Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:02:11.353Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Language readiness and learning among deaf children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2017

Anne E. Pfister
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224-2659. a.pfister@unf.edu
Daniel H. Lende
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620-8100. dlende@usf.edu

Abstract

We applaud Goldin-Meadow & Brentari's (G-M&B's) significant efforts to consider the linkages between sign, gesture, and language. Research on deaf children and sign language acquisition can broaden the G-M&B approach by considering how language readiness is also a social phenomenon and that distinctions between imagistic and categorical formats rely on language practices and contexts.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Christiansen, M. H. & Chater, N. (2008) Language as shaped by the brain. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 31(5):489509.Google Scholar
Clark, A. (2008) Supersizing the mind: Embodiment, action, and cognitive extension. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Downey, G. (2010) “Practice without theory”: A neuroanthropological perspective on embodied learning. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 16(supp. 1):2240.Google Scholar
Evans, N. & Levinson, S. C. (2009) The myth of language universals: Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 32(5):429–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hutchins, E. (1995) Cognition in the wild. MIT Press.Google Scholar
LeMaster, B. & Monaghan, L. (2004) Variation in sign languages. In: Companion to linguistic anthropology, ed. Duranti, A., pp. 141–58. Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lende, D. H. & Downey, G. (2012a) Neuroanthropology and its applications. Annals of Anthropological Practice 36(1):125.Google Scholar
Lende, D. H. & Downey, G., eds. (2012b) The encultured brain: An introduction to neuroanthropology. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ochs, E. & Scheiffelin, B. (2008) Language socialization: An historical overview. In: Encyclopedia of language and education, ed. Duff, P. A. & Hornberger, N. H., pp. 315. Springer Science.Google Scholar
Pfister, A. E. (2015a) Childhood and deafness. Neos: Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group Newsletter 7(1):46.Google Scholar
Pfister, A. E. (2015b) Myths and miracles in Mexico City: Treatment seeking, language socialization, and identity among deaf youth and their families. Ph.D. dissertation, University of South Florida.Google Scholar
Pfister, A. E. (2015c) Proyecto fotovoz: The everyday lives of young people attending Instituto Pedagógico para Problemas de Lenguaje in Mexico City. Medicine Anthropology Theory (MAT). Available at: http://medanthrotheory.org/read/4699/proyecto-fotovoz.Google Scholar
Pfister, A.E. (in press) Forbidden signs: Deafness and language socialization in Mexico City. Ethos.Google Scholar
Pfister, A. E., Vindrola-Padros, C. & Johnson, G. A. (2014) Together, we can show you: Using participant-generated visual data in collaborative research. Collaborative Anthropologies 7(1):2649.Google Scholar
Ramsey, C. L. & Quinto-Pozos, D. (2010) Transmission of sign languages in Latin America. In: Sign languages, ed. Brentari, D., pp. 4673. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Roepstorff, A., Niewohnerc, J. & Beck, S. (2010) Enculturing brains through patterned practices. Neural Networks 23(8–9):1051–59.Google Scholar
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar