ABSTRACT

The Routledge Handbook of Theoretical and Experimental Sign Language Research bridges the divide between theoretical and experimental approaches to provide an up-to-date survey of key topics in sign language research. With 29 chapters written by leading and emerging scholars from around the world, this Handbook covers the following key areas: 

  • On the theoretical side, all crucial aspects of sign language grammar studied within formal frameworks such as Generative Grammar;  

  • On the experimental side, theoretical accounts are supplemented by experimental evidence gained in psycho- and neurolinguistic studies; 
  • On the descriptive side, the main phenomena addressed in the reviewed scholarship are summarized in a way that is accessible to readers without previous knowledge of sign languages.

Each chapter features an introduction, an overview of existing research, and a critical assessment of hypotheses and findings. The Routledge Handbook of Theoretical and Experimental Sign Language Research is key reading for all advanced students and researchers working at the intersection of sign language research, linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics. 

Chapter 1 Harry van der Hulst & Els van der Kooij: Sign language phonology – theoretical perspectives

Chapter 2 Uta Benner: Phonological comprehension – experimental perspectives

Chapter 3 Eva Gutierrez-Sigut & Cristina Baus: Lexical processing in comprehension and production – experimental perspectives

Chapter 4 Jordan Fenlon & Diane Brentari: Prosody – theoretical and experimental perspectives

Chapter 5 Josep Quer: Verb agreement – theoretical perspectives

Chapter 6 Jana Hosemann: Verb agreement – experimental perspectives

Chapter 7 Gladys Tang, Jia Li, & Jia He: Classifiers – theoretical perspectives

Chapter 8 Inge Zwitserlood: Classifiers – experimental perspectives

Chapter 9 Evie A. Malaia & Marina Milković: Aspect – theoretical and experimental perspectives

Chapter 10 Natasha Abner: Determiner phrases – theoretical perspectives

Chapter 11 Meltem Kelepir: Content interrogatives – theoretical and experimental perspectives

Chapter 12 Kadir Gökgöz: Negation – theoretical and experimental perspectives

Chapter 13 Carlo Cecchetto: Null arguments and ellipsis – theoretical perspectives

Chapter 14 Diane Lillo-Martin: Null arguments – experimental perspectives

Chapter 15 Chiara Branchini: Relative clauses – theoretical perspectives

Chapter 16 Markus Steinbach: Role shift – theoretical perspectives

Chapter 17 Pamela Perniss: Use of sign space – experimental perspectives

Chapter 18 Gemma Barberà: Specificity and definiteness – theoretical perspectives

Chapter 19 Vadim Kimmelman & Josep Quer: Quantification – theoretical perspectives

Chapter 20 Kathryn Davidson: Implicatures – theoretical and experimental perspectives

Chapter 21 Jeremy Kuhn: Discourse anaphora – theoretical and experimental perspectives

Chapter 22 Elisabeth Volk & Annika Herrmann: Discourse particles – theoretical perspectives

Chapter 23 Philippe Schlenker: Logical visibility and iconicity in sign language semantics – theoretical perspectives

Chapter 24 Ronnie B. Wilbur: Non-manual markers – theoretical and experimental perspectives

Chapter 25 Bencie Woll & Dave Vinson: Gesture and sign – theoretical and experimental perspectives

Chapter 26 Vadim Kimmelman & Roland Pfau: Information structure – theoretical perspectives

Chapter 27 Caterina Donati: Bimodal bilingual grammars – theoretical and experimental perspectives

Chapter 28 Annemarie Kocab & Ann Senghas: Language emergence – theoretical and experimental perspectives

Chapter 29 Marcel R. Giezen: Working memory in signers – experimental perspectives