Resource Analysis – Language the 400s

1. Resource Analysis – Language the 400s Velvet Marlin Library 150 Spring 2008

2. Resource Analysis American Sign Language: A Comprehensive Dictionary REF 419 STE

3. American Sign Language: A Comprehensive Dictionary • Call Number: REF 419 STE • Bibliographic Citation: • Sternberg, Martin L.A. American Sign Language: A Comprehensive Dictionary. New York: Harper Collins, 1981.

5. Arrangement In this dictionary there is a Table of Contents, Acknowledgements, Foreword by Mary E. Switzer, General Editorial Committee, The Study and Use of Sign Language by William C. Stokoe, Jr., a Pronunciation Guide, Abbreviations, Explanatory Notes, American Manual Alphabet, the dictionary entries, a Bibliography, Subject Index to the Bibliography, an several Appendixes.

6. Indexing This dictionary has a Table of Contents listing all the sections of this volume. Aside from the Acknowledgements, Forewords, and the Introduction all other sections are arranged in alphabetical order.

7. Scope “An undertaking of this scope, and covering such a long period of time in its development, cannot escape certain built-in hazards. Among these are new signs and new applications for old ones. It has not always been possible to include them. Older signs, too, tend sometimes to fall into disuse. Their inclusion in the dictionary may be useful, however, as historical benchmarks in sign development.” Excerpt from the Acknowledgements by Martin L.A. Sternberg, Ed.D.

8. Currency The signs contained within are useful as a beginning level of ASL. There are many newer editions of sign language dictionaries available.

9. Intended Purpose To create another source for the deaf community and the hearing community to communicate with each other.

10. Additional Purposes Served “Its usefulness to rehabilitation as a language training tool is readily apparent. The deaf reader with language problems will be greatly benefited in his search for word knowledge by the finely executed word-sign illustrations. The hearing reader who is learning the language of signs so that he may better serve deaf people will find helpful the alphabetical work-sign order.” Excerpt from the Foreword by Mary E. Switzer.

11. Physical Format This book is available in hardcover only. The hardcover is 24 cm in height and has 1,132 pages.

12. Special Features The special features of this book are the 8,000 drawings by Herbert Rogoff (to illustrate entries) and the appendixes for translation from French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish to English. (The Appendixes are not a complete listing of the words in each language.)

13. Authority and Credentials “Martin L.A. Sternberg, Ed. D., is a native New Yorker. He is himself deaf, and has pent most of his career working with deal people. The idea fro this book came from Dr. Elizabeth Peet, Sternberg’s sign language teacher at Gallaudet College (for the deaf), in Washington, D.C. Dr. Sternberg kept Dr. Peet’s ideas and methods, but expanded the work greatly. Early work on the project received a federal grant from HEW to New York University, the sponsoring institution. Dr. Sternberg is now Adjunct Associate Professor of Deaf Education at Adelphi University and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Special Education at Hofstra University.

14. Authority and Credentials • Other works by Dr. Sternberg (including this work): • · (With J.D. Schein and C. Tipton) Interpreter Training: A Curriculum Guide, Deafness Research and Training Center, New York University, 1972. • · (With Frank G. Bowe) I'm Deaf, Too: Twelve Deaf Americans, National Association of the Deaf, 1973. • · (With Tipton) Modified Manual Communication for Deaf-Blind Children, Deafness Research and Training Center, New York University, 1973. • · American Sign Language: A Comprehensive Dictionary, Harper, 1981. • · American Sign Language Concise Dictionary, 1990, revised edition, illustrations by Herbert Rogoff and Eduself, HarperPerennial, (New York, NY), 1994. • · American Sign Language Dictionary, 1994, 3rd edition, illustrations by Herbert Rogoff, Eduself, and North Market Street Graphics, HarperPerennial, (New York, NY), 1998. • Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC

15. Personal Impression • This is definitely a good source for learning or possibly refreshing one’s knowledge of American Sign Language. This by no means should be the only source you use. As life changes so do the signs. Learning American Sign Language has been an on again off again hobby of mine. I feel children who come from a dual language family benefit greatly from knowing a second language. I wanted to teach my children a second language and ASL seemed the perfect choice as my husband had spent many years working around large aircraft engines.

16. Examples of Reference Use • What is the sign for “cat”. • You can look up certain French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish words and see how to sign that particular word in ASL.

17. Complementary Sources • The American Sign Language handshape dictionary (electronic resource) • Instant Immersion American Sign Language v 2.0 (2 CD-Roms) • The following website may be beneficial to the deaf and their families: www.deafresources.com • Talking Hands (video recording)

18. The End