A Basic Course in American Sign Language

by Tom Humphries, Carol Padden, Terrence J. O'Rourke, et al.

Book Overview

There are obvious problems with writing a text for a visual gestural language. This text attempts to alleviate some of these problems by using illustrations and scripts for signed sequences. The text... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0932666108
• ISBN13: 9780932666109
• Release Date: January 1981
• Publisher: T.J. Publishers
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great book for a gift!

I got this book for my brother-in-law for his birthday. He likes learning new languages and this is actually one we learned in high school. Now I’m buying one for myself.

A Great Book, Especially if You're On Your Own

Here is a sign language book which provides so much information on ASL grammar in such an easy-to-learn format. With a book like this on the market, there is no reason for a hearing person to think that learning ASL grammar is too difficult. The rules are laid out and explained simply, with many exercises. And, of course, there are signs to be learned. Want to get started speaking the language of the Deaf community instead of just speaking English a different way? Then buy this book and get started.

very very helpful

if you are looking for a sign language book to help you learn this is the number one book. It gives you lessons for easy to remember words. It is a beginner to every day use sign book. It is a must buy if you are interested in sign language. Iam currently taking my 2 course in american sign language it helps me understand sign and remember the basic sign language to help me anytime. It has a spiral bound for easy access and a purfect study guide. A must have.

THE BEST Sign Language (ASL) text I have ever seen

After a semester of Siglish, I took 4 semesters of American Sign Language (ASL) in college as my foreign language requirement. The course was superby taught by a husband and wife team, both who worked at residential schools for the deaf for over 25 years. This book was the text for the first 2 semesters and I still have it on my shelf.Extremely detailed, lots of exlplainations and superb drawings. The text is spiral bound, which is awesome for laying a book flat while practicing signs. If you carry this book with you in a backpack, however, you should keep the book in a protective bag... the spiral binding makes the book very vulnerable to pages ripping away while being jostled in a backpack.This text should not replace classroom instruction. There is no text that can replace a real human being explaining how one sign looks exactly like another depending on context, facial expressions and body language. You can easily embarrass yourself by assuming you can figure out the drawings and go about conversing in ASL with someone w/o the benefit of real one-on-one practice with another human being. Signs like "prostitute" and "shy" are almost identical to the learner and if you're talking to someone and you say "I'm shy," you might end up getting a bunch of raised eyebrows if you don't do it just right. Signs for "lemon" and "lesbian" are also very closely similar... you can imagine the types of mis-understandings that can occur if you don't learn these signs properly.This warning is not meant as discouragement. If you have already learned the manual alphabet and find yourself to be quite adept, ASL will probably be a breeze to you... at least it was to me. Some people really take to it and others don't. Spoken language is not my strong suit and I was a late talker to begin with. If my college didn't offer ASL as a foreign language requirement, I would have never graduated. Regardless of your aptitude, study and practice is essential for good, rapid signing... and more importantly, signing that can be understood. Even if you become a wiz at signing, you must have practice at reading other people's signs or you won't be able to have a conversation. It's been 8 years since my last ASL class and wlithout anyone to practice with, I've forgotten a lot of signs, so I constantly refer to this book... it's a great reference for those wanting to freshen up on forgotten signs or to use to learn in the classroom or with a study partner.

Good book for building the foundation necessary to learn ASL

I used this book in an adult evening course at The American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, Connecticut. ASD is the oldest school for deaf people in the US, as well as, the birthplace of American Sign Language(ASL). The book combines both basic sentence struture and useful vocabulary words. An example is Lesson 1, which covers sentences with predictive adjectives and 40 vocabulary words. So at the end of lesson 1, I was able to sign sentences such as She is beautiful. & I am tired. The book also gives a good introduction into the deaf community and culture. As a parent of a hearing impaired son, this book gave me the ability to see useful results at the end of each lesson. I found this book very effective.

If you want to understand ASL grammer, this is THE book!

I borrowed a copy of this book some years ago and I thought it was fantastic! This the best book I've seen that explains ASL grammer. I would highly recommend it to the intermediate sign language learner.