Transcript
Marvin Miller: Introduction
BA Student Intern
0:23-1:56
Thank you all for coming; what a big turnout! This event celebrates the 50-year anniversary of the first ASL dictionary publication [A Dictionary of American Sign Language and Linguistic Principles]. Many of us flipped through that dictionary in amazement. The information in that book changed the world. I could go on, but for brevity I won’t. I would like to thank the Office of the Provost, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Department of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies for supporting this event.
I just realized that I completely forgot to introduce myself! My name is Marvin Miller, and I am a BA student intern here. This semester, our focus is on interviewing many wonderful and amazing people in order to conduct fascinating research and collect a wealth of data. We have a substantial amount of material, but we’ve narrowed it down to a manageable quantity so that this program will be an enjoyable experience for all of you.
Now I’d like to introduce our Master of Ceremonies for this program. He does not need a long introduction, as many of you are likely familiar with his many achievements in ASL and linguistics! Perhaps you are familiar with his famous story, “Bird of a Different Feather”. In performing that story, he became an expert at portraying bird-like qualities, such as craning his neck. If I ever move my neck like that, please bring me straight to the hospital! Without further ado, I’d like to introduce Dr. Ben Bahan.
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
1:56-3:47.
Give me a minute…. Let me just see if I can mimic that bird… Ouch, I might have hurt my neck! That aside, it’s wonderful to recognize anniversaries like these. When Stokoe, Casterline, and Croneberg worked together to develop the ASL dictionary, they wrote in the preface, “The editors hope that the dictionary itself will give evidence of the institution’s devotion to the liberal arts and humane sciences that continues to pervade all the work of the college.” This book was published in 1965, and 45 years later - in 2010 - Gallaudet recognized the foundation of that research and the University became a bilingual institute. In the future, I truly hope that the spirit of this work will continue.
In the dictionary, Stokoe, Casterline, and Croneberg always acknowledged George Detmold for his continued support. Detmold was the Dean of the college at the time. He was also involved in scientific research, ensuring that Gallaudet promoted its importance. All of this makes me realize how important it is for our work to be continuously supported by upper-level administration. So, moving forward, I’d like to introduce our administrator,
Provost Carol Erting.
Dr. Carol Erting
Provost, Gallaudet University
3:47-7:17.
Thank you, Ben. I’m seriously getting chills standing here, 50 years after the printing of the Dictionary of American Sign Language! It’s incredible. I’m getting goosebumps because I met Bill Stoke myself only 7 years after the publication. It was simply astonishing at the time. I was new to the Deaf community. I had no idea that ASL was a bona fide language. It was such a new concept. I had no idea. I thought that I was the only one to not know it. That was true not only for myself but also the Deaf community was unaware that ASL is a genuine language! The view they had internalized was that it was really just “broken English,” or it was really just gestures, and other very negative perspectives. I brought it up with parents of Deaf children I was working with at the time- some of them even Deaf themselves. I mentioned ASL and they didn’t even know what it stood for. I told them it meant “American Sign Language” and they just looked at me, puzzled. “Seriously? A language?” They said, “It’s not a language. It’s just broken English”. It was unbelievable! That moment in time is when I really understood that school programs ignored the Deaf community and ASL. The Deaf community even disregarded it! This treatment and lack of awareness was terrible! That was 1972. And now I’m here to see Gallaudet University become bilingual, and that is incredible. Finally, ASL is important in education and in the lives of Deaf people and the community. It’s all simply amazing. I wish Bill [Stokoe] were here to see it. He passed away back in 2000. But, at that time, Gallaudet began to recognize his work, to applaud and honor Bill. Unfortunately I never met the two co-authors, the two co-workers. I came to work with Bill, in the Linguistic Research Lab, with many other researchers like Dennis Cokely. I knew Judy Williams only by stories from her cherished colleagues who missed her greatly, because by that time Judy had passed away. But we are fortunate to have Tiffany Williams here today. The impact of that work and her mother’s role, a Deaf woman who was one of the first researcher to document bilingual language acquisition in her own home, was incredible. I could go on forever, but I’ll stop here. Welcome to this celebration! I want to give a thank you to all of the organization committee, staff, and students who together worked to support the 50th year celebration of this dictionary. (Applause)
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
7:17-7:21.
-And now, our Dean of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Genie Gertz. (applause)
Dr. Genie Gertz
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
7:21-9:42. Length 2.21 minutes.
Hello everyone. What an impressive audience - this is history in the making, drawing from years of important work. Fifty years ago, the ASL dictionary was published but really the work started before then. In the 1960s Stokoe and his research team published a paper which was basically a literature review establishing the basis for the linguistic principles of ASL. After all that research, the team continued their work and from there they published the dictionary in 1965. The dictionary impacted Gallaudet, the country and the world. People started to recognize the language and Deaf culture. We ourselves started to recognize and analyze our own lives. We then realized we did have a language with a culture to support it. Before that, we had never seen ourselves as a culture. This will continue to impact the future Deaf generations. Now Gallaudet is a bilingual university, including a Department of ASL and Deaf Studies and other features. This all happened because of the dictionary being published. I really want to recognize and celebrate this important part of history that has had impact across the globe. I will close with a quote by Margaret Mead, a famous anthropologist who once said, “Never doubt a small group of committed citizens who can change the world”. Therefore, we must recognize that team and the impact they will continue to have that changed the world. Let’s give them a big round of applause!
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
9:42-9:46.
-From the Board of Directors, I would like to present Tiffany Williams. (applause)
Tiffany Williams
Gallaudet University Board of Trustee
9:46-10:35.
Hello! It’s so nice to see so many people in the audience! It’s obvious that Bilingualism is extremely important to the community here, as it is to the Board at Gallaudet. As was stated earlier, it is important to have administration here who have recognized [bilingualism] at Gallaudet and to support the Gallaudet community. On behalf of the board of trustees of Gallaudet University, I’m here to congratulate and recognize the community and their 50 impressive years with this program. As was previously mentioned, I’m also here as Judy Williams’ daughter, which I will talk more about later in the program. For now, on behalf of the Gallaudet Board, I want to recognize the time and commitment that was put into this program and the mission of the University, that was established in 2007, to become a bilingual university. Again, congratulations to the entire community and thank you for coming to support the program!
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
10:35-14:47.
To all of you who are tweeting, I invite you to use [hashtag] DASL50 to tell the world we are here. Let’s tweet! Now, I would like to expand on Genie Gertz’ comments. Before I proceed, I would like to ask our audience members what this sign means [Bahan signing “5 handshape-on-chin.” Audience signing, “mother”] Good, your responses are correct. That sign represents M-O-T-H-E-R. We tend to use English words in ASL gloss to make notations to represent our signs. People have been doing this for generations. This process did not include what the sign looked like; it didn’t indicate hand shapes - it simply showed static images of a person signing “MOTHER” captioned with the written word “mother.” Because of this process, people did not see ASL as a distinct language. That was problematic, because that process did not accurately reflect ASL. Stokoe’s basic question was how we make notations that accurately represent what the sign looks like, without relying on written English.
When he started working here in 1960, he wrote a paper about his sign notation system. Before his work began, many people were discussing how to notate signs. Around the 1950s, a two person research team, Trager and Smith, published their spoken language notation system. In their paper they described a systematic notation process based on phonetics known as the Trager and Smith system. People looked at their work as inspiration for a sign notation system. Stokoe contacted them to participate in their summer training at University of Buffalo. At that time, Trager was the president of the Linguistics Society of America and he had many connections. After Stokoe figured out how to apply that system to sign language he presented his paper titled “Sign Language Structure,” which was published in 1960. In that paper he proposed that signs can be broken down into smaller parts like hand shapes. That groundbreaking idea changed everything. That paper lead to receiving grants from the National Science Foundation and other organizations [camera cuts out to audience]. A few organizations, including Gallaudet, pooled their resources to support a team to expand that paper that became DASL published in 1965. Now, you can go into DASL and find the sign MOTHER and see all the different, intricate components that make up that sign. Now we have a new way of analyzing sign language with a complex system that breaks down signs. It really was a revolutionary breakthrough! It had a widespread impact on the field of sign language research. People started to realize that this was a distinct language with signs that can be analyzed and broken down into smaller components. Here is a video of people looking back and describing how this breakthrough happened.
A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles (William C. Stokoe)
Documentary/Presentation video
14:47-33:19.
15:03- “...people all over the world look to Gallaudet University…”
15:13- “...24 years have to present that it is not the same as...”
15:39-”...to go to different nations, and see what kinds of needs exist already, and to establish schools, high schools, and perhaps...…”
16:09-”...Stokoe recorded a wealth of information, not just a dictionary.” / “...sign language structure…”
16:23-”...around then, I remember discussing with students here that we were learning new information, we were seeing research on signs, and seeing that sign language has a structure- a lingistic structure. And we were amazed with this new information.”
17:38-”...the reaction to that book, the ASL dictionary; they did not know what to make of it...”
17:51-”...people at Gallaudet University were resistant at first. Many people just didn’t know what to do with this, what were the implications? I was fascinated with it because it was “different”, and I enjoyed that. There was question as to the people behind it- hearing, but not people who plan to become teachers or social workers or VR counselors. They just wanted to study the language. It was, in a way, suspicious.”
