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Reading Voices: Sign Language, A Mediator Between Speech And Writing, Judith (Judie) Cross

Judith (Judie) L Cross

Traditionally language and communication have been perceived according to a binary logic as either oral or written. This has resulted in the inevitable marginalisation of other forms, such as Sign. It is therefore the purpose of this paper to refocus mainstream attention so that sign languages, which are themselves forms of multimodal communication, can be included and as a result, more usefully perceived as mediators between speech and writing. Since research into sign languages is well developed, it is timely to reconsider the paradigms dominating thinking about language and communication, especially in this multimedia age where new forms of digital …