Books:
Understanding Signed Languages, Wilkinson and Morford 2023: A recent textbook that provides an introduction for sign languages from a broadly cognitive-functionalist perspective
Signed Language Corpora, Hochgesang and Fenlon (eds.) 2022: An excellent resource for methods and ethics related to descriptive research on sign languages
Form, Meaning, and Focus in American Sign Language, Villanueva 2013: An exploration of discourse structure in ASL and its application to interpreting
Language, Cognition, and the Brain, Emmorey 2002: Though now quite old, this book provides an excellent summary of psycholinguistic research on ASL prior to 2000
The Signs of Language, Klima and Bellugi 1979: A classic book that has served as the foundation for sign language linguistics
Articles/Chapters - language structure:
Sign duration and signing rate in British Sign Language, Dutch Sign Language, and Swedish Sign Language, Börstell, Schembri, and Crasborn 2024: A corpus-based comparison of phonetic information in three sign languages
Usage-based grammar: Multi-word expressions in American Sign Language, Wilkinson, Lepic, and Hou 2023: Similar to this language profile, this chapter analyzes an ASL narrative to explain ASL grammar
When hands are things and movements are processes: Cognitive iconicity, embodied cognition, and signed language structure, Occhino 2023: A theoretical realignment of phonology and grammar in sign linguistics under cognitive linguistic theory
LOOKing for multi-word expressions in American Sign Language, Hou 2022: A corpus-based examination of verbal complements in ASL
From letters to families: Initialized signs in American Sign Language, Lepic 2021: An overview of English-ASL contact, particularly initialized signs
Finding frequency effects in the usage of NOT collocations in American Sign Language, Wilkinson 2016: A corpus-based examination of phonological reduction in ASL
The body in scene depictions, Dudis 2011: A more detailed examination of depiction and the body in ASL
Semantic phonology, Stokoe 1991: A bracing critique of sign language phonology and a "return to basics" for sign language analysis
Articles/Chapters - language development:
How to crip your sign linguistic theory, Hou and Namboodiripad 2025: A critique from a linguistic anthopology perspective on the trajectory and assumptions of (sign) linguistics
Homesign: Contested issues, Goico and Horton 2023: A review of language development by deaf children in hearing families, with critique of how this research has historically been framed
Cripping the "delay": Multilingualism-related consequences of re-labeling language deprivation systems, Koulidobrova and Chen Pichler 2021: A summary of the circumstances in which deaf children develop sign language, and a critique of how this ability is theorized
Ensuring language acquisition for deaf children: What linguists can do, Humphries, Kushalnagar, Mathur, Napoli, Padden, and Rathmann 2014: As experts on language, linguists have an important responsibility to advocate for language access