspection to explain human behavior and perception | 1.6.2 TC: 1:33
Word recall task | a method used by psycholinguists in which participants are asked to memorize and later recite a word list | 1.6.2 TC: 3:56
Elicitation method | a research approach for collecting data by presenting stimuli that trigger the participant to perform a specific task | 1.6.4 TC: 0:46
Perseveration error | occurs when a feature from a word or sign is retained in the features of the following word or sign in an utterance | 1.6.4 TC: 4:42
Anticipation error | occurs when a feature from the following word or sign in an utterance affects production of the features of the word or sign preceding it | 1.6.4 TC: 5:00
Pseudo-sign | a sign that does not currently exist in a language but is possible or acceptable for a user of that language | 1.6.4 TC: 8:19; 1.6.5
1.7
DASL | Dictionary of American Sign Language
Opacity | a relation between a word, sign, or morpheme and its meaning which lacks any apparent iconicity | 1.7.1 TC: 2:08
Conventionalization | occurs when a community accepts a new form and uses it continuously as part of the standard lexicon | 1.7.2 TC: 0:35
Compression | the process of shortening or reducing a sign form | 1.7.2 TC: 0:51
Etymology | the study of the history of word or sign forms, including how or from where the form originated | 1.7.2 TC: 1:23
Citation form | a carefully-articulated variant of a sign used as the ideal form aside from the actual usage | 1.7.2 TC: 3:13
Transparency of sign form | a direct connection between a sign form and its meaning; this term often used interchangeably with iconicity | 1.7.2 TC: 4:22
Folk etymology | seeking word origins which do not involve scientific criteria based on historical reference for etymological claims | 1.7.2 TC: 8:17
Gradual disassociation | Slow progression of losing original connection among gestural or linguistic components | 1.7.2 TC: 11:05
Cross-linguistic typology | comparing types of languages to understand which elements or rules are shared and which are unique; this helps to understand what aspects of the language come from innate grammar and which come from language-specific environmental factors | 1.7.5 TC: 0:31
Typology | study of language types | 1.7.5 TC: 0:31
1.8
Co-articulation | the overlap in the production of two or more features | 1.8.1 TC: 2:41; 2.2.3 TC: 1:33
Prosody | the study of the patterns of stress and rhythm used in language production | 1.8.2 TC: 0:37; 2.2.1 TC: 0:30
1.9
Epistemology | the study of the how knowledge is transmitted and shared within a community | 1.9.1 TC: 0:43
2.1
Succinctness | the process of expressing ideas in a concise manner | 2.1.1 TC: 0:07
Simultaneity | the process or expressing multiple lexical or morphemic items at a time | 2.1.1 TC: 0:48
Concatenation | the process of arranging lexical or morphemic items in a sequence | 2.1.1 TC: 4:14
Affixation | a particular type of morpheme that is placed before or after a word to change word meaning | 2.1.3 TC: 0:38
Proform | a function word that replaces a content word | 2.1.3 TC: 0:57
Distributive aspect | semantic information on number of a particular item in an event which may affect how often a particular morphemic element is articulated | 2.1.3 TC: 1:50
Temporal aspect | semantic information on time and duration of an event which may affect how often a particular morphemic element is articulated | 2.1.3 TC: 2:04
2.2
Suprasegmental | stress, intonation, or timing of a featured co-articulation that adds additional information to a spoken or signed utterance | 2.2.1 TC: 2:01
Semantics | the study of the process for conceptualization as well as the use of language to express components of meaning | 2.2.2 TC: 4:12
Intransitive verb | a verb that does not require a direct object to receive the action | 2.2.4a
Transitive verb | a verb with a direct object | 2.2.4a
2.3
Anaphora | the support mechanism for maintaining the correlation among multiple pronouns, each referring to a different noun argument in the syntactic frame | 2.3.1 TC: 2:26
2.5
Spatial nominal reference | referring to nouns through space | 2.5.1 TC: 0:46
Surrogate space | the use of space to establish referential information the placement of stationary handshapes and the signers’ body | 2.5.1 TC: 5:56
2.6
Lexicalization | the process by which a word or sign enters a language’s lexicon | 2.6.3 TC: 0:18
Reduplication | a morphological process where sign’s movement is repeated to indicate plural for a noun argument or aspect of an event | 2.6.4 TC: 1:18
Nesting | the layering of inflections | 2.6.4 TC: 7:14
2.7
Surface form | the form actually produced by the speaker or signer (in contrast to underlying form) | 2.7.2 TC: 2:56
Movement elongation | lengthening of a movement unit during the process of inflecting a sign | 2.7.3 TC: 7:18
Loan words | signs borrowed from written English through fingerspelling | 2.7.4 TC: 0:26; 3.4.6 TC: 2:33
Prosodic operations | a set of morphophonological rules to be applied in a linear fashion to generate a surface form | 2.7.5 TC 4:30
2.8
Underspecification | incomplete mental representation of a particular element in a word or sign | 2.8.1 TC: 7:46
2.9
Liddell-Johnson Sequential Model | a model of sign language notation that was created to analyze the beginnings, ends, and internal representations of signs and their variants | 2.9.4 TC: 2:06
3.1
Innate grammar | the theory that humans are born with an innate notion that language should have structure resembling a formal grammar | 3.1.1 TC: 0:31
Washoe | the first chimpanzee who was taught ASL as part of research on non-human capacity for learning language | 3.1.1 TC: 1:29
Genie | the pseudonym for a young hearing girl who was severely neglected and deprived of language until age 13; after rescue, her stunted language development was studied for the effects of social deprivation on cognition and language learning | 3.1.1 TC: 2:53; 3.3.2 TC: 4:47
Charles Hockett | a linguist who published a list of criteria for language design | 3.1.3 TC: 3:04
Universal grammar | the theory that all languages share common principles with some options for typological variation | 3.1.4 TC: 0:07; 3.5.2 TC: 0:25
Generative approach | one of the multiple methods used by linguists to study the nature of grammar; this approach conceptualizes language as a system of rules that generate operations that create combinations of morphemes which form grammatical phrases or sentences in a language | 3.1.4 TC: 1:16
Cognitive linguistics | a branch of linguistics which relies on semantics as the foundation for studying the interactions between thought and language | 3.1.4 TC: 2:49
3.2
Core lexicon | the common set of words or signs that are likely to be selected for inclusion in language textbooks from the perspective of pedagogy | 3.2.1 TC: 3:12
Name sign formation | the process of establishing a sign as a proper name for a person | 3.2.2 TC: 2:02
Rochester Method | a pedagogical method first implemented in a school for the Deaf in Rochester, New York where students and teachers are required to fingerspell every word | 3.2.3 TC: 0:49
Pidgin Signed English (PSE) | one kind of contact register built on a natural mixture of signs adopted from ASL along with fingerspelling while relying on English word order for communication among bilingual signers | 3.2.3 TC: 1:23
Manual Code of English (MCE) | a form of manual communication which approximates English grammar with English word order and morphemes; includes Seeing Exact English (SEE) | 3.2.3 TC: 2:16
Simultaneous Communication (SimCom) | a pedagogical method for achieving bi-modal communication which involves co-articulation of signs along with spoken words, thus achieving the ideal of “total communication” while maintaining the speech stream; Sign Supported Speech is the alternate form | 3.2.3 TC: 3:07
3.3
Critical period for language | one aspect of the biological clock when language development is optimal | 3.3.2 TC: 4:14
Biological clock | the natural time course for human development, including language | 3.3.2 TC: 4:14
Inferential skills | the ability to use context for problem solving (for example, to make an educated guess about a word’s meaning) | 3.3.2 TC: 7:55
Depiction | creating a visual imitation of an object or event in midair, when there is no lexical sign available for expressing this concept | 3.3.4 TC: 0:07
Heuristic | strategy used to assist and enhance the cognitive process of solving a problem | 3.3.4 TC: 0:35
3.4
Frozen lexeme | a sign form that stays the same regardless of context; not receptive to inflection or derivation | 3.4.3 TC: 1:49
Narrative elaboration | the creative part of sign language where signs are modified substantially to add detailed information to narrative conversation, often involving stylistic variation and thus deviating from the natural conversational norm | 3.4.3 TC: 3:00
Stylistic variation | modification of sign forms based on an individual’s personal preferences and signing style | 3.4.3 TC: 4:46
Polysynthetic | one type of word formation involving composition of multiple morphemes in a single word or sign | 3.4.4
Circumlocution | the use of paraphrase as one way to express a concept; often involves stringing a series of words or signs for explaining an idea | 3.4.6 TC: 3:03
3.5
Polysemy | the condition where a morpheme or sign has more than one meaning | 3.5.2b tutorial
Entity classifier | a classifier uses the entire hand to refer to a noun entity | 3.5.4 TC: 5:39
Numeral classifier | a classifier handshape that indicates number by using the digits of the hand | 3.5.4 TC: 6:04
3.6
Neurons | brain cells that communicate with each other through neural networks | 3.6.1 TC: 1:02
Sensory strip | the part of the brain responsible for registering sensory information from the body |3.6.1 TC: 5:10
Motoric strip | the part of the brain responsible for dispatching motoric commands to the muscles | 3.6.1 TC: 5:10
Broca’s area | the part of the brain responsible for linguistic expression | 3.6.2 TC: 0:39)
Wernicke’s area | the part of the brain responsible for linguistic comprehension | 3.6.2 TC: 1:06
Aphasia | acquired loss of ability to understand or express language | 3.6.2 TC: 2:12
Register | the choice from the range of possible ways of building a sentence based on the social circumstance; the preference for a particular dialect or a different language is often associated with social status | 3.6.4 TC: 1.11
3.8
Working memory | a type of short-term memory that makes use of the whole cognitive mechanism for immediate processing of information, including the executive functions, sensory/motoric analyses, and multiple levels of linguistic parsing | 3.8.2 TC: 0:57
