The Linguistics of Sign Languages: An Introduction ed. by Anne Baker, et al. (review)

This book and its companion volume (A Concise Lexicon for Sign Linguistics, by Nijen Twilhaar and Beppie van den Bogaerde [Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2016]) are designed to serve as introductory textbooks to the linguistic study of sign languages. The Linguistics of Sign Languages is intended primarily for students of linguistics or those with some background in the field. In that respect it is unique. Introductory linguistics textbooks often include only brief references to sign languages (and sometimes with a focus on research on apes). Textbooks designed for students of specific sign languages, on the other hand, concentrate mainly on a single sign language, such as ASL. Thus this book differs from existing linguistics textbooks on sign languages, which are designed chiefly for students in the field.

The Linguistics of Sign Languages focuses on typology: similarities and differences among sign languages and between signed and spoken language. Each chapter is written by one or more of the authors, together with other sign language researchers in the Netherlands. Each chapter is followed by a summary, a “test yourself ” section (e.g., in chapter 1, “What is the difference between a gesture and a sign?”), an “assignments” section (e.g., in chapter 4, “Construct some short conversations in a sign language that you know that violate the maxims of quantity, quality, and relevance. Present these conversations to others, if possible, in your group and have them work out which maxims are violated.”), and a “references and further reading” section, which summarizes research related to the chapter topic. There is also an associated website (https://benjamins.com/sites/z.199), which provides brief answers to the assignments, video clips of signed examples, a list of Web resources, and a number of references. The “test yourself ” and “assignments” sections will be useful to those who are teaching from this book. The website is a welcome innovation, but it contains some infelicities, which I address later.

The book comprises fourteen chapters, which are arranged in a somewhat unusual order for an introductory text: Topics such as acquisition and psycholinguistic processing precede any detailed description of sign language structure. Chapter 1, Sign Languages as Natural Languages, introduces sign language, sign languages, and their communities of users. Chapter 2, Psycholinguistics, includes a brief discussion of sign language and the brain and reviews the research studies on sign language production and comprehension. Chapter 3 discusses sign language acquisition in children, and chapter 4 deals with inter action and discourse. The next seven chapters cover the major linguistic areas: Chapter 5, constituents and word classes; chapter 6 and chapter 7, the syntax of simple sentences and complex sentences, respectively; chapter 8, the lexicon (including iconicity and lexicography); chapter 9, morphology; chapter 10, phonetics; and chapter 11, phonology. The final three chapters deal with sign language in its contexts of use. Chapter 12 discusses language variation and standardization, including both linguistic variation and policy issues; and chapter 13 delves into language contact and change. Reflecting the social (as opposed to specifically linguistic) issues surrounding the role of sign languages in the education of deaf children, the final chapter is titled Bilingualism and Deaf Education. Two appendices follow, the first with notational conventions and abbreviations, and the second with two examples of manual alphabets.

The book provides a wealth of detail and examples from many different sign languages. No other textbook of sign linguistics encompasses such a broad approach in terms of languages included. Nevertheless, certain issues with regard to content and authorship need to be addressed. The first is that a number of topics of real and current interest and debate either are not included or are treated only in passing. These include the L2 acquisition of sign language, for example, and the active debate on the relationship between language and gesture in terms of the analysis of pronominals and verbs or of iconicity...