# Sign Canonical URL: https://shipslides.com/d/languages-sign-languages Raw HTML URL: https://content.shipslides.com/d/languages-sign-languages/raw Category: Languages Slides: 30 Updated: 2026-05-15T22:18:29.129Z Tags: languages, sign ## Summary Sign languages are full natural languages — phonology (in the manual modality), morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics. They are not pantomime, not visual versions of spoken languages, and not 'broken' communication systems. The recognition of this fact, in serious academic linguistics, dates to William Stokoe's 1960 analysis. Key sections include: Sign Languages.; Opening Languages without sound.; Chapter I The 1960 paper.; Chapter II American Sign Language.; Chapter III British Sign Language.; Chapter IV The diversity.; Chapter V The visual building blocks.; Chapter VI Visual syntax.; Chapter VII The 1880 Conference.; Chapter VIII The 1960s recovery.. ## Slide Outline 1. Sign Languages. 2. Opening Languages without sound. 3. Chapter I The 1960 paper. 4. Chapter II American Sign Language. 5. Chapter III British Sign Language. 6. Chapter IV The diversity. 7. Chapter V The visual building blocks. 8. Chapter VI Visual syntax. 9. Chapter VII The 1880 Conference. 10. Chapter VIII The 1960s recovery. 11. Chapter IX The community. 12. Chapter X The language born. 13. Chapter XI Native learners. 14. Chapter XII Sign-language interpreters. 15. Chapter XIII Captions and telecoms. 16. Chapter XIV Schools for the deaf. 17. Chapter XV The continued debate. 18. Chapter XVI Variation worldwide. 19. Chapter XVII What sign tells us. 20. Chapter XVIII Deaf artistic forms. 21. Chapter XIX Variation. 22. Chapter XX The risks. 23. Chapter XXI Where it's going. 24. Chapter XXIII Twenty-five works. 25. Chapter XXIV Watch & read. 26. Chapter XXV If you want to learn it. 27. Chapter XXVI Why it matters. 28. Chapter XXVII The next decade. 29. Addendum Glossary of sign-language terms. 30. The end of the deck. ## Related Decks - [Computational Linguistics](https://shipslides.com/d/languages-computational-linguistics) - [Dialects & Sociolinguistics](https://shipslides.com/d/languages-dialects-and-sociolinguistics) - [Endangered Languages](https://shipslides.com/d/languages-endangered-languages) - [The History of English](https://shipslides.com/d/languages-english-history)