Sign Bilingualism: Language Development, Interaction, and Maintenance in Sign Language Contact Situations (review)

Abstract

Sign Bilingualism: Language Development, Interaction, and Maintenance in Sign Language Contact Situations, ed. Carolina Plaza-Pust and Esperanza Morales-Lopez (Philadelphia: Benjamins, 2008, 389 pp., hardcover, $158.00, ISBN 978-90-272-4149-8) THE EDITORS of this volume have put together twelve papers under tide Sign Bilingualism. The papers cover a variety of topics, including code mixing in Li acquisition, language planning and its impact on interpreters, language contact in development of writing, and correlation between use of space in sign language and reading comprehension. I would recommend to potential readers (and they should be numerous!) to start reading book from back. In final chapter, Plaza-Pust and Morales-Lopez do an excellent job of introducing relevant concepts of sign bilingualism, language maintenance and planning, and language contact. Drawing on previous studies in both spoken and signed languages, they show connections to studies presented in this volume, bridge diverse topics presented in other eleven chapters, and demonstrate relevance of linking theory and practice. Plaza-Pust and Morales-Lopez hope that the knowledge that can be gleaned from each of chapters in this volume also contributes to a more dynamic relationship between research-policy-practice axis that determines sign bilingualism and its perception in broader social (372). And indeed, contributions to this volume illustrate range of research on linguistic structures and their impact on language policies and also advise practitioners on putting research into practice. This which is offered as dessert, in this reviewer's opinion, ought to be instead a tantalizing appetizer. The first course offering by Baker and van der Bogaerde (1-28) discusses code mixing in input to and output from children. It is a significant contribution in understanding natural interactions within families that comprise both deaf and hearing members. Their results show that deaf children receive significantly less code blending in their input from their deaf mothers and also use less in their own utterances. Differences appear in types of code blends, with hearing children producing and receiving far more blends with Dutch as base language, while deaf children in study receive and produce almost exclusively blends with NGT as their base language. Baker and van der Bogaerde also note that most commonly blended word classes are nouns, verbs, and adjectives, results that contradict previous studies on code blending in both deaf and hearing adults (Emmorey el al. 2005; Muysken 2004). If we consider Baker and van der Bogaerde's chapter a first course, next section of book could serve as main courses. As most of contributions in this volume are concerned with bilingualism in context of deaf education, this is core of book. The chapter by Ardito et al. (137-64) stands out because it discusses practical applications of bilingual education. The authors describe in great detail activities in a bilingual kindergarten class aimed at increasing appreciation of and competence in literacy. Ardito et al. give a brief but useful introduction to bilingualism and early literacy. The remainder of chapter describes principles, methods, and successes of team teaching reading to a mixed group of hearing and deaf children using Italian Sign Language and Signed Italian. This chapter in particular will be of interest to educators looking for concrete advice on how to put what we know about sign bilingualism into practice. Educators and researchers will appreciate Krausneker's report (195-222) on language use and awareness of deaf and hearing children in a bilingual classroom in Austria. After situating her research within larger context of Austrian deaf educational and societal policies, Krausneker elaborates findings of her longitudinal study of use of OGS and German in a mixed class of hearing and deaf students. …