This collection of papers is divided into three sections. The first is comprised of papers on the Deaf community’s change in identity following the acceptance of American Sign Language (ASL). Building upon this foundation, the second section contains articles on a mixture of important scholarly benefits from ASL studies. Section 3 provides a vivid capstone with papers on ASL’s contributions to poetry and theater. The orientation of the book opens the field to linguists and non-linguists, offering special interest to students of the arts.

The first set of chapters, relating to culture and identity, presents the controversial but essential issue of what it means to be Deaf. After William Stokoe’s seminal research and the subsequent acceptance of ASL as a language, the Deaf community began to shift its paradigm of identity. The term “Deaf” no longer refers only to hearing loss. Writing as a Deaf person, Tom Humphries describes the paradigm shift that the Deaf community began to experience once ASL reached legitimate language status. In the past, signers had believed the view that ASL amounted to mere gesture or poor English. Their newfound perspective led to the development of Deaf identity. Brenda J. Brueggemann & Kristen Harmon write about how the Deaf community defines “Deaf” as a linguistic minority, using a capital “D” in the word’s written form. The second part of the book takes the foundation laid by the first part – ASL is a legitimate language – and describes contributions ASL research has made in other fields, such as neurolinguistics and bilingualism. In the second chapter in this section, for example, Ann Sengbas, Sotaro Kita & Aslt Ozyurek speak of the newly emerging Nicaraguan Sign Language, which provides fresh insights into “how fundamental language properties emerge as the nonlinguistic becomes linguistic” (p. 91). Part 3 presents chapters delineating ASL’s perhaps unexpected influence on the arts. The three-dimensional element of ASL gives poets and translators an enhanced medium for artistic creation. Using ASL, the poet can become fully integrated into a poem. When Shakespeare is translated into ASL, Kenny Learner & Peter Novak show how ASL can convey nuances of meaning not possible in English.

This book should appeal to the linguist and non-linguist alike because it approaches the topic of ASL from various perspectives. The book presents a comprehensive picture of the contributions that studies in ASL have offered.