The Signs of Language Revisited : An title: Anthology to Honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima author: Emmorey, Karen. publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. isbn10 | asin: 0805832467 print isbn13: 9780805832464 ebook isbn13: 9780585356419 language: English subject Sign language, American Sign Language. publication date: 2000 lcc: HV2474.S573 2000eb ddc: 419 subject: Sign language, American Sign Language. Page iii The Signs of Language Revisited An Anthology to Honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima Edited by Karen Emmorey The Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Harlan Lane Northeastern University Page iv Copyright © 2000 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means without the prior written consent of the publisher. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, NJ 07430 Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The signs of language revisited: an anthology to honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima / edited by Karen Emmorey, Harlan Lane p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8058-3246-7 1. Sign language. 2. American Sign Language. I. Emmorey, Karen. II. Lane, Harlan L. III. Bellugi, Ursula, 1930 HV2474.S573 2000 419.21dc21 99-041589 Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid- free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability. Printed in the Untied States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Page v CONTENTS Preface ix Contributors xiii I 1 Reminiscences 1 3 Two Memorable Meals With Ursula and Ed Lou Fant 2 5 American Sign Language Linguistics 19701980: Memoir of a Renaissance Robbin M. Battison 3 17 A Fish Story for Ursula and Other Remembrances Bernard Bragg II 21 Historical and Comparative Analyses of Sign Languages 4 23 Sign Languages and Sign Language Families in Thailand and Viet Nam James Woodward 5 49 Lexical Comparison of Signs From American, Australian, British, and New Zealand Sign Languages David Mckee And Graeme Kennedy 6 77 Origins of the American Deaf-World: Assimilating and Differentiating Societies and Their Relation to Genetic Patterning Harlan Lane, Richard C. Pillard, and Mary French III 101 Language in the Visual-Spatial Modality 7 103 Sign Language Research at the Millennium Elissa L. Newport and Ted Supalla 8 115 Attentional Resources and Working Memory: A New Framework for the Study of the Impact of Deafness on Cognition Patricia Siple Page vi 9 135 When Does Modality Matter? Evidence From ASL on the Nature of Working Memory Margaret Wilson and Karen Emmorey 10 143 A Pilot Study of the Expressive Gestures Used by Classical Orchestra Conductors Penny Boyes Braem and Thüring Bräm 11 169 An Interpreter Creates the Space Nancy Frishberg IV 193 Linguistic Analysis of Sign Languages 12 195 More Than Just Handwaving: The Mutual Contributions of Sign Language and Linguistics Susan D. Fischer 13 215 Phonological and Prosodic Layering of Nonmanuals in American Sign Language Ronnie B. Wilbur 14 245 A Two-Handed Manual Alphabet in the United States Ruth C. Loew, C. Tane Akamatsu, and Mary Lanaville 15 261 Iconicity and Transparency in Sign Languages: A Cross- Linguistic Cross-Cultural View Elena Pizzuto And Virginia Volterra 16 287 Codeswitching in ASL and Written English Language Contact Marlon Kuntze 17 303 Indicating Verbs and Pronouns: Pointing Away From Agreement Scott K. Liddell V 321 Language Acquisition 18 323 Viewing Deaf Children in a New Way: Implications of Bellugi and Klima's Research for Education Jeffrey G. Bettger 19 333 Shared Motoric Factors in the Acquisition of Sign and Speech Richard P. Meier Page vii 20 357 Explorations of Enhanced Gestural Input to Children in the Bimodal Period Adele Abrahamsen 21 401 Early and Late in Language Acquisition: Aspects of the Syntax and Acquisition of Wh-Questions in American Sign Language Diane Lillo-Martin 22 415 Bringing Affective Expression into the Service of Language: Acquiring Perspective Marking in Narratives Judy Reilly 23 435 Search for the Missing Link: The Development of Skilled Reading in Deaf Children Carol A. Padden and Vicki L. Hanson 24 449 On the Biological Foundations of Human Language Laura Ann Petitto VI 475 The Neural Organization of Sign Language 25 477 Language and the Brain Antonio R. Damasio and Hanna Damasio 26 493 Some Observations Regarding Paraphasia in American Sign Language David P. Corina 27 509 The Structure of Language as Motor Behavior: Clues From Signers With Parkinson's Disease Howard Poizner, Diane Brentari, Martha E. Tyrone, and Judy Kegl 28 533 On the Uniqueness of Language Victoria A. Fromkin Author Index 549 Subject Index 561 Page ix PREFACE Few disciplines can trace their body of knowledge and techniques, and the ranks of their practitioners, so extensively to the efforts of one pair of scholars as can signed language research. The two scholars, for whom this volume is published in tribute by their students and collaborators, are Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Bellugi and Klima's pioneering work, which gave rise to further investigation by scholars worldwide, was in fields as diverse as signed language morphology and syntax, discourse structure, and art forms; memory; neuroscience; language acquisition; and spatial cognition. Their first paper together, titled "Language in Another Mode," appeared in 1974. Two of their books were particularly acclaimed and influential: The Signs of Language (Harvard University Press, 1979) and What the Hands Reveal About the Brain (MIT Press, 1987; with Howard Poizner). One of their most recent publicationsfor their active program of research continues apaceis "Neural Organization of Language: Evidence From Sign Language Aphasia" (with Greg Hickok), published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Bellugi and Klima's intellectual contribution has extended well beyond signed language studies into adjacent disciplines. Because signed languages are indeed language in another mode (visualmanual rather than auraloral), the facts uncovered about their structure and function probe the more general conceptions (invariably rooted in spoken language) that guide those disciplines. Consider the example of neuroscience: Bellugi and Klima's finding that aphasias of sign languagelike those of spoken languageare associated with left- hemisphere lesions indicates that hemispheric dominance for language is rooted in something as abstract as grammatical structure and not in