Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Channeling language

  • Book Review
  • Published:
Natural Language & Linguistic Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Review of Wendy Sandler & Diane Lillo-Martin. (2006). Sign Language and Linguistic Universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, xxi + 547 pp. Trevor Johnston & Adam Schembri. (2007). Australian Sign Language: An Introduction to Sign Language Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, xiv + 323 pp.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aronoff, M. (1994). Morphology by itself. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aronoff, M., Meir, I., & Sandler, W. (2005). The paradox of sign language morphology. Language, 81, 301–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bayley, R., Lucas, C., & Rose, M. (2000). Variation in American Sign Language: The case of DEAF. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4, 81–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellugi, U., & Fischer, S. (1972). A comparison of sign language and spoken language. Cognition, 1, 173–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bobaljik, J. (1995). Morphosyntax: the syntax of verbal inflection. Doctoral dissertation, MIT.

  • Brentari, D. (2002). Modality differences in sign language phonology and morphophonemics. In R. P. Meier, K. Cormier, & D. Quinto-Pozos (Eds.), Modality and structure in signed and spoken languages (pp. 65–87). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colarusso, J. (1992). A grammar of the Kabardian language. Calgary: University of Calgary Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corbett, G. G. (2006). Agreement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emmorey, K. (2002). Language, cognition, and the brain: Insights from sign language research. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldin-Meadow, S., & Mylander, C. (1990). Beyond the input given: The child’s role in the acquisition of language. Language, 66, 323–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, J. A. (1994). A performance theory of order and constituency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, J. A., & Cutler, A. (1988). Psycholinguistic factors in morphological asymmetry. In J. A. Hawkins (Ed.), Explaining language universals (pp. 280–317). Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hohenberger, A., Happ, D., & Leuninger, H. (2002). Modality-dependent aspects of sign language production: evidence from slips of the hands and their repairs in German Sign Language. In R. P. Meier, K. Cormier, & D. Quinto-Pozos (Eds.), Modality and structure in signed and spoken languages (pp. 112–142). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kayne, R. (1994). The antisymmetry of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kegl, J., Senghas, A., & Coppola, M. (1999). Creation through contact: sign language emergence and sign language change in Nicaragua. In M. DeGraff (Ed.), Language creation and language change: Creolization, diachrony, and development (pp. 179–237). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klima, E. S., & Bellugi, U. (1979). The signs of language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lashley, K. S. (1951). The problem of serial order in behavior. In L. A. Jeffress (Ed.), Cerebral mechanisms in behavior (pp. 112–136). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lasnik, H. (1995). Verbal morphology: Syntactic Structures meets the Minimalist Program. In H. Campos, & P. Kempchinsky (Eds.), Evolution and revolution in linguistic theory: Studies in honor of Carlos P. Otero (pp. 251–275). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liddell, S. K. (1984). THINK and BELIEVE: sequentiality in American Sign Language. Language, 60, 372–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liddell, S. K. (1995). Real, surrogate, and token space: grammatical consequences in ASL. In K. Emmorey & J. Reilly (Eds.), Language, gesture, and space (pp. 19–41). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

  • Liddell, S. K., & Johnson, R. E. (1989). American Sign Language: The phonological base. Sign Language Studies, 64, 197–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacNeilage, P. F., & Davis, B. L. (1993). Motor explanations of babbling and early speech patterns. In B. de Boysson-Bardies, S. de Schonen, P. Jusczyk, P. F. MacNeilage, & J. Morton (Eds.), Developmental neurocognition: Speech and face processing in the first year of life (pp. 341–352). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauk, C. E., Lindblom, B., & Meier, R. P. (In press). Undershoot of ASL locations in fast signing. In J. Quer (Ed.), Signs of the time: Selected papers from TISLR 2004. Seedorf, Germany: Signum Verlag.

  • Meier, R. P. (1990). Person deixis in American Sign Language. In S. D. Fischer, & P. Siple (Eds.), Theoretical issues in sign language research, vol. 1: Linguistics (pp. 175–190). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meier, R. P. (1993). A psycholinguistic perspective on phonological segmentation in sign and speech. In G. R. Coulter (Ed.), Phonetics and phonology, vol. 3: Current issues in American Sign Language phonology (pp. 169–188). San Diego: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meier, R. P., & Lillo-Martin, D. (In press). Does spatial make it special? On the grammar of pointing signs in American Sign Language. In D. B. Gerdts, J. Moore, & M. Polinsky (Eds.), Hypothesis A/Hypothesis B: Linguistic explorations in honor of David M. Perlmutter. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

  • Meier, R. P., Mauk, C., Cheek, A., & Moreland, C. J. (2008). The form of children’s early signs: Iconic or motoric determinants? Language Learning & Development, 4, 63–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mesch, J. (2001). Tactile sign language: Turn-taking and questions in signed conversations of deaf-blind people. Seedorf, Germany: Signum Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mithun, M. (1984). The evolution of noun incorporation. Language, 60, 847–894.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neidle, C., Kegl, J., MacLaughlin, D., Bahan, B., & Lee, R. G. (2000). The syntax of American Sign Language: Functional categories and hierarchical structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neidle, C., MacLauglin, D., Lee, R. G., Bahan, B., & Kegl, J. (1998). The rightward analysis of wh-movement in ASL: a reply to Petronio and Lillo-Martin. Language, 74, 819–831.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petronio, K., & Lillo-Martin, D. (1997). Wh-movement and the position of Spec-CP: evidence from American Sign Language. Language, 73, 18–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfau, R., & Zeshan, U. (2003). Wh-movement and wh-split in Indo-Pakastani Sign Language. Paper presented at South Asian Languages Analysis XXIII, University of Texas at Austin, Oct. 11, 2003.

  • Pinker, S., & Bloom, P. (1990). Natural language and natural selection. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 13, 707–784.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polich, L. (2005). The emergence of the deaf community in Nicaragua. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quadros, R. M. de. (1999). Phrase structure of Brazilian Sign Language. Doctoral dissertation, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul.

  • Quinto-Pozos, D. (2002). Deictic points in the visual-gestural and tactile-gestural modalities. In R. P. Meier, K. Cormier, & D. Quinto-Pozos (Eds.), Modality and structure in signed and spoken languages (pp. 442–467). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandler, W., Meir, I., Padden, C., & Aronoff, M. (2005). The emergence of grammar: Systematic structure in a new language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102, 2661–2665.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schauber, E. (1979). The syntax and semantics of questions in Navajo. New York: Garland [Published version of 1975 MIT dissertation].

    Google Scholar 

  • Supalla, S. J. (1991). Manually coded english: the modality question in signed language development. In P. Siple, & S. Fischer (Eds.), Theoretical issues in sign language research, vol. 2: Psychology (pp. 85–109). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thelen, E. (1979). Rhythmical stereotypies in normal hearing infants. Animal Behaviour, 27, 699–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station B5100, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Richard P. Meier

Authors
  1. Richard P. Meier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard P. Meier.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Meier, R.P. Channeling language. Nat Language Linguistic Theory 26, 451–466 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-008-9041-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-008-9041-5

Search

Navigation