SASL Executive Council
2015 – 2017
President
Samuel J. Supalla
University of Arizona
[email protected]
Vice President
Deirdre Schlehofer
Rochester Institute of Technology
[email protected]
Recording Secretary /
Newsletter Editor
Andrew P. J. Byrne
Framingham State University
[email protected]
Treasurer
Harvey Nathanson
Austin Community College
[email protected]
Membership Director
Ron Fenicle
Towson University
[email protected]
SASL Journal
Editor-in-Chief
Jody H. Cripps
Towson University
[email protected]
Members-at-Large
Patrick Boudreault
Gallaudet University
[email protected]
Russell Rosen
CUNY – Staten Island
[email protected]
Gabriel Arellano
Georgetown University
[email protected]
The Power of ASL
By
Andrew
P.
J.
Byrne
Language Instruction and the Name of ASL
We know that William Stokoe and his colleagues
Dorothy Casterline and Carl Croneberg published the first
dictionary using the name ASL in 1965, and it is entitled A
Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic
Principles. We also know that, based on the physical evidence
of his publications, Stokoe was the person who coined the
term American Sign Language and shorten it to ASL in 1969
(see the Editor’s Corner in the summer issue of 2016). Now,
what about the first textbook taking into consideration ASL?
When was it published and by whom?
After consulting a wide range of books and articles, I
concluded that Ameslan: An Introduction to American Sign
Language by Louie J. Fant, Jr. was the first. It was produced
and distributed by Joyce Motion Picture Company in
Northridge, California in 1972. I found it impressive that there
were six other textbooks
published before 1972,
and they are: Learning
the Language of Signs
by Roger M. Falberg in
1962, The Language of
Silence by Mr. Falberg
in 1963 (the revised
edition of the 1962
textbook), Say It With
Hands by Mr. Fant in
1964, An Introductory
Course
in
Manual
Communication (Fingerspelling
and
the
Language of Signs) by
Barbara E. Babbini in
1965,
Conversational
Sign Language by Willard J. Madsen in 1967, and the first edition of A Basic Course
in Manual Communication by Terrence J. O’Rourke in 1970.
The first five textbooks were based on the natural language
used by deaf people in the United States, but the term
American Sign Language or ASL was not used. The last
textbook did include ASL (not by name), but the focus was
broader on the use of manual communication involving “(1)
Sign Language, (2) Signed English,
(Continued to page 4)
2
Fall 2016 – Issue 3