18:37-”...wow. For me, it was interesting; we have a community, a language, and we have a subculture in the heart of America. I thought this was fascinating for a linguist. So the next day, I went to the university library to research ASL, and I found DASL. That was my first contact. Now, I was already a linguist, mind you, so what I read all made sense; the phonology, the way of recording the language, and I became very interested …”
19:20-”...for me it was exciting, Deaf people analyzing their own language. Also, there was a sense of pride, that our language is legitimate, complex, etc…”
19:46-”...LRL, was a separate entity when Stokoe was there, and when he retired LRL was dissolved. This was not truly about research, it was about politics. Stokoe was isolated, away from the English department, to avoid trouble.”
20:06-”...Bill Stokoe was doing work on linguistics in the Linguistics Research Lab, and I was interested in this, so I made an appointment to see him, and asked him if I could come be a part of it as a linguistics major. He welcomed me to work with him. I was 19 at that time, that was 1974 I believe, and I worked there until I graduated. I look back now and feel lucky, to be in the right place and right time, to have been a part of this earliest stage of scientific sign language research.”
20:40-”...I worked with Dennis Cokely, as well as Stokoe and I had no idea what it meant to work at LRL- both as a matter of ASL research and as a matter of politics…”
21:01-”...one time in LRL, we all decided we should openly share our work with the Gallaudet University community. So we invited people to come to a wine and cheese reception in the lab around 1975, and that day come evening time not one person came. All of us in the lab, Deaf and hearing, were stunned. We realized just how cut off we were.”
21:41-”...we would travel all over the US for workshops to discuss ASL as a real language, and we were met with disagreements,and that’s how my hair turned white- being shut down, ignored- nobody would accept our work. Looking back now, it was really something.”
22:02-”...I remember one time, at MSSD another Deaf man and I argued- I mean really just blew up in argument, trading insults, really horrible. This man was so critical of ASL, but interestingly, he was fluent signer; he wasn’t signing in English, he was using ASL! Formally the idea that ASL is equal to English was accepted, but not yet by Deaf native ASL users.”
22:48-”What changed my relationship to ASL was when I had to take a workshop. Now, I was already teaching sign language - signing, you know? - that's what I was teaching. And now I had to take a workshop. I ask you, a workshop? And learn "the rules"? Really? My attitude was, us deaf people were constantly being told about all the mistakes we made with English rules and now we're gonna be told we're wrong about the rules in ASL, too? I was sure I'd be able to win that argument with the teacher - I knew how to do that! - I knew Carol - so I told her that she was nitpicking, telling us about rules in ASL - there were no rules in ASL! She listened patiently and then asked me if it was acceptable to sign "a volume of cars"? and I said no and she asked can you sign "a line-up of water"? And again I said no and she replied that goes to show that there are rules. I was completely floored - and in that instant my life changed; I dove into a new relationship to ASL.”
23:49-”The more I learned about ASL as a language, the more it blew my mind! I had been majoring in Business, thinking I might manage a bookstore or something like that. Then I learned about ASL being a language, and I became a “born again Deaf person.” My friends got annoyed with me because I kept looking for linguistics features of ASL while I was chatting with them, for example when I noticed an eyebrow raise I would tell them what I noticed. I was focused on how they signed and forgot what they actually said. There was a group of us, young deaf people who were fascinated and analyzed these features in ASL and discussed these things in depth. Sometimes people found that exhausting but we kept telling them “this is exciting.”
24:27-”...I want to emphasize, you can’t take the ASL out of me, it is integral to who I am.”
24:37-”...When they set up the linguistics department, I came here as the chair. I intended to continue for 5 years, but I stayed on for 31.”
25:29---”... dialogue…”
25:36-“Around 1973, when I was a freshman, I took a class, “sign language translation for theatre” under Eastman. This class really opened my mind to how I thought about ASL. Eastman constantly encouraged us to sign naturally, but it felt wrong to me then. On stage, signing in my everyday manner? No! That couldn’t be done. The class went back and forth with the teacher on this. But Eastman continued to encourage us. So, finally, I went for it. I looked at the English script and thought, how would I say this? It was a slow transition for me. To authentically convey the meaning of the English words, but in ASL in a natural way, as I would with other Deaf people. It went slowly, but at last I got it. And it was real, authentic, right! My Deaf experience became a part of my acting. It was like I was freed. That was quite a process. It has stuck with me. To this day, I still look within and think how best to say something in ASL. This self exploration, this analysis of how language works within, is ongoing. As it should be.”
26:45--(((various clips of theatrical ASL- no captions)))
27:07-”...this was a breakthrough, and that process is continuing for me even today. I am still always asking myself, can this be said better, how can this be improved, and this is crucial to my work.”
27:23-”...what really changed society on a larger scale was the film Children of a Lesser God. When that movie was released, it had an impact on the masses and their understanding of ASL.”
27:55-”...I had spoken with Judy Williams- what a great person. She had two children, Todd and Tiffany. Stokoe thought highly of her and felt she was the most suitable for this kind of work.
28:16-”...better than fine, equal to spoken language…”
28:23-”...I took two classes from Woody because I wanted to learn more about ASL linguistics. That was the goal of the class…”
28:51-”...narration of children’s story…”
29:01-”...I remember a meeting at Model Secondary School for the Deaf, and we were discussing problems with the children. It was one problem after another. I was exasperated, tired of the same old attitudes, and finally Stokoe asked, “is the goal for these children to become broken hearing people, or successful Deaf people?” Everyone was taken aback. The facilitator of the meeting, Carl Kirchner, looked to him, then his watch, and immediately called the meeting to a close. Nobody would answer the question. I was in awe. This is an important question for Deaf Education to consider; what is the goal?Eventually this led us to think about bilingual education, to consider what it means to have our own language, to think about what it means to be a successful Deaf person.…”
29:52-”...so the three of us wrote ‘Unlocking the Curriculum’, and this really started trouble. We sent the paper to every Deaf school in the country, every Deaf program. The impact was huge, it was very seen as very radical...”
30:26-”...then many years later, I became the provost here at Gallaudet...at that time, we established the ‘Blue Ribbon Task Force’ of scholars. We appreciated the fact that we had Stokoe serving on that task force along with others. The work of that task force led to the establishment of the Department of ASL and Deaf Studies,which was established about 1994, with Dr. Yerker Andersson as the first department chair…”
31:33-"...caused consternation by the development of the exams, which I developed at LRL.”
31:54-((no captioning- auto captions in clip))
32:17-”Did Stokoe discover ASL? Of course not, but he was a hearing person who recognized ASL (as a true language). Deaf people developed ASL themselves, and they can be proud of their language.”
32:37-”...Did I know, before that time? I think I felt there was something right about what we were doing, but I had no idea where it would lead to, where we would be in 2015.”
32:53-”And I looked at my Deaf parents anew. They weren’t ignorant. They did have a language. It changed my opinion of them—I didn’t look down on them anymore; rather I looked up to them.”
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
33:19-34:15.
Beautiful job (on the video)! [Applause.] I am sympathetic to Dr.Carol Padden’s efforts back in 1975 when she hosted a party and no one showed up. We need to tell her that today, 40 years later, we drew a good 200 people! You guys are late to the party! [Applause]. The impact of the aforementioned book steadily grew in popularity across many colleges and universities and became responsible for integrating ASL into the college curriculum. One example of this from California, CSU Long Beach, Dr. Barbara Lemaster. Welcome her as she discusses her experience and memories related to the impact of DASL on her field.
Dr. Barbara Lemaster
Professor, California State University – Long Beach
34:15-38:44.
Thank you [looks to Marvin Miller] for this amazing video. MJ asked me to talk a little about the impact LRL had on students. As a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley in 1979 between the years of 1976 and 1979 I had a linguistics professor who required us to write a paper on linguistic analysis. After class, I approached him and asked if my topic could be ASL but he rejected my request. I asked him why and he proceeded to tell me he was not sure ASL was really a language, but we could meet later to discuss this further. Of course he never allowed me to write about ASL, however before I graduated UC started to offer an ASL course under the linguistics department and still to this day it is still being offered. Actually, Genie Gertz’s husband taught ASL at UC Berkeley before, right? I’m not sure what the correct sign for “anthropology” is, but my teacher wanted us to write a paper about culture. I left class and began to think it would be interesting to write about the American Deaf Culture. My professor told me I was not allowed to write about the topic because the professor believed there was no such thing as a Deaf culture. I then proceeded to ask if he would read my paper if I wrote it, and he agreed. Out of the 300 students in the class, the professor would choose 10 papers to be published in UCB’s Kroeber Journal (of Anthropology). My work was one of them which meant he accepted the validity of Deaf culture. At the time I went to work at the NAD [National Association of the Deaf] for a while in the Communications Skills Program with Mel [Carter] and Ella [Mae Lentz], my boss. Anyway, after that I went to UCLA for graduate work in 1984 and I was surprised that that the program required knowledge of a language other than English. In 1984 I told my professor, ASL will be my language and he wasn’t sure if ASL was a language. I began to collect all the linguistic data possible including the ASL Dictionary and the first paper that Stokoe had written and handed it all to my professor with a letter explaining everything I had provided. While I was in my advisor’s office, he received a phone call from my professor asking him for his opinion and my advisor told him he would consider ASL as a language. However, if it wasn’t for my advisor telling him it was a language, he would have ignored my evidence. Still, it was a struggle. Since then a lot has changed at UCLA, we no longer struggle - ASL is accepted. Then even teach ASL there.
