SASLJ Vol. 2 No. 1 SASLJ Vol 2, No 1 | Page 22

Stuttering-Like Behaviors in ASL Cripps et al. clinicians to understand the historical background associated with the use of ASL. In the eyes of society, deaf people’s language was once widely thought to be atypical and consequently marginalized for most of the two centuries of existence. For example, the field of deaf education reflected the social values with debate raging over whether deaf students should sign in the classroom or not (Van Cleve & Crouch, 1989). The outlook for ASL started to improve in the 1970s and 1980s in light of the civil rights movement. From that time to present, many linguists have become involved in studying and validating ASL as a full-fledged human language (see Meier, 2002 for the history of signed language research). The present level of understanding ASL is strong, including recognition for its possession of linguistic features, such as phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics (Klima & Bellugi, 1979; Sandler & Lillo-Martin, 2006; Stokoe, 1960; Valli, Lucas, Mulrooney, & Villanueva, 2011; Wilbur, 1979). Researchers should perhaps now shift to understanding the nature of stuttering-like behaviors in the signed language modality. Snyder (2009) addressed the theoretical question of stuttering and how it may occur as a result of cognitive processing and production errors, regardless of the type of language modality used, such as speaking or signing. Put another way, perhaps Snyder is questioning if stuttering occurs only in the spoken mode, but previous literature and case studies appear to reflect that there are stuttering-like behaviors exhibited by individuals who use signed language. Thus, he concluded that stuttering might be based on overall cognitive processing rather than the modality used to communicate. This counters (or adds to) the popular belief by language professionals (and society at large) that stuttering occurs only in speech and through spoken language. Therefore, further study of signed stuttering is much needed. A small number of scholarly publications have reported that stuttering-like behaviors may occur in ASL and other signed languages must not be overlooked. Previous Research of Stuttering-like Behaviors in Sign Languages The earliest studies assessing stuttering-like behaviors among deaf individuals were conducted using surveys, which date back to the late 1930s (Backus, 1938; Harms & Malone 1937). However, these findings were based on the use of spoken English. It is plausible that some deaf individuals may develop some skills while speaking as a result of what is known as oralism, which was used for deaf education at the time when these studies were published. For deaf individuals, especially those who are profoundly deaf since birth, learning how to speak is a very difficult task. The impact of hearing loss is immense, which includes deaf individuals who do not have control over linguistic input. However, researchers during the 1930s managed to generate findings about the existence of stuttering for orally trained deaf individuals. It is interesting to note that the first study to assess stuttering-like behaviors in ASL coincides with how signed language was noted to possess linguistic properties (i.e., Silverman & Silverman, 1971). The findings for ‘signed stuttering’, at that time, have been cited and discussed routinely. Cosyns, Van Herreweghe, Christiaens, and Van Borsel (2009), Snyder (2009), and Whitebread (2004) are recent researchers who examined the phenomenon of ‘signed stuttering’. The scope of this research now expands to include Flemish Sign Language (of Belgium) and a list of characteristics related to stuttering-like behaviors in the signed language modality has been formed and reported. For example, Whitebread (2004) reported a list of eight characteristics (and descriptions): SASLJ, Vol. 2, No.1 – Spring/Summer 2018 22