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Article published In: Historiographia Linguistica
Vol. 28:1/2 (2001) ► pp.143–186

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William Stokoe and the discipline of sign language linguistics

 | University of Washington
Published online: 13 June 2002
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.28.1.10mcb
Summary
The first modern linguistic analysis of a signed language was published in 1960 – William Clarence Stokoe’s (1919–2000) Sign Language Structure. Although the initial impact of Stokoe’s monograph on linguistics and education was minimal, his work formed a solid base for what was to become a new field of research: American Sign Language (ASL) Linguistics. Together with the work of those that followed (in particular Ursula Bellugi and colleagues), Stokoe’s ground-breaking work on the structure of ASL has led to an acceptance of signed languages as autonomous linguistic systems that exhibit the complex structure characteristic of all human languages.
Résumé
On a publié la première analyse linguistique moderne d’une langue des signes en 1960: Sign Language Structure, par William Clarence Stokoe, Jr. (1919–2000). Si à l’époque l’impact de cette monographie était minime parmi les linguistes et spécialistes en éduction, elle constituera par la suite le fondement solide d’un nouveau domaine de recherche: l’étude du langage des signes américain. En conjonction avec de subséquents travaux (en particulier, ceux d’Ursula Bellugi et ses collègues), l’ouvrage innovateur de Stokoe sur la structure du langage des signes américain (American Sign Language) a conduit à ce qu’on l’on accepte de voir en les langues des signes des systèmes langagiers autonomes, dont la structure complexe est celle de toute langue humaine.
Zusammenfassung
Die erste moderne linguistische Analyse einer Zeichensprache erschien 1960 – William Clarence Stokoes (1919–2000) Sign Language Structure. Obgleich die anfängliche Wirkung von Stokoes Buch auf die Sprachwissenschaft und das Erziehungswesen gering war, stellt seine Arbeit eine wichtige Grundlage für das dar, was zum neuen Forschungsgebiet der Sprachwissenschaft der amerikanischen Zeichensprache (American Sign Language) wurde. Zusammen mit den Arbeiten von anderen (insbesondere Ursula Bellugi und Mitarbeiter) führte Stokoes grundlegendes Werk zur Struktur dieser Zeichensprache zur Akzeptanz von Zeichensprachen als autonome linguistische Systeme, die die komplexe Struktur aller menschlichen Sprachen kennzeichnen.
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