In fact, this year there was a recent development at CSULB (where I work now) finally completed the development of a new ASL Program under the Linguistics department which offers ASL Linguistics and Deaf Culture courses. Also, students are given the option to choose between ASL Interpreting and a minor in ASL and Deaf culture. This has all been recently received all necessary approvals.
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
38:44-39:23.
That is the struggle that we faced in many places. People had doubts that ASL is a real language, but once it gains acceptance, doors begin to open and that continues to this day. Next, we have a speech written by Laura Ann Petitto, who couldn’t make it, but Arlene Kelly will present it. [Arlene says something to Ben.] Oh I’m sorry Arlene “B” Kelly will translate Petitto’s speech. Thank you, Arlene - come on up.
Dr. Arlene B. Kelly
On behalf of Dr. Laura Ann Petitto
39:23-44:35.
Wow, I am really excited to see so many people here. Laura Ann Petitto wrote a letter which I will present in ASL on her behalf. “Thank you to everyone for hosting this celebration honoring DASL and Stokoe. I (Dr. Petitto) am lucky that I worked with Stokoe in the LRL in ’78-’79. Before that I worked with Dr. Gloria Marmor and we submitted a paper called The Scientific Analysis of SimCom, or sometimes called Total Communication, which dealt with its success, or lack thereof, for deaf children. That analysis had negative findings- SimCom has a negative effect on language acquisition in terms of acquiring either ASL or English. Shortly after this was published in the Sign Language Studies Journal, Stokoe invited me to go on a full fellowship here to study phonological patterns in sign language. That was the first study of this kind; there had been no such previous studies.
My working with Stokoe was a very special, wonderful time in my life. I owe a lot to Stokoe. As my life goes on in a different direction, I continue to be influenced and inspired by him. During my work I made an important discovery - human brain tissue that was responsible for phonological processing in both Deaf and hearing people. It has been proved that the functions/development of that tissue is completely equivalent in users of both signed and spoken languages. Recently my department -BL2 & VL2- analysis team found small building blocks within signs. What that means is the components of signs - Hand shapes, location, movement- all of these components make up an ASL sign. This analysis led to an idea on how to identify a sign, and that was phonetics of signed syllables. Just as spoken language has syllables, ASL does, too. This is called ‘Visual Signed Phonology’.
The discovery of that idea was critical for reading skill development due to the fact that Deaf and hearing children learn to read in the same way; Deaf children see sign segments in books and are able to visualize the narration. Hearing children use auditory perception to mentally hear the segments they are reading and visualize the narration. This skill is essential for reading development. That discovery influenced Stokoe’s work, including DASL. It had an important impact on education and academic success for all Deaf children, regardless of age of onset of becoming deaf or language exposure- it is the analysis (of ASL that gave us insight into Deaf children’s language and reading skill development).
I miss Stokoe, I think of him often. His work, his legacy continues in the BL2 lab, in my students. Visual Signed Phonology is a truly powerful tool. If Stokoe were here today he would be very happy. [Looking to Marvin] And I would like to thank DASL.”
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
44:35-46:43.
That was nice. I realized I haven’t explained how I’m involved. But now is a good time, because it relates to research. I started when I was a senior in college. I needed an internship, but my opportunities fell through. My roommate mentioned that there was a linguistic research lab position. I asked where and he explained it was in College Hall. I said, “There? Who goes to College Hall?” And he said, “They’re looking for a research assistant, so it’s something”. “Okay, fine, it’s ASL research, I’ll check it out”. So I showed up at LRL and I met Charlotte Baker-Shenk. At that time, her name was just Baker. She’s a woman in the audience who I’ll introduce later, I know I’m jumping ahead. At any rate, I met her and she said she was looking for a research assistant on her grant. That was 1978. I said, “Sure, sounds like a great opportunity”. But she instructed me to take a linguistics structure class. I did so and started working with her. I met Dennis Cokely who was working on a now well-known book. We know it as the “Green Book” by Dennis Cokely. We discussed work. He said to me, “You’re working with Charlotte - would you have any free time to work with me too?” Back then I was young and signed up for everything. I said, “Yes, another research opportunity would be wonderful”. The work was to analyze, evaluate, and think about sign language for MSSD and Pre-College Programs. Cokely asked me to meet with him before classes started. We established a system and schedule of how the evaluations should go. For two hours at a time we would analyze and evaluate signs on videotapes and take notes on what we saw. That was 1978-79 which is such a long time ago. And now that segues us into Dennis Cokely. Please come on up and tell us about your work!
Dr. Dennis Cokely
Professor, Northeastern University in Boston
46:43-51:41.
*Applause* Thank you, I’m thrilled to be here. When I left Boston this morning it was raining and I was hoping for sun here, but it’s raining even worse here than Boston! In 1971 I started teaching at Kendall School, teaching 8 and 9 year-olds. My background is not in Deaf Education, but Philosophy, Latin and Greek. I taught at a hearing school for 2 years, then transferred to teach at Kendall.
Time went on, and by January I noticed the 8 and 9 year-old students signed differently than my Deaf adult friends - very differently. At that time someone had bought something for Kendall. It was an old black and white video recording machine with two film wheels and a camera which sat unused for a long time. I asked the administration if I could borrow the equipment and they said ‘Sure’. So I brought it in and filmed my students signing. I gave them pictures and asked them to explain or tell a story about them. Then, I asked my Deaf adult friends to describe the pictures which I recorded. So, I had a big stack of film, but I didn’t know what to do with them. Someone informed me about the Linguistics Research Lab. At the time it was situated between the Art building and an Ole Jim, inside a trailer. So I went over with my stack of film - I had no appointment or anything - and asked the secretary if William Stokoe (I had some difficulty pronouncing his name) was in. She looked up at me and pointed me to his office. I walked into his office, sat down and started explaining my story. Stokoe was beyond thrilled about it! From that point forward I became a “LRL research rat”. That meant I taught at Kendall during the day and every afternoon I’d rush over to LRL to continue our work. This continued for some time. Then in 1978 Charlotte and I started working on the Green Books. Fast forward to 1980, Stokoe hired me to work for him full time focusing on research related to interpreting.
Anyway, back to DASL. That book gave not one gift, but three. The first was the groundbreaking idea that Deaf people have a language and culture. The second was that it provided a tool for how to analyze ASL and document it. Third was the energy and push to establish LRL which was really… I look back on our work and it was really about social justice. The group did not do research just for themselves of for its own sake, but for what it meant to Deaf children and Deaf people and access for Deaf people and so on.
Some time later LRL moved to House Three. Stokoe and his wife every year in the summer would go to Cornell and take classes - fun classes. One year Bill took a class on how to make beer. Yes, really! Every Friday he’d bring beer to our meeting. The next year he took a class on how to make bread, and every Friday it was beer and bread, beer and bread. To note, Bill never took a car, no, he took his motorcycle. Because of the impact of DASL and because of all the people who worked on it and their impact, I feel lucky to have been a “LRL lab rat”, and to have worked full time and to have been one of the last two full time workers before LRL closed. I’m thrilled to be a part of this. Thank you!
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
51:41-52:24.
By the way, Dr. Dennis Cokely is a professor at Northeastern University and the Director of the ASL Program which offers interpreting and linguistics courses. I would like to segue to Dr. Cokely’s co-author [Charlotte Baker-Shenk] who researched, published, and made major contributions to ASL structure, analysis, and linguistics. A while back, when I was an assistant, I was able to have a great personal experience full of good memories and good energy [in LRL]. It’s not just about the analysis of ASL structure, but about how we can bring the knowledge of ASL to everyone. Now, please welcome Charlotte Baker-Shenk.
Charlotte Baker-Shenk
Researcher and Author
52:24-1:00:45.
Hello! Wow that videotape was impressive. It’s not called a videotape now. I am an old timer. I haven’t been using ASL for the past twenty years. Sorry I will try my best. It is important to acknowledge something MJ said. In the past, I would always have a paper in front of me while presenting making sure everything was perfectly coming together. MJ forced me to give up the idea that I always needed a paper in front of me. She forced me to give up that idea of control much like Deaf people are sometimes forced to give up control. It has helped improve my mental and emotional health. Thank you. [Signs “ILY” to MJ.]
I have always been curious about power and how to describe it. Who has power? How do you get power? What are powerful behaviors and actions and what do they look like? Hold onto that idea while I talk about another topic. I want to make an analogy between culture and breathing. Often, people breathe in air that is toxic and they don't notice. Then, they will become sick and wonder what happened. They didn't want to become sick - they were just breathing. Culture can act similarly where you end up internalizing negative ideas and you don't even notice it. That is why it is important to step back and analyze the negative aspects of a culture.
