Sign Language Structure
Stokoe, Jr.
five thousand feet at normal and reduced speed of motion pictures of the signing of fourteen deaf
and two hearing informants.
While no systematic attempt has been made so far to identify and classify dialects and
idiolects of sign language there is clear indication that such divisions are real. We believe that the
analysis to be presented is valid so far as it goes for all the sign language idiolects we have
observed, but more, that it and the notational system developed with it can be used to describe
gestural languages other than the sign language of the American deaf. The present study is offered
as a fairly complete statement of the first level of structure of the language.
The morphology and semology, especially the syntax, of this sign language and its dialect
structure are presently (February 1960) being studied by the writer and his associates under a two-
year grant from the National Science Foundation. Future plans include historical studies and
comparisons with sign languages of other cultures.
SASLJ, Vol. 2, No. 2 – Fall/Winter 2018
28