American Sign Language Commons^™

I See What You're Saying: A Deaf Culture And American Sign Language Awareness Event, Alexis M. Sejnoha

Honors Thesis

Deaf Culture and American Sign Language are an important part of the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community. Most people outside of this community are unaware of these aspects, and remain uneducated about them. This document is an event plan for an educational event about American Sign Language and Deaf Culture, as well as an artist statement explaining the conception and implementation of this plan, and how it was impacted by the Covid 19 pandemic.

Unique N170 Signatures To Words And Faces In Deaf Asl Signers Reflect Experience-Specific Adaptations During Early Visual Processing, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Katherine J. Midgley, Phillipp J. Holcomb, Karen Emmorey, David C. Plaut, Marlene Behrmann

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

Previous studies with deaf adults reported reduced N170 waveform asymmetry to visual words, a finding attributed to reduced phonological mapping in left-hemisphere temporal regions compared to hearing adults. An open question remains whether this pattern indeed results from reduced phonological processing or from general neurobiological adaptations in visual processing of deaf individuals. Deaf ASL signers and hearing nonsigners performed a same-different discrimination task with visually presented words, faces, or cars, while scalp EEG time-locked to the onset of the first item in each pair was recorded. For word recognition, the typical left-lateralized N170 in hearing participants and reduced left-sided asymmetry …

A Data-Driven Approach To The Semantics Of Iconicity In American Sign Language And English, Bill Thompson, Marcus Perlman, Gary Lupyan, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Karen Emmory

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

A growing body of research shows that both signed and spoken languages display regular patterns of iconicity in their vocabularies. We compared iconicity in the lexicons of American Sign Language (ASL) and English by combining previously collected ratings of ASL signs (Caselli, Sevcikova Sehyr, Cohen-Goldberg, & Emmorey, 2017) and English words (Winter, Perlman, Perry, & Lupyan, 2017) with the use of data-driven semantic vectors derived from English. Our analyses show that models of spoken language lexical semantics drawn from large text corpora can be useful for predicting the iconicity of signs as well as words. Compared to English, ASL has …

Deaf Translators: What Are They Thinking?, Janis Cole Ms.

Journal of Interpretation

The examination of work performed by Deaf translators in creating translations between written texts and signed languages is an emerging area of inquiry in Translation Studies. Deaf people have been performing ad hoc translations within their community for hundreds of years (Adam, Carty & Stone, 2011; Bartley & Stone, 2008). More recently, Deaf translators have begun to work as paid professionals, creating a new subfield of Translation Studies, one that, to date, is largely unexplored. Using qualitative data, this pilot study examines the thought processes of two Deaf individuals in the rendering of an academic text from written English into …

Growing Up Deaf In Appalachia: An Oral History Of My Mother, Elizabeth Shelton Tipton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the life experiences of a rural, Deaf Appalachian woman, Jane Ann Shelton, a second generation Deaf child born to Deaf parents from the communities of Devil’s Fork (Flag Pond, Tennessee) and Shelton Laurel (Madison County, North Carolina). Over two hours of videotaped interviews were interpreted and transcribed, followed by various other communications to describe the life of a rural, Deaf Appalachian woman without a formal high school degree. As an advocate and a political lobbyist in Tennessee during the 1980s and 90s, she was unparalleled by her peers (deaf or hearing) in her efforts to “enhance …

The Perceived Mapping Between Form And Meaning In American Sign Language Depends On Linguistic Knowledge And Task: Evidence From Iconicity And Transparency Judgments, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Karen Emmorey

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

Iconicity is often defined as the resemblance between a form and a given meaning, while transparency is defined as the ability to infer a given meaning based on the form. This study examined the influence of knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL) on the perceived iconicity of signs and the relationship between iconicity, transparency (correctly guessed signs), ‘perceived transparency’ (transparency ratings of the guesses), and ‘semantic potential’ (the diversity (H index) of guesses). Experiment 1 compared iconicity ratings by deaf ASL signers and hearing non-signers for 991 signs from the ASL-LEX database. Signers and non-signers’ ratings were highly correlated; however, …

Second Language Acquisition Of American Sign Language Influences Co-Speech Gesture Production, Jill Weisberg, Shannon Casey, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Karen Emmorey

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

Previous work indicates that 1) adults with native sign language experience produce more manual co-speech gestures than monolingual non-signers, and 2) one year of ASL instruction increases gesture production in adults, but not enough to differentiate them from non-signers. To elucidate these effects, we asked early ASL–English bilinguals, fluent late second language (L2) signers (≥ 10 years of experience signing), and monolingual non-signers to retell a story depicted in cartoon clips to a monolingual partner. Early and L2 signers produced manual gestures at higher rates compared to non-signers, particularly iconic gestures, and used a greater variety of handshapes. These results …

Referring Strategies In American Sign Language And English (With Co-Speech Gesture): The Role Of Modality In Referring To Non-Nameable Objects, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Brenda Nicodemus, Jennifer Petrich, Karen Emmorey