I was not here around 1960-65 or prior to that time. I arrived around 1975. It seems that before that time, hearing people had the power. We’ve seen from today’s lectures that majority culture, people in power, seems to place negative views on Deaf people, that they can’t do things, they are not intelligent, they have a poor language, and that they have inappropriate behavior that does not fit the hearing world, like a broken hearing person. Deaf people did not fit with the hearing world so they looked down on Deaf people and took control. It was interesting when this cultural shift started happening. Here are my thoughts about what caused that culture shift. At that time period, the majority culture said hearing people were superior and that they have the power and knowledge; their way was the right and best way. I wasn’t there. I’m not Deaf. But I think there are parallels with being a woman. Women also have similar experiences of being looked down on and being treated unequally. My experiences as a woman helped me understand the Deaf experience. Parents and other professionals, like teachers and doctors, told me women were subpar but I felt ambivalent about whether that was true. My instincts told me otherwise. I’m fine! Then, DASL was published, starting sign language research and making new discoveries. That dictionary prompted the culture shift. The hearing culture viewing Deaf people and ASL as subpar was not healthy but it was hard to challenge the status quo and defend these new ideas about ASL. Now, ASL has recognition, has given power to Deaf people, and Deaf culture sends the message that ASL is equal to English. These new developments really excite me.
One of the most important things I’ve learned about teamwork relates to different cultural models of being Deaf. Traditionally, society dictates that hearing people are the experts. Their ability to hear makes their way of life “the best.” But then sign language research sparked a new idea, showing that Deaf people are actually the experts when it comes to signing. In this way, research changed the traditional views of hearing and deaf people. It leveled the playing field. In that old way of thinking, even those who were hard of hearing were superior to Deaf people because they had some hearing and thus more power. Again, sign language research changed that view, showing that fluent Deaf signers are the ASL experts, regardless of their connection to the hearing world. Undoubtedly, sign language research truly turned that way of thinking on its head.
Now, how did these new ideas come about? It’s important to understand that people with fixed attitudes and mindsets were blind to new ideas. Obviously Deaf people have language; they are human. Now everyone knows that, but at that time, we were all oblivious to it. Society had internalized extremely unhealthy ideas about Deaf people because those ideas weren’t readily obvious, you couldn’t see or taste them. This meant that new ideas were created by those who were humble and open-minded.
Bill Stokoe himself was a very humble man, and he worked with many extraordinary people. Whenever someone knocked on his door, he welcomed them with open arms. My experience with him was exactly the same. I was a young graduate student in California. During the summer of ‘74 or ‘75, I approached Bill and asked him if the two of us could talk. Honestly, my underlying motive was to get a job in the LRL! I was curious about his sign language research, but I was too scared and nervous to ask him to hire me. So, I made an appointment, and the two of us sat down and talked all day. When our time finally ran out, I was still nervous and I hadn’t asked him if I could have a job. I panicked, and asked him if we could meet again the next day so I could ask him a few more questions. Slightly surprised, Bill agreed.
The next day, the two of us talked all morning. At last, I worked up the courage to ask him for a job in his lab. Bill agreed, and warmly welcomed me. Many of you have likely experienced the exact same thing, as have many others all over the world. During that time, people would arrive at the LRL and dive right in, sifting through all sorts of articles and videotapes. We’d go home with piles of papers to read. Bill was a generous, open person. He was also a strong supporter of young people like me. When I arrived to work for him, I was not very knowledgeable and I didn’t have the skills. I was new to it all, but Bill welcomed me and shared his unique knowledge. People like him are the reason why the world expands and changes. He was open-minded and loving, and he respected Deaf people. To him, Deaf people were part of the team. He didn’t put himself in a superior or more powerful position. We can learn a lot by working with Deaf people and sharing knowledge, and that is how the world starts to change. It was truly an honor to work with Bill and the countless others in the field. They taught me so much. Thank you.
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
1:00:45-1:00:53.
Thank you Charlotte! I know you all want more. Well, lucky for you, we have more! Here’s MJ.
Dr. MJ Bienvenu
On behalf of Dr. James “Woody” Woodward
1:00:53-1:03:24.
Ben is right, we need to inform Carol. I am inspired by the 300 people that are here. Wow, that’s exciting! And our audience is full of a variety of people from students, to faculty, to people from all over the world. It’s great to have you all here. I’m here for two reasons. For one, James Woodward, “Woody,” can’t be here. He sent me his notes and I will provide a summary of them. Woody says he wishes he could be here, but he is currently in Hawaii. He was the first linguist working at Gallaudet, had the first dissertation about Deaf people, and was the first linguist who travelled the world to establish sign language research which contributed to the impact of DASL. The impact at Gallaudet came much later, sad to say, but the information spread all over the world. People still don’t realize how much it impacted the world. Really once the dictionary was out, people from all over the world started research and finding sign languages. People from all over the world including, Britain, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and France went to the Linguistic Research Lab. Asian countries like Japan followed soon after. And then South America like Brazil and Argentina and then Africa. Really the world discovered so many other countries had their own sign languages. So the impact of DASL was not only on Gallaudet, not only on DC, not only on the US, but the entire world. And the dictionary impacted more than Deaf people, but hard of hearing, hearing, residential and mainstream schools, parents, teachers, and friends - all over the world people have been astonished and enlightened by DASL. Over the past 50 years that book has brought us to where we are today. And here we are. It is an amazing history, has made great changes, and huge impact. We now realize DASL is really bigger than we thought. Thank you [Dr. Stokoe].
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
1:03:24-1:03:49.
Earlier, in the video, one woman made a very brief appearance - despite her untimely death, she made a significant impact on the field of bilingual research. We’re fortunate that today her daughter is here to tell her story. Allow me to introduce Tiffany Williams.
Tiffany Williams
Daughter of Bilingual Pioneer, Judy Williams
1:03:49-1:06:45.
Thank you! First, I want to thank the community for taking the time to recognize my mother Judy Williams. She lived a short life, but made a huge impact at Gallaudet, on the field of linguistics, and in my family. I want to elaborate more on how my mom did this for those of you who are not familiar with her accomplishments. My mom was a very impressive and strong woman, but I want to refer back to my family. My family consists of 4 generations of Deaf members so communication, signing, was really important for us. It was natural for our family to sign, so when my mother arrived at Gallaudet it was obvious to her that ASL was a language. At Gallaudet, my mother experienced struggles with people resisting bilingualism. I’m sure many of you in the audience (such as Barbara and MJ) can relate to this experience. People at that time had doubts about bilingualism. In 1968, my mother wrote a beautiful paper recognizing bilingualism, but struggles prevailed. My mother had two deaf children, me and my brother. My brother was born in 1965 and I was born in 1967, so we were very young. My mother used our family as a way to document and verify her research on bilingualism, English and ASL. Her children were proof bilingualism worked. We were living products of her research. However, people used to look at us and be amazed at how well we communicated using ASL to sign and English to read and write. My mother was so proud of us. She did some research and wrote articles. That was beautiful. Unfortunately she never published a book. However, in her article she stressed the importance of children having communication and access to language in early childhood - rather than waiting until they have reached adulthood just like the current practices at most Deaf schools and the Clerc Center. It’s important that deaf children have a way to express themselves through communication and through ASL. This will lead to development in their reading and writing skills. Her philosophy is something that I remember to this day and can be seen today in Deaf education.. Looking back, 1968 was so long ago, but the ideas and dreams my mother expressed are still relevant and really ahead of the times. My family and many other Deaf families have always known the importance of the connection between ASL and literacy - but using terminology, “bilingualism” was impressive at that time. Today, at Gallaudet we support bilingualism. I know that my mother, watching from above, would be proud of this celebration. Thank you all, and to you [Marvin] again, for recognizing my mother, Judy Williams.
Dr. Ben Bahan: Closing
Master of Ceremonies
1:06:45-1:09:10.
If you’re immersed in the field of language acquisition, you should know one of the most well known leaders in the field of language acquisition is Ursula Bellugi. I was fortunate enough to have worked here with these two (Dennis and Charlotte), but I left to go to the Salk Institute to work with Ursula Bellugi from ‘79 onward. I arrived and asked her how she got started working in the field [of signed languages]. She answered by saying that she was already established in the field of language acquisition, however was curious about how it applied to Deaf children. So the first thing she did was to pick up DASL and that got her thinking about the possibilities. So her background in language acquisition together with her newly acquired information from DASL laid the groundwork for establishing the team at the Salk Institute and thus the journey began. It just goes to show how a small book can go so far - almost like the little book that could! That little book has pushed on through time. In the preface of the book, the editors wrote they “... hope the dictionary itself will give evidence of this University’s devotion to the liberal arts and humane sciences that continues to ‘pervade all the work of the college.’” The answer to them is yes, it is already happening and yes it will continue. So in conclusion, it will continue through exchange of ideas - this will happen at SLCC afterwords from 2-3 PM if you wish to continue to mingle. In that spirit, please remember #DASL50!! Thank you and goodbye everyone!
Credits for the transcript
Transcript developed by: University of Rochester, Art of Translation students: Stephen Davis; group leader, Carly Blomquist, Alison Ciurznski, Nicole Fleming, Savannah Lynch, Hayley Orciuch, Jhanmaire Ortiz Garcia and Carolyn Wu; with assistance from Margaret Chastel and Brenda Schertz, faculty members of the University of Rochester’s Art of Translation course.
