Pinky Extension and Eye Gaze: Language Use in Deaf Communities

This volume's ten meticulously prepared chapters reflect the refinements of research in six major sociolinguistic areas. Rob Hoopes' work, "A Preliminary Examination of Pinky Extension: Suggestions Regarding Its Occurrence, Constraints, and Function", commences Part One: Variation with a sound explanation of this American Sign Language (ASL) phonological characteristic. Part Two: Languages in Contact includes findings by Jean Ann on contact between Taiwanese Sign Language and written Taiwanese.

Priscilla Shannon Gutierrez considers educational policy with language and cognition in deaf children in Part Three: Language in Education; and in Part Four: Discourse Analysis, Melanie Metzger discusses eye gaze and pronominal reference in ASL. Part Five: Second-Language Learning presents the single chapter "An Acculturation Model for ASL Learners", by Mike Kemp. Sarah E. Burns defines Irish Sign Language as Ireland's second minority language after Gaelic in Part Six: Language Attitudes, the final area of concentration in this rigorously researched volume. The studies by the respected scholars featured in Pinky Extension and Eye Gaze make it an outstanding and eminently valuable addition to this series.