International Variation in Deaf Communities
Leila Monaghan, Constanze Schmaling, Karen
Nakamura, and Graham H. Turner, Editors
Now in Paperback!
|
View the table of contents. Read chapter twelve. Read reviews: The Midwest Book Review, Choice, Review of Disability Studies, Disability Studies Quarterly. |
$76.95s print edition $76.95 e-book
|
The recent explosion of sociocultural, linguistic, and historical research on signed languages throughout the world has culminated in Many Ways to Be Deaf, an unmatched collection of in-depth articles about linguistic diversity in Deaf communities on five continents. Twenty-four international scholars have contributed their findings from studying Deaf communities in Japan, Thailand, Viet Nam, Taiwan, Russia, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Great Britain, Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Nicaragua, and the United States. Sixteen chapters consider the various antecedents of each country’s native signed language, taking into account the historical background of their development and also the effects of foreign influences and changes in philosophies by the larger, dominant hearing societies.
The remarkable range of topics covered in Many Ways to Be Deaf will fascinate readers, from the evolution of British fingerspelling traced back to the 17th century; the comparison of Swiss German Sign Language with Rhaeto-Romansch, another Swiss minority language; the analysis of seven signed languages described in Thailand and how they differ in relation to their distance from isolated Deaf communities to Bangkok and other urban centers; to the vaulting development of a nascent sign language in Nicaragua, and much more. The diversity of background and training among the contributors to Many Ways to Be Deaf distinguishes it as a genuine and unique multicultural examination of the myriad manifestations of being Deaf in a diverse world.
Leila Monaghan is a visiting assistant professor of linguistics in the Department of Anthropology at Southern Illinois University.
Constanze Schmaling is a research assistant with the Institute of German Sign Language at Hamburg University.
Karen Nakamura is the Robert and Colleen Haas Distinguished Chair in Disability Studies and Professor of Anthropology at University of California Berkeley.
Graham H. Turner is a professor in the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland.
Print Edition: ISBN 978-1-56368-578-1, 7 x 10 paperback, 338 pages, 11 tables, 23 figures
$76.95s
E-Book: ISBN 978-1-56368-234-6
$76.95
TEL 1-800-621-2736; (773) 568-1550 8 am - 5 pm CST
TTY 1-888-630-9347
FAX 1-800-621-8476; (773) 660-2235