Marvin Miller: Introduction
BA Student Intern
0:23-1:56
Thank you all for coming; what a big turnout! This event celebrates the 50-year anniversary of the first ASL dictionary publication [A Dictionary of American Sign Language and Linguistic Principles]. Many of us flipped through that dictionary in amazement. The information in that book changed the world. I could go on, but for brevity I won’t. I would like to thank the Office of the Provost, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Department of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies for supporting this event.
I just realized that I completely forgot to introduce myself! My name is Marvin Miller, and I am a BA student intern here. This semester, our focus is on interviewing many wonderful and amazing people in order to conduct fascinating research and collect a wealth of data. We have a substantial amount of material, but we’ve narrowed it down to a manageable quantity so that this program will be an enjoyable experience for all of you.
Now I’d like to introduce our Master of Ceremonies for this program. He does not need a long introduction, as many of you are likely familiar with his many achievements in ASL and linguistics! Perhaps you are familiar with his famous story, “Bird of a Different Feather”. In performing that story, he became an expert at portraying bird-like qualities, such as craning his neck. If I ever move my neck like that, please bring me straight to the hospital! Without further ado, I’d like to introduce Dr. Ben Bahan.
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
1:56-3:47.
Give me a minute…. Let me just see if I can mimic that bird… Ouch, I might have hurt my neck! That aside, it’s wonderful to recognize anniversaries like these. When Stokoe, Casterline, and Croneberg worked together to develop the ASL dictionary, they wrote in the preface, “The editors hope that the dictionary itself will give evidence of the institution’s devotion to the liberal arts and humane sciences that continues to pervade all the work of the college.” This book was published in 1965, and 45 years later - in 2010 - Gallaudet recognized the foundation of that research and the University became a bilingual institute. In the future, I truly hope that the spirit of this work will continue.
In the dictionary, Stokoe, Casterline, and Croneberg always acknowledged George Detmold for his continued support. Detmold was the Dean of the college at the time. He was also involved in scientific research, ensuring that Gallaudet promoted its importance. All of this makes me realize how important it is for our work to be continuously supported by upper-level administration. So, moving forward, I’d like to introduce our administrator,
Provost Carol Erting.
Dr. Carol Erting
Provost, Gallaudet University
3:47-7:17.
Thank you, Ben. I’m seriously getting chills standing here, 50 years after the printing of the Dictionary of American Sign Language! It’s incredible. I’m getting goosebumps because I met Bill Stoke myself only 7 years after the publication. It was simply astonishing at the time. I was new to the Deaf community. I had no idea that ASL was a bona fide language. It was such a new concept. I had no idea. I thought that I was the only one to not know it. That was true not only for myself but also the Deaf community was unaware that ASL is a genuine language! The view they had internalized was that it was really just “broken English,” or it was really just gestures, and other very negative perspectives. I brought it up with parents of Deaf children I was working with at the time- some of them even Deaf themselves. I mentioned ASL and they didn’t even know what it stood for. I told them it meant “American Sign Language” and they just looked at me, puzzled. “Seriously? A language?” They said, “It’s not a language. It’s just broken English”. It was unbelievable! That moment in time is when I really understood that school programs ignored the Deaf community and ASL. The Deaf community even disregarded it! This treatment and lack of awareness was terrible! That was 1972. And now I’m here to see Gallaudet University become bilingual, and that is incredible. Finally, ASL is important in education and in the lives of Deaf people and the community. It’s all simply amazing. I wish Bill [Stokoe] were here to see it. He passed away back in 2000. But, at that time, Gallaudet began to recognize his work, to applaud and honor Bill. Unfortunately I never met the two co-authors, the two co-workers. I came to work with Bill, in the Linguistic Research Lab, with many other researchers like Dennis Cokely. I knew Judy Williams only by stories from her cherished colleagues who missed her greatly, because by that time Judy had passed away. But we are fortunate to have Tiffany Williams here today. The impact of that work and her mother’s role, a Deaf woman who was one of the first researcher to document bilingual language acquisition in her own home, was incredible. I could go on forever, but I’ll stop here. Welcome to this celebration! I want to give a thank you to all of the organization committee, staff, and students who together worked to support the 50th year celebration of this dictionary. (Applause)
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
7:17-7:21.
-And now, our Dean of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Genie Gertz. (applause)
Dr. Genie Gertz
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
7:21-9:42. Length 2.21 minutes.
Hello everyone. What an impressive audience - this is history in the making, drawing from years of important work. Fifty years ago, the ASL dictionary was published but really the work started before then. In the 1960s Stokoe and his research team published a paper which was basically a literature review establishing the basis for the linguistic principles of ASL. After all that research, the team continued their work and from there they published the dictionary in 1965. The dictionary impacted Gallaudet, the country and the world. People started to recognize the language and Deaf culture. We ourselves started to recognize and analyze our own lives. We then realized we did have a language with a culture to support it. Before that, we had never seen ourselves as a culture. This will continue to impact the future Deaf generations. Now Gallaudet is a bilingual university, including a Department of ASL and Deaf Studies and other features. This all happened because of the dictionary being published. I really want to recognize and celebrate this important part of history that has had impact across the globe. I will close with a quote by Margaret Mead, a famous anthropologist who once said, “Never doubt a small group of committed citizens who can change the world”. Therefore, we must recognize that team and the impact they will continue to have that changed the world. Let’s give them a big round of applause!
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
9:42-9:46.
-From the Board of Directors, I would like to present Tiffany Williams. (applause)
Tiffany Williams
Gallaudet University Board of Trustee
9:46-10:35.
Hello! It’s so nice to see so many people in the audience! It’s obvious that Bilingualism is extremely important to the community here, as it is to the Board at Gallaudet. As was stated earlier, it is important to have administration here who have recognized [bilingualism] at Gallaudet and to support the Gallaudet community. On behalf of the board of trustees of Gallaudet University, I’m here to congratulate and recognize the community and their 50 impressive years with this program. As was previously mentioned, I’m also here as Judy Williams’ daughter, which I will talk more about later in the program. For now, on behalf of the Gallaudet Board, I want to recognize the time and commitment that was put into this program and the mission of the University, that was established in 2007, to become a bilingual university. Again, congratulations to the entire community and thank you for coming to support the program!
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
10:35-14:47.
To all of you who are tweeting, I invite you to use [hashtag] DASL50 to tell the world we are here. Let’s tweet! Now, I would like to expand on Genie Gertz’ comments. Before I proceed, I would like to ask our audience members what this sign means [Bahan signing “5 handshape-on-chin.” Audience signing, “mother”] Good, your responses are correct. That sign represents M-O-T-H-E-R. We tend to use English words in ASL gloss to make notations to represent our signs. People have been doing this for generations. This process did not include what the sign looked like; it didn’t indicate hand shapes - it simply showed static images of a person signing “MOTHER” captioned with the written word “mother.” Because of this process, people did not see ASL as a distinct language. That was problematic, because that process did not accurately reflect ASL. Stokoe’s basic question was how we make notations that accurately represent what the sign looks like, without relying on written English.
When he started working here in 1960, he wrote a paper about his sign notation system. Before his work began, many people were discussing how to notate signs. Around the 1950s, a two person research team, Trager and Smith, published their spoken language notation system. In their paper they described a systematic notation process based on phonetics known as the Trager and Smith system. People looked at their work as inspiration for a sign notation system. Stokoe contacted them to participate in their summer training at University of Buffalo. At that time, Trager was the president of the Linguistics Society of America and he had many connections. After Stokoe figured out how to apply that system to sign language he presented his paper titled “Sign Language Structure,” which was published in 1960. In that paper he proposed that signs can be broken down into smaller parts like hand shapes. That groundbreaking idea changed everything. That paper lead to receiving grants from the National Science Foundation and other organizations [camera cuts out to audience]. A few organizations, including Gallaudet, pooled their resources to support a team to expand that paper that became DASL published in 1965. Now, you can go into DASL and find the sign MOTHER and see all the different, intricate components that make up that sign. Now we have a new way of analyzing sign language with a complex system that breaks down signs. It really was a revolutionary breakthrough! It had a widespread impact on the field of sign language research. People started to realize that this was a distinct language with signs that can be analyzed and broken down into smaller components. Here is a video of people looking back and describing how this breakthrough happened.
A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles (William C. Stokoe)
Documentary/Presentation video
14:47-33:19.
15:03- “...people all over the world look to Gallaudet University…”
15:13- “...24 years have to present that it is not the same as...”
15:39-”...to go to different nations, and see what kinds of needs exist already, and to establish schools, high schools, and perhaps...…”
16:09-”...Stokoe recorded a wealth of information, not just a dictionary.” / “...sign language structure…”
16:23-”...around then, I remember discussing with students here that we were learning new information, we were seeing research on signs, and seeing that sign language has a structure- a lingistic structure. And we were amazed with this new information.”
17:38-”...the reaction to that book, the ASL dictionary; they did not know what to make of it...”
17:51-”...people at Gallaudet University were resistant at first. Many people just didn’t know what to do with this, what were the implications? I was fascinated with it because it was “different”, and I enjoyed that. There was question as to the people behind it- hearing, but not people who plan to become teachers or social workers or VR counselors. They just wanted to study the language. It was, in a way, suspicious.”