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

American Sign Language (ASL) and English differ in linguistic resources available to express visual–spatial information. In a referential communication task, we examined the effect of language modality on the creation and mutual acceptance of reference to non-nameable figures. In both languages, description times reduced over iterations and references to the figures’ geometric properties (“shape-based reference”) declined over time in favor of expressions describing the figures’ resemblance to nameable objects (“analogy-based reference”). ASL signers maintained a preference for shape-based reference until the final (sixth) round, while English speakers transitioned toward analogy-based reference by Round 3. Analogy-based references were more time efficient …

The N170 Erp Component Differs In Laterality, Distribution, And Association With Continuous Reading Measures For Deaf And Hearing Readers, Karen Emmorey, Katherine J. Midgley, Casey B. Kohen, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Phillipp J. Holcomb

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

The temporo-occipitally distributed N170 ERP component is hypothesized to reflect print-tuning in skilled readers. This study investigated whether skilled deaf and hearing readers (matched on reading ability, but not phonological awareness) exhibit similar N170 patterns, given their distinct experiences learning to read. Thirty-two deaf and 32 hearing adults viewed words and symbol strings in a familiarity judgment task. In the N170 epoch (120–240 ms) hearing readers produced greater negativity for words than symbols at left hemisphere (LH) temporo-parietal and occipital sites, while deaf readers only showed this asymmetry at occipital sites. Linear mixed effects regression was used to examine the …

Improving Deaf Citizens' Participation In The American Electoral Process, Jehanne Mccullough

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Improving Deaf people’s participation in politics involved a service-learning project with three activities. First, the Deaf People for Hillary campaign focused on maintaining nationwide social media platforms; increasing Deaf representation in the Hillary for America (HFA) campaign and its disability community taskforce; and testing get-out-the-vote (GOTV) strategies among Deaf people in the Nevada primary. Second, an internship with the HFA campaign at the national headquarters included a first in campaign and political party history: an American Sign Language (ASL) voter assistance videophone hotline operated by volunteers to serve all voters regardless of party. Third, a post-election survey of Deaf non-voters …

Implicit Co-Activation Of American Sign Language In Deaf Readers: An Erp Study, Gabriela Meade, Katherine J. Midgley, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Phillipp J. Holcomb, Karen Emmorey

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

In an implicit phonological priming paradigm, deaf bimodal bilinguals made semantic relatedness decisions for pairs of English words. Half of the semantically unrelated pairs had phonologically related translations in American Sign Language (ASL). As in previous studies with unimodal bilinguals, targets in pairs with phonologically related translations elicited smaller negativities than targets in pairs with phonologically unrelated translations within the N400 window. This suggests that the same lexicosemantic mechanism underlies implicit co-activation of a non-target language, irrespective of language modality. In contrast to unimodal bilingual studies that find no behavioral effects, we observed phonological interference, indicating that bimodal bilinguals may …

American Sign Language I Asl 101, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

American Sign Language Ii Asl 102, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Student Interpreters Show Encoding And Recall Differences For Information In English And American Sign Language, Jesse R. James, Kara I. Gabriel

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

This study investigated whether student interpreters encode and recall words differently in signed and spoken languages. Participants viewed and then recalled word lists, half of which were related through specific encoding strategies (i.e., experimental lists), and half of which lacked the availability of those strategies (i.e., control lists). Total words recalled and the temporal recall order were compared across experimental and control lists. Student interpreters utilised different strategies to remember words in English and American Sign Language (ASL), suggesting that student interpreters do not default to first-language (English) spoken strategies when encoding second-language (ASL) signed lists. However, the total number …

Comparing Deaf Native Signers And Deaf Early Signers With Respect To Phonological Perception, Ian Deandrea-Lazarus

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Common criteria for a native ASL signer include exposure to ASL from birth and having Deaf parents. This study questions the necessity of the second criterion by comparing two groups: 16 Deaf adults with Deaf parents and exposed to ASL from birth, and 16 Deaf adults with hearing parents and exposed to ASL before age two. All determined whether pairs of pseudosigns, sometimes differing in phonological details, matched. The two groups did not differ significantly on accuracy, but the first group responded faster than the second group on average. These findings suggest processing differences between the two groups, but otherwise …

Increasing Staff Use Of Sign Language, Melanie Hepworth Neville

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effectiveness of two procedures, a visual cue and performance posting, to modify the use of sign language by psychiatric technicians. The visual cue was first introduced alone, then paired with performance posting to encourage staff use of sign language with the developmentally disabled children in their charge. Application of the visual cue alone produced little change in staff sign useage. The visual cue plus performance posting condition increased staff use of sign language during mealtimes. Four weeks of follow-up data indicated that the use of sign language remained at a level well above baseline.

Sign-Language, A Sister Of St. Joseph, Deaf Mute Institute

DCA Bookshelf

A dictionary of sign language used in America. The volume contains 76 typewritten leaves and was prepared by a Sister of St. Joseph from the Deaf Mute Institute in St. Louis, Missouri. It is believed to have been circulated "for the use solely of the Jesuit Scholastics" circa 1900.

This early manual contains a general vocabulary and instructions for how to sign, including some distinctively Catholic terms.

Additional words appearing on title page: Ephphetha, "Be Thou Opened"