British sign language

Description:

IS SIGN LANGUAGE INTERNATIONAL? IS IT MIME? IS IT SPELLING WORDS ON YOUR FINGERS? These are some of the questions which Dorothy Miles answers in this book about British Sign Language (BSL), the language used by deaf people in Britain. The book is for anyone, hearing or deaf, who is interested in sign language, and will be particularly useful to parents of deaf children and indeed anyone with deaf relatives, friends, neighbours or colleagues. The author also gives a fascinating account of the history of signing, and a chapter by Paddy Ladd describes how Britain's deaf community and its language have survived a century of attack and are at last today attracting respect and acceptability. This book stands in its own right as an introduction to BSL and will prove invaluable to those attending BSL classes. It also supports the BBC TV series and a BBC Enterprises video of the same name.

subjects: British Sign Language,  Deaf,  Means of communication,  Sign languages, Braille & other linguistic communication,  Language