18:37-”...wow. For me, it was interesting; we have a community, a language, and we have a subculture in the heart of America. I thought this was fascinating for a linguist. So the next day, I went to the university library to research ASL, and I found DASL. That was my first contact. Now, I was already a linguist, mind you, so what I read all made sense; the phonology, the way of recording the language, and I became very interested …”
19:20-”...for me it was exciting, Deaf people analyzing their own language. Also, there was a sense of pride, that our language is legitimate, complex, etc…”
19:46-”...LRL, was a separate entity when Stokoe was there, and when he retired LRL was dissolved. This was not truly about research, it was about politics. Stokoe was isolated, away from the English department, to avoid trouble.”
20:06-”...Bill Stokoe was doing work on linguistics in the Linguistics Research Lab, and I was interested in this, so I made an appointment to see him, and asked him if I could come be a part of it as a linguistics major. He welcomed me to work with him. I was 19 at that time, that was 1974 I believe, and I worked there until I graduated. I look back now and feel lucky, to be in the right place and right time, to have been a part of this earliest stage of scientific sign language research.”
20:40-”...I worked with Dennis Cokely, as well as Stokoe and I had no idea what it meant to work at LRL- both as a matter of ASL research and as a matter of politics…”
21:01-”...one time in LRL, we all decided we should openly share our work with the Gallaudet University community. So we invited people to come to a wine and cheese reception in the lab around 1975, and that day come evening time not one person came. All of us in the lab, Deaf and hearing, were stunned. We realized just how cut off we were.”
21:41-”...we would travel all over the US for workshops to discuss ASL as a real language, and we were met with disagreements,and that’s how my hair turned white- being shut down, ignored- nobody would accept our work. Looking back now, it was really something.”
22:02-”...I remember one time, at MSSD another Deaf man and I argued- I mean really just blew up in argument, trading insults, really horrible. This man was so critical of ASL, but interestingly, he was fluent signer; he wasn’t signing in English, he was using ASL! Formally the idea that ASL is equal to English was accepted, but not yet by Deaf native ASL users.”
22:48-”What changed my relationship to ASL was when I had to take a workshop. Now, I was already teaching sign language - signing, you know? - that's what I was teaching. And now I had to take a workshop. I ask you, a workshop? And learn "the rules"? Really? My attitude was, us deaf people were constantly being told about all the mistakes we made with English rules and now we're gonna be told we're wrong about the rules in ASL, too? I was sure I'd be able to win that argument with the teacher - I knew how to do that! - I knew Carol - so I told her that she was nitpicking, telling us about rules in ASL - there were no rules in ASL! She listened patiently and then asked me if it was acceptable to sign "a volume of cars"? and I said no and she asked can you sign "a line-up of water"? And again I said no and she replied that goes to show that there are rules. I was completely floored - and in that instant my life changed; I dove into a new relationship to ASL.”
23:49-”The more I learned about ASL as a language, the more it blew my mind! I had been majoring in Business, thinking I might manage a bookstore or something like that. Then I learned about ASL being a language, and I became a “born again Deaf person.” My friends got annoyed with me because I kept looking for linguistics features of ASL while I was chatting with them, for example when I noticed an eyebrow raise I would tell them what I noticed. I was focused on how they signed and forgot what they actually said. There was a group of us, young deaf people who were fascinated and analyzed these features in ASL and discussed these things in depth. Sometimes people found that exhausting but we kept telling them “this is exciting.”
24:27-”...I want to emphasize, you can’t take the ASL out of me, it is integral to who I am.”
24:37-”...When they set up the linguistics department, I came here as the chair. I intended to continue for 5 years, but I stayed on for 31.”
25:29---”... dialogue…”
25:36-“Around 1973, when I was a freshman, I took a class, “sign language translation for theatre” under Eastman. This class really opened my mind to how I thought about ASL. Eastman constantly encouraged us to sign naturally, but it felt wrong to me then. On stage, signing in my everyday manner? No! That couldn’t be done. The class went back and forth with the teacher on this. But Eastman continued to encourage us. So, finally, I went for it. I looked at the English script and thought, how would I say this? It was a slow transition for me. To authentically convey the meaning of the English words, but in ASL in a natural way, as I would with other Deaf people. It went slowly, but at last I got it. And it was real, authentic, right! My Deaf experience became a part of my acting. It was like I was freed. That was quite a process. It has stuck with me. To this day, I still look within and think how best to say something in ASL. This self exploration, this analysis of how language works within, is ongoing. As it should be.”
26:45--(((various clips of theatrical ASL- no captions)))
27:07-”...this was a breakthrough, and that process is continuing for me even today. I am still always asking myself, can this be said better, how can this be improved, and this is crucial to my work.”
27:23-”...what really changed society on a larger scale was the film Children of a Lesser God. When that movie was released, it had an impact on the masses and their understanding of ASL.”
27:55-”...I had spoken with Judy Williams- what a great person. She had two children, Todd and Tiffany. Stokoe thought highly of her and felt she was the most suitable for this kind of work.
28:16-”...better than fine, equal to spoken language…”
28:23-”...I took two classes from Woody because I wanted to learn more about ASL linguistics. That was the goal of the class…”
28:51-”...narration of children’s story…”
29:01-”...I remember a meeting at Model Secondary School for the Deaf, and we were discussing problems with the children. It was one problem after another. I was exasperated, tired of the same old attitudes, and finally Stokoe asked, “is the goal for these children to become broken hearing people, or successful Deaf people?” Everyone was taken aback. The facilitator of the meeting, Carl Kirchner, looked to him, then his watch, and immediately called the meeting to a close. Nobody would answer the question. I was in awe. This is an important question for Deaf Education to consider; what is the goal?Eventually this led us to think about bilingual education, to consider what it means to have our own language, to think about what it means to be a successful Deaf person.…”
29:52-”...so the three of us wrote ‘Unlocking the Curriculum’, and this really started trouble. We sent the paper to every Deaf school in the country, every Deaf program. The impact was huge, it was very seen as very radical...”
30:26-”...then many years later, I became the provost here at Gallaudet...at that time, we established the ‘Blue Ribbon Task Force’ of scholars. We appreciated the fact that we had Stokoe serving on that task force along with others. The work of that task force led to the establishment of the Department of ASL and Deaf Studies,which was established about 1994, with Dr. Yerker Andersson as the first department chair…”
31:33-"...caused consternation by the development of the exams, which I developed at LRL.”
31:54-((no captioning- auto captions in clip))
32:17-”Did Stokoe discover ASL? Of course not, but he was a hearing person who recognized ASL (as a true language). Deaf people developed ASL themselves, and they can be proud of their language.”
32:37-”...Did I know, before that time? I think I felt there was something right about what we were doing, but I had no idea where it would lead to, where we would be in 2015.”
32:53-”And I looked at my Deaf parents anew. They weren’t ignorant. They did have a language. It changed my opinion of them—I didn’t look down on them anymore; rather I looked up to them.”
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
33:19-34:15.
Beautiful job (on the video)! [Applause.] I am sympathetic to Dr.Carol Padden’s efforts back in 1975 when she hosted a party and no one showed up. We need to tell her that today, 40 years later, we drew a good 200 people! You guys are late to the party! [Applause]. The impact of the aforementioned book steadily grew in popularity across many colleges and universities and became responsible for integrating ASL into the college curriculum. One example of this from California, CSU Long Beach, Dr. Barbara Lemaster. Welcome her as she discusses her experience and memories related to the impact of DASL on her field.
Dr. Barbara Lemaster
Professor, California State University – Long Beach
34:15-38:44.
Thank you [looks to Marvin Miller] for this amazing video. MJ asked me to talk a little about the impact LRL had on students. As a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley in 1979 between the years of 1976 and 1979 I had a linguistics professor who required us to write a paper on linguistic analysis. After class, I approached him and asked if my topic could be ASL but he rejected my request. I asked him why and he proceeded to tell me he was not sure ASL was really a language, but we could meet later to discuss this further. Of course he never allowed me to write about ASL, however before I graduated UC started to offer an ASL course under the linguistics department and still to this day it is still being offered. Actually, Genie Gertz’s husband taught ASL at UC Berkeley before, right? I’m not sure what the correct sign for “anthropology” is, but my teacher wanted us to write a paper about culture. I left class and began to think it would be interesting to write about the American Deaf Culture. My professor told me I was not allowed to write about the topic because the professor believed there was no such thing as a Deaf culture. I then proceeded to ask if he would read my paper if I wrote it, and he agreed. Out of the 300 students in the class, the professor would choose 10 papers to be published in UCB’s Kroeber Journal (of Anthropology). My work was one of them which meant he accepted the validity of Deaf culture. At the time I went to work at the NAD [National Association of the Deaf] for a while in the Communications Skills Program with Mel [Carter] and Ella [Mae Lentz], my boss. Anyway, after that I went to UCLA for graduate work in 1984 and I was surprised that that the program required knowledge of a language other than English. In 1984 I told my professor, ASL will be my language and he wasn’t sure if ASL was a language. I began to collect all the linguistic data possible including the ASL Dictionary and the first paper that Stokoe had written and handed it all to my professor with a letter explaining everything I had provided. While I was in my advisor’s office, he received a phone call from my professor asking him for his opinion and my advisor told him he would consider ASL as a language. However, if it wasn’t for my advisor telling him it was a language, he would have ignored my evidence. Still, it was a struggle. Since then a lot has changed at UCLA, we no longer struggle - ASL is accepted. Then even teach ASL there.