Central executive functioning | the ability to plan and coordinate one’s tasks in order to accomplish a goal | 3.8.2 TC: 1:33
Articulatory loop | the rehearsal of articulating speech to help remember the sounds recently heard | 3.8.2 TC: 2:29
Acoustic store | the place in the working memory where sensory memories of auditory experiences are kept | 3.8.2 TC: 2:29
Visuo-spatial scratchpad | the place in the working memory where sensory memories of visual and spatial experiences are kept | 3.8.2 TC: 2:54
Muscle memory | a type of rehearsal that supports memory of motoric experiences | 3.8.2 TC: 3:09
Paraphrasing / paraphrase | see circumlocution | 3.8.4 TC: 3:34
Semi-signer / Semi-speaker | when a child does not become entirely fluent in their parents’ native language | 3.8.5 TC: 0:55
3.9
International sign | a type of signed pidgin language that involves two or more signers coming together but not sharing a common signed language; used frequently at and stabilized through meetings of the WFD | 3.9.1 TC: 2:19
Koine | a type of pidgin language characterized a more complicated morphology, due to the fact that the two languages are historically related | 3.9.1 TC: 8:24
fMRI | functional magnetic resonance imaging; a neuroimaging procedure that would create images of the brain’s activation while functioning in response to external stimulation | 3.9.4 TC: 0:09
4.1
Reanalysis | further analysis on one’s own language pattern, often resulting with a newer combination of features; cycles of reanalysis may occur across generations | 4.1.1 TC: 0:40
Dark Period in ASL history | the era where the infrastructure supporting scientific dialogue about sign language structure and learning was neglected | 4.1.5 TC: 0:07
4.3
Deaf isolate | a deaf individual who is isolated with no contact from other signers | 4.3.2 TC: 6:47
Cross-linguistic contact | points of contact between individuals who use different languages, leading to grammatical or lexical | 4.3.2 TC: 8:20
Maturity in history of language | a measure of stability and transmission across cohort generations, thus reflecting historical status of a language | 4.3.2 TC: 9:45
Meta-annotation | adding additional information to language cataloguing in order to make the data searchable | 4.3.4 TC: 3:24
Re-enactment | a method of documenting a signed form in absence of actual use; may be used in historical linguistics research as a technique for reconstructing an archaic form | 4.3.5 TC: 6:14
Meta-language | sharing one’s perspective on use of language | 4.3.5 TC: 8:31
Lexical phrase | one kind of word formation involving a sequence of signs to refer to a concept | 4.3.6 TC: 1:25
Cliticization | the natural process of reducing one sign in a phrasal sequence into a smaller unit although still bound to this word structure | 4.3.6 TC: 1:33
4.4
Diachronic span | indicating how long a sign register or dialect has been in use | 4.4.1 TC: 2:01
Synchronic information | indicating linguistic variation at a given time | 4.4.1 TC: 2:06
Diglossia | the sociolinguistic situation where the choice from two languages or registers of a language are dependent on social circumstance | 4.4.3 TC: 0:43
Codification | the process of developing a code representing a language | 4.4.3 TC: 1:46
Monogenetic model | a kind of theory that claims a single person as the inventor for a language | 4.4.3 TC: 2:19
Introspectionism | a movement on psychology that relies on self-reflection on personal experiences | 4.4.5 TC: 1:52
4.5
Sign-Supported Speech | see definition for Simultaneous Communication | 4.5.1 TC: 6:26
Pedro Ponce de Leon | a Spanish monk in the 1500s who used the manual alphabet to educate deaf children | 4.5.2 TC: 1:14
Samuel Heinecke | the educator who introduced the German Method; which excludes the use of sign language in education involving deaf children | 4.5.2 TC: 3:10
Linguistic imperialism | language practice where the indigenous people are pressured to use the language of the conquering people | 4.5.3 TC: 1:22
Co-speech gesture | a type of communicative behavior when people use their hands while speaking | 4.5.3 TC: 7:55
Colloquial register | conversational signing behavior used in a private setting | 4.5.4 TC: 1:50
Classical register | formal signing behavior used in a public setting during the 19th and early 20th centuries | 4.5.4 TC: 2:54
Prescriptive approach | a type of pedagogy based on the belief of prescribing rules or norms for language use, including formal lessons on proper grammar, articulation, and lexicon (4.5.5 TC: 2:04)
4.7
Coordinate compound | a type of compound with the meaning built on the combination of two or more independent words | 4.7.4 TC: 1:19
Subordinate compound | a type of compound where a phrase of words is dependent on (or subordinate to) the conjunction with a modifying word for expression of a concept | 4.7.4 TC: 1:19
4.8
Paradigm | sustained, regular use of a phrase structure for expressing a particular set of concepts | 4.8.2 TC: 0:57
Selective reduction | shortening or simplification of certain features of a signed form, while other features are preserved | 4.8.3 TC: 0:38
Paradigm formation | reuse of the same signed string during structured discourse | 4.8.5 TC: 0:26
