The Linguistics of Sign Languages

An introduction

Editors

Anne Baker | University of Amsterdam & Stellenbosch University

Beppie van den Bogaerde | HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht

Roland Pfau | University of Amsterdam

Trude Schermer | Nederlands Gebarencentrum

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How different are sign languages across the world? Are individual signs and signed sentences constructed in the same way across these languages? What are the rules for having a conversation in a sign language? How do children and adults learn a sign language? How are sign languages processed in the brain? These questions and many more are addressed in this introductory book on sign linguistics using examples from more than thirty different sign languages. Comparisons are also made with spoken languages.

This book can be used as a self-study book or as a text book for students of sign linguistics. Each chapter concludes with a summary, some test-yourself questions and assignments, as well as a list of recommended texts for further reading.

The book is accompanied by a website containing assignments, video clips and links to web resources.

[Not in series, 199] 2016. xv, 378 pp.

Publishing status: Available
Published online on 24 June 2016

https://doi.org/10.1075/z.199

Table of Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1. Sign languages as natural languages

Anne Baker | pp. 1–24

Chapter 2. Psycholinguistics

Trude Schermer and Roland Pfau | pp. 25–50

Chapter 3. Acquisition

Anne Baker, Beppie van den Bogaerde and Sonja Jansma | pp. 51–72

Chapter 4. Interaction and discourse

Anne Baker and Beppie van den Bogaerde | pp. 73–91

Chapter 5. Constituents and word classes

Anne Baker and Roland Pfau | pp. 93–115

Chapter 6. Syntax: simple sentences

Roland Pfau and Heleen Bos | pp. 117–147

Chapter 7. Syntax: complex sentences

Roland Pfau | pp. 149–172

Chapter 8. Lexicon

Trude Schermer | pp. 173–195

Chapter 9. Morphology

Roland Pfau | pp. 197–228

Chapter 10. Phonetics
Onno Crasborn and Els van der Kooij

Chapter 11. Phonology

Els van der Kooij and Onno Crasborn | pp. 251–278

Chapter 12. Language variation and standardization

Trude Schermer | pp. 279–298

Chapter 13. Language contact and change

Trude Schermer and Roland Pfau | pp. 299–324

Chapter 14. Bilingualism and deaf education

Beppie van den Bogaerde, Marjolein Buré and Connie Fortgens | pp. 325–336

Notation conventions
Appendix 1. Notation conventions
Appendix 2. Examples of manual alphabets
References
Websites
Index

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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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The Linguistics of Sign Languages

An introduction

Cited by 41 other publications

Linguistics

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