In fact, this year there was a recent development at CSULB (where I work now) finally completed the development of a new ASL Program under the Linguistics department which offers ASL Linguistics and Deaf Culture courses. Also, students are given the option to choose between ASL Interpreting and a minor in ASL and Deaf culture. This has all been recently received all necessary approvals.
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
38:44-39:23.
That is the struggle that we faced in many places. People had doubts that ASL is a real language, but once it gains acceptance, doors begin to open and that continues to this day. Next, we have a speech written by Laura Ann Petitto, who couldn’t make it, but Arlene Kelly will present it. [Arlene says something to Ben.] Oh I’m sorry Arlene “B” Kelly will translate Petitto’s speech. Thank you, Arlene - come on up.
Dr. Arlene B. Kelly
On behalf of Dr. Laura Ann Petitto
39:23-44:35.
Wow, I am really excited to see so many people here. Laura Ann Petitto wrote a letter which I will present in ASL on her behalf. “Thank you to everyone for hosting this celebration honoring DASL and Stokoe. I (Dr. Petitto) am lucky that I worked with Stokoe in the LRL in ’78-’79. Before that I worked with Dr. Gloria Marmor and we submitted a paper called The Scientific Analysis of SimCom, or sometimes called Total Communication, which dealt with its success, or lack thereof, for deaf children. That analysis had negative findings- SimCom has a negative effect on language acquisition in terms of acquiring either ASL or English. Shortly after this was published in the Sign Language Studies Journal, Stokoe invited me to go on a full fellowship here to study phonological patterns in sign language. That was the first study of this kind; there had been no such previous studies.
My working with Stokoe was a very special, wonderful time in my life. I owe a lot to Stokoe. As my life goes on in a different direction, I continue to be influenced and inspired by him. During my work I made an important discovery - human brain tissue that was responsible for phonological processing in both Deaf and hearing people. It has been proved that the functions/development of that tissue is completely equivalent in users of both signed and spoken languages. Recently my department -BL2 & VL2- analysis team found small building blocks within signs. What that means is the components of signs - Hand shapes, location, movement- all of these components make up an ASL sign. This analysis led to an idea on how to identify a sign, and that was phonetics of signed syllables. Just as spoken language has syllables, ASL does, too. This is called ‘Visual Signed Phonology’.
The discovery of that idea was critical for reading skill development due to the fact that Deaf and hearing children learn to read in the same way; Deaf children see sign segments in books and are able to visualize the narration. Hearing children use auditory perception to mentally hear the segments they are reading and visualize the narration. This skill is essential for reading development. That discovery influenced Stokoe’s work, including DASL. It had an important impact on education and academic success for all Deaf children, regardless of age of onset of becoming deaf or language exposure- it is the analysis (of ASL that gave us insight into Deaf children’s language and reading skill development).
I miss Stokoe, I think of him often. His work, his legacy continues in the BL2 lab, in my students. Visual Signed Phonology is a truly powerful tool. If Stokoe were here today he would be very happy. [Looking to Marvin] And I would like to thank DASL.”
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
44:35-46:43.
That was nice. I realized I haven’t explained how I’m involved. But now is a good time, because it relates to research. I started when I was a senior in college. I needed an internship, but my opportunities fell through. My roommate mentioned that there was a linguistic research lab position. I asked where and he explained it was in College Hall. I said, “There? Who goes to College Hall?” And he said, “They’re looking for a research assistant, so it’s something”. “Okay, fine, it’s ASL research, I’ll check it out”. So I showed up at LRL and I met Charlotte Baker-Shenk. At that time, her name was just Baker. She’s a woman in the audience who I’ll introduce later, I know I’m jumping ahead. At any rate, I met her and she said she was looking for a research assistant on her grant. That was 1978. I said, “Sure, sounds like a great opportunity”. But she instructed me to take a linguistics structure class. I did so and started working with her. I met Dennis Cokely who was working on a now well-known book. We know it as the “Green Book” by Dennis Cokely. We discussed work. He said to me, “You’re working with Charlotte - would you have any free time to work with me too?” Back then I was young and signed up for everything. I said, “Yes, another research opportunity would be wonderful”. The work was to analyze, evaluate, and think about sign language for MSSD and Pre-College Programs. Cokely asked me to meet with him before classes started. We established a system and schedule of how the evaluations should go. For two hours at a time we would analyze and evaluate signs on videotapes and take notes on what we saw. That was 1978-79 which is such a long time ago. And now that segues us into Dennis Cokely. Please come on up and tell us about your work!
Dr. Dennis Cokely
Professor, Northeastern University in Boston
46:43-51:41.
*Applause* Thank you, I’m thrilled to be here. When I left Boston this morning it was raining and I was hoping for sun here, but it’s raining even worse here than Boston! In 1971 I started teaching at Kendall School, teaching 8 and 9 year-olds. My background is not in Deaf Education, but Philosophy, Latin and Greek. I taught at a hearing school for 2 years, then transferred to teach at Kendall.
Time went on, and by January I noticed the 8 and 9 year-old students signed differently than my Deaf adult friends - very differently. At that time someone had bought something for Kendall. It was an old black and white video recording machine with two film wheels and a camera which sat unused for a long time. I asked the administration if I could borrow the equipment and they said ‘Sure’. So I brought it in and filmed my students signing. I gave them pictures and asked them to explain or tell a story about them. Then, I asked my Deaf adult friends to describe the pictures which I recorded. So, I had a big stack of film, but I didn’t know what to do with them. Someone informed me about the Linguistics Research Lab. At the time it was situated between the Art building and an Ole Jim, inside a trailer. So I went over with my stack of film - I had no appointment or anything - and asked the secretary if William Stokoe (I had some difficulty pronouncing his name) was in. She looked up at me and pointed me to his office. I walked into his office, sat down and started explaining my story. Stokoe was beyond thrilled about it! From that point forward I became a “LRL research rat”. That meant I taught at Kendall during the day and every afternoon I’d rush over to LRL to continue our work. This continued for some time. Then in 1978 Charlotte and I started working on the Green Books. Fast forward to 1980, Stokoe hired me to work for him full time focusing on research related to interpreting.
Anyway, back to DASL. That book gave not one gift, but three. The first was the groundbreaking idea that Deaf people have a language and culture. The second was that it provided a tool for how to analyze ASL and document it. Third was the energy and push to establish LRL which was really… I look back on our work and it was really about social justice. The group did not do research just for themselves of for its own sake, but for what it meant to Deaf children and Deaf people and access for Deaf people and so on.
Some time later LRL moved to House Three. Stokoe and his wife every year in the summer would go to Cornell and take classes - fun classes. One year Bill took a class on how to make beer. Yes, really! Every Friday he’d bring beer to our meeting. The next year he took a class on how to make bread, and every Friday it was beer and bread, beer and bread. To note, Bill never took a car, no, he took his motorcycle. Because of the impact of DASL and because of all the people who worked on it and their impact, I feel lucky to have been a “LRL lab rat”, and to have worked full time and to have been one of the last two full time workers before LRL closed. I’m thrilled to be a part of this. Thank you!
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
51:41-52:24.
By the way, Dr. Dennis Cokely is a professor at Northeastern University and the Director of the ASL Program which offers interpreting and linguistics courses. I would like to segue to Dr. Cokely’s co-author [Charlotte Baker-Shenk] who researched, published, and made major contributions to ASL structure, analysis, and linguistics. A while back, when I was an assistant, I was able to have a great personal experience full of good memories and good energy [in LRL]. It’s not just about the analysis of ASL structure, but about how we can bring the knowledge of ASL to everyone. Now, please welcome Charlotte Baker-Shenk.
Charlotte Baker-Shenk
Researcher and Author
52:24-1:00:45.
Hello! Wow that videotape was impressive. It’s not called a videotape now. I am an old timer. I haven’t been using ASL for the past twenty years. Sorry I will try my best. It is important to acknowledge something MJ said. In the past, I would always have a paper in front of me while presenting making sure everything was perfectly coming together. MJ forced me to give up the idea that I always needed a paper in front of me. She forced me to give up that idea of control much like Deaf people are sometimes forced to give up control. It has helped improve my mental and emotional health. Thank you. [Signs “ILY” to MJ.]
I have always been curious about power and how to describe it. Who has power? How do you get power? What are powerful behaviors and actions and what do they look like? Hold onto that idea while I talk about another topic. I want to make an analogy between culture and breathing. Often, people breathe in air that is toxic and they don't notice. Then, they will become sick and wonder what happened. They didn't want to become sick - they were just breathing. Culture can act similarly where you end up internalizing negative ideas and you don't even notice it. That is why it is important to step back and analyze the negative aspects of a culture.
