Talking Hands

Science News,  Sept 1, 2007  

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TALKING HANDS MARGALIT FOX

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This book takes readers to a living laboratory for the study of language and the ways in which its acquisition reflect the workings of the human brain. Fox focuses on the difference between spoken and nonauditory communication. The research site is the Bedouin community of al-Sayyid in Israel, where the incidence of deafness is unusually high. Residents have developed an indigenous sign language, and everyone in the village "speaks" sign language. Fox, a reporter for the New York Times, traveled to the village with researchers. She reviews the study of language throughout history as well as the history of sign language in the United States and Europe. Sign language is not merely a translation of spoken language, she asserts; it is a distinct mode of communication with its own grammatical rules. Fox explains the differences between spoken and sign language and describes researchers' ongoing attempts to uncover the rules of the al-Sayyid language. Simon & Schuster, 2007, 354 p., b&w plates, $27.00.

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