Sign Language and Linguistic Universals [Paperback]

This 2006 study compares sign languages with spoken languages, in order to seek their shared universal properties.Sign Languages are of great interest to linguists, because while they are produced by the same brain, their physical transmission differs greatly from that of spoken languages. In this pioneering study, Wendy Sandler and Diane Lillo-Martin compare spoken languages with those that are signed, in order to seek universal properties of human languages. No prior background in sign language linguistics is assumed, and numerous pictures are provided to make descriptions accessible to readers. This book will be invaluable to all those interested in linguistics and its application to sign languages.Sign Languages are of great interest to linguists, because while they are produced by the same brain, their physical transmission differs greatly from that of spoken languages. In this pioneering study, Wendy Sandler and Diane Lillo-Martin compare spoken languages with those that are signed, in order to seek universal properties of human languages. No prior background in sign language linguistics is assumed, and numerous pictures are provided to make descriptions accessible to readers. This book will be invaluable to all those interested in linguistics and its application to sign languages.Sign languages are of great interest to linguists because, while they are produced by the same brain, their physical transmission differs greatly from that of spoken languages. Wendy Sandler and Diane Lillo-Martin compare spoken languages with those that are signed, in order to seek universal properties of human languages. No prior background in sign language linguistics is assumed, and numerous pictures are provided to make descriptions accessible to readers.Part I. Introduction: 1. One human language or two?; Part II. Morphology: 2. Morphology: introduction; 3. Inflectional morphology; 4. Derivational morphology; 5. Classifier constructions; 6. Entering the lexicon: lexicalization,lG