I was not here around 1960-65 or prior to that time. I arrived around 1975. It seems that before that time, hearing people had the power. We’ve seen from today’s lectures that majority culture, people in power, seems to place negative views on Deaf people, that they can’t do things, they are not intelligent, they have a poor language, and that they have inappropriate behavior that does not fit the hearing world, like a broken hearing person. Deaf people did not fit with the hearing world so they looked down on Deaf people and took control. It was interesting when this cultural shift started happening. Here are my thoughts about what caused that culture shift. At that time period, the majority culture said hearing people were superior and that they have the power and knowledge; their way was the right and best way. I wasn’t there. I’m not Deaf. But I think there are parallels with being a woman. Women also have similar experiences of being looked down on and being treated unequally. My experiences as a woman helped me understand the Deaf experience. Parents and other professionals, like teachers and doctors, told me women were subpar but I felt ambivalent about whether that was true. My instincts told me otherwise. I’m fine! Then, DASL was published, starting sign language research and making new discoveries. That dictionary prompted the culture shift. The hearing culture viewing Deaf people and ASL as subpar was not healthy but it was hard to challenge the status quo and defend these new ideas about ASL. Now, ASL has recognition, has given power to Deaf people, and Deaf culture sends the message that ASL is equal to English. These new developments really excite me.
One of the most important things I’ve learned about teamwork relates to different cultural models of being Deaf. Traditionally, society dictates that hearing people are the experts. Their ability to hear makes their way of life “the best.” But then sign language research sparked a new idea, showing that Deaf people are actually the experts when it comes to signing. In this way, research changed the traditional views of hearing and deaf people. It leveled the playing field. In that old way of thinking, even those who were hard of hearing were superior to Deaf people because they had some hearing and thus more power. Again, sign language research changed that view, showing that fluent Deaf signers are the ASL experts, regardless of their connection to the hearing world. Undoubtedly, sign language research truly turned that way of thinking on its head.
Now, how did these new ideas come about? It’s important to understand that people with fixed attitudes and mindsets were blind to new ideas. Obviously Deaf people have language; they are human. Now everyone knows that, but at that time, we were all oblivious to it. Society had internalized extremely unhealthy ideas about Deaf people because those ideas weren’t readily obvious, you couldn’t see or taste them. This meant that new ideas were created by those who were humble and open-minded.
Bill Stokoe himself was a very humble man, and he worked with many extraordinary people. Whenever someone knocked on his door, he welcomed them with open arms. My experience with him was exactly the same. I was a young graduate student in California. During the summer of ‘74 or ‘75, I approached Bill and asked him if the two of us could talk. Honestly, my underlying motive was to get a job in the LRL! I was curious about his sign language research, but I was too scared and nervous to ask him to hire me. So, I made an appointment, and the two of us sat down and talked all day. When our time finally ran out, I was still nervous and I hadn’t asked him if I could have a job. I panicked, and asked him if we could meet again the next day so I could ask him a few more questions. Slightly surprised, Bill agreed.
The next day, the two of us talked all morning. At last, I worked up the courage to ask him for a job in his lab. Bill agreed, and warmly welcomed me. Many of you have likely experienced the exact same thing, as have many others all over the world. During that time, people would arrive at the LRL and dive right in, sifting through all sorts of articles and videotapes. We’d go home with piles of papers to read. Bill was a generous, open person. He was also a strong supporter of young people like me. When I arrived to work for him, I was not very knowledgeable and I didn’t have the skills. I was new to it all, but Bill welcomed me and shared his unique knowledge. People like him are the reason why the world expands and changes. He was open-minded and loving, and he respected Deaf people. To him, Deaf people were part of the team. He didn’t put himself in a superior or more powerful position. We can learn a lot by working with Deaf people and sharing knowledge, and that is how the world starts to change. It was truly an honor to work with Bill and the countless others in the field. They taught me so much. Thank you.
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
1:00:45-1:00:53.
Thank you Charlotte! I know you all want more. Well, lucky for you, we have more! Here’s MJ.
Dr. MJ Bienvenu
On behalf of Dr. James “Woody” Woodward
1:00:53-1:03:24.
Ben is right, we need to inform Carol. I am inspired by the 300 people that are here. Wow, that’s exciting! And our audience is full of a variety of people from students, to faculty, to people from all over the world. It’s great to have you all here. I’m here for two reasons. For one, James Woodward, “Woody,” can’t be here. He sent me his notes and I will provide a summary of them. Woody says he wishes he could be here, but he is currently in Hawaii. He was the first linguist working at Gallaudet, had the first dissertation about Deaf people, and was the first linguist who travelled the world to establish sign language research which contributed to the impact of DASL. The impact at Gallaudet came much later, sad to say, but the information spread all over the world. People still don’t realize how much it impacted the world. Really once the dictionary was out, people from all over the world started research and finding sign languages. People from all over the world including, Britain, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and France went to the Linguistic Research Lab. Asian countries like Japan followed soon after. And then South America like Brazil and Argentina and then Africa. Really the world discovered so many other countries had their own sign languages. So the impact of DASL was not only on Gallaudet, not only on DC, not only on the US, but the entire world. And the dictionary impacted more than Deaf people, but hard of hearing, hearing, residential and mainstream schools, parents, teachers, and friends - all over the world people have been astonished and enlightened by DASL. Over the past 50 years that book has brought us to where we are today. And here we are. It is an amazing history, has made great changes, and huge impact. We now realize DASL is really bigger than we thought. Thank you [Dr. Stokoe].
Dr. Ben Bahan
Master of Ceremonies
1:03:24-1:03:49.
Earlier, in the video, one woman made a very brief appearance - despite her untimely death, she made a significant impact on the field of bilingual research. We’re fortunate that today her daughter is here to tell her story. Allow me to introduce Tiffany Williams.
Tiffany Williams
Daughter of Bilingual Pioneer, Judy Williams
1:03:49-1:06:45.
Thank you! First, I want to thank the community for taking the time to recognize my mother Judy Williams. She lived a short life, but made a huge impact at Gallaudet, on the field of linguistics, and in my family. I want to elaborate more on how my mom did this for those of you who are not familiar with her accomplishments. My mom was a very impressive and strong woman, but I want to refer back to my family. My family consists of 4 generations of Deaf members so communication, signing, was really important for us. It was natural for our family to sign, so when my mother arrived at Gallaudet it was obvious to her that ASL was a language. At Gallaudet, my mother experienced struggles with people resisting bilingualism. I’m sure many of you in the audience (such as Barbara and MJ) can relate to this experience. People at that time had doubts about bilingualism. In 1968, my mother wrote a beautiful paper recognizing bilingualism, but struggles prevailed. My mother had two deaf children, me and my brother. My brother was born in 1965 and I was born in 1967, so we were very young. My mother used our family as a way to document and verify her research on bilingualism, English and ASL. Her children were proof bilingualism worked. We were living products of her research. However, people used to look at us and be amazed at how well we communicated using ASL to sign and English to read and write. My mother was so proud of us. She did some research and wrote articles. That was beautiful. Unfortunately she never published a book. However, in her article she stressed the importance of children having communication and access to language in early childhood - rather than waiting until they have reached adulthood just like the current practices at most Deaf schools and the Clerc Center. It’s important that deaf children have a way to express themselves through communication and through ASL. This will lead to development in their reading and writing skills. Her philosophy is something that I remember to this day and can be seen today in Deaf education.. Looking back, 1968 was so long ago, but the ideas and dreams my mother expressed are still relevant and really ahead of the times. My family and many other Deaf families have always known the importance of the connection between ASL and literacy - but using terminology, “bilingualism” was impressive at that time. Today, at Gallaudet we support bilingualism. I know that my mother, watching from above, would be proud of this celebration. Thank you all, and to you [Marvin] again, for recognizing my mother, Judy Williams.
Dr. Ben Bahan: Closing
Master of Ceremonies
1:06:45-1:09:10.
If you’re immersed in the field of language acquisition, you should know one of the most well known leaders in the field of language acquisition is Ursula Bellugi. I was fortunate enough to have worked here with these two (Dennis and Charlotte), but I left to go to the Salk Institute to work with Ursula Bellugi from ‘79 onward. I arrived and asked her how she got started working in the field [of signed languages]. She answered by saying that she was already established in the field of language acquisition, however was curious about how it applied to Deaf children. So the first thing she did was to pick up DASL and that got her thinking about the possibilities. So her background in language acquisition together with her newly acquired information from DASL laid the groundwork for establishing the team at the Salk Institute and thus the journey began. It just goes to show how a small book can go so far - almost like the little book that could! That little book has pushed on through time. In the preface of the book, the editors wrote they “... hope the dictionary itself will give evidence of this University’s devotion to the liberal arts and humane sciences that continues to ‘pervade all the work of the college.’” The answer to them is yes, it is already happening and yes it will continue. So in conclusion, it will continue through exchange of ideas - this will happen at SLCC afterwords from 2-3 PM if you wish to continue to mingle. In that spirit, please remember #DASL50!! Thank you and goodbye everyone!
Credits for the transcript
Transcript developed by: University of Rochester, Art of Translation students: Stephen Davis; group leader, Carly Blomquist, Alison Ciurznski, Nicole Fleming, Savannah Lynch, Hayley Orciuch, Jhanmaire Ortiz Garcia and Carolyn Wu; with assistance from Margaret Chastel and Brenda Schertz, faculty members of the University of Rochester’s Art of Translation course.