LibGuides: American Sign Language (ASL): Finding Resources

Finding Resources

The Gallaudet Dictionary of American Sign Language by Clayton Valli (Editor); Peggy Swartzel Lott (Illustrator); Daniel Renner (Illustrator); Rob Hills (Illustrator)
Call Number: ONLINE
ISBN: 9781954622029
Publication Date: 2021-08-25
The Gallaudet Dictionary of American Sign Language contains over 3,000 illustrations. Each sign illustration, including depictions of fingerspelling when appropriate, incorporates a complete list of English synonyms. A full, alphabetized English index enables users to cross-reference words and signs throughout the entire volume.
The American Sign Language Handshape Dictionary by Richard A. Tennant; Marianne Gluszak Brown; Valerie Nelson-Metlay (Illustrator)
Call Number: HV2475 .T46 2010
ISBN: 9781563684449
Publication Date: 2010-07-31
Featuring over 1,900 sign illustrations plus DVD showing how to form signs. Arranged by handshape for easy identification.
A Historical and Etymological Dictionary of American Sign Language by Emily Shaw; Yves Delaporte; Carole Marion (Illustrator)
Call Number: ONLINE
ISBN: 9781563686221
Publication Date: 2015-06-30
This book collects all known texts featuring illustrations of early ASL and historical images of French Sign Language--langue des signes française (LSF)--and links them with contemporary signs.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
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Over 400 reference titles from over 70 publishers covering every major subject. Seamless searching of Credo Reference sources, the WSU Libraries Catalog, and other Libraries subscribed databases.
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Video tour of Credo Reference
Oxford Reference Online: Premium This link opens in a new window
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Full-text to dictionaries, reference books, and encyclopedias published by Oxford University Press in a broad range of subjects: general reference, language, science and medicine, humanities and social sciences, and Business. 4 simultaneous users.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
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A comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals.
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Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
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Provides research in areas related to communication and mass media. CMMC incorporates the content of CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association) and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Penn State) along with numerous other journals in communication, mass media, and other closely-related fields of study.
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Education Full Text This link opens in a new window
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Indexes and abstracts articles from periodicals, books, and yearbooks in the field of education. Full text articles from hundreds of journals. Coverage of indexing: 1983-present; full-text: 1996-present.
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Online access to core scholarly journals in business, education, health, arts & humanities, life sciences, literature, physical sciences, and social sciences. Coverage begins with the first issue of each journal.
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Includes: Arts & Sciences 1-15, Business 2-4, & Life Sciences
Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
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Full-text access to biographies, bibliographies, literary criticism and reviews on more than 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods, and from around the world. 5 simultaneous users Terms of Use
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to citations of journal articles, books, and dissertations published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. Coverage is international and subjects include literature, language and linguistics, literary theory, dramatic arts, folklore, and film since 1963. Special features include the full text of the original article for some citations and a collection of images consisting of photographs, maps, and flags.
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Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
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For Optimal Performance, use Firefox or Edge. Full-text access to current content from high quality, peer-reviewed journals in the humanities and social sciences, including literature and criticism, history, visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and economics. Coverage varies.
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Social Sciences Full Text This link opens in a new window
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Article citations and abstracts from over 600 periodicals and scholarly journals in all areas of the social sciences. Includes full-text access to some journals. Coverage of indexing: 1983-present; full-text: 1995-present. 99 simultaneous users.
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Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to literature in sociology & related disciplines, both theoretical and applied. Covering sociological topics in fields such as anthropology, economics, education, medicine, community development, philosophy, demography, political science, and social psychology. Coverage: 1974 to the present.
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WSU Online Catalog
Search for books, ebooks, videos, and other materials held by WSU Libraries.

To reserve materials in advance of your library visit, place a hold using the Libraries’ online catalog at https://libcat.wichita.edu/.

Instruction for Placing a Hold through the Library Catalog

WorldCat (OCLC) This link opens in a new window
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World's most comprehensive bibliography with over 40 million records of all types of materials (e.g. books, dissertations, manuscripts, serials, sound recordings, videos and more) cataloged by OCLC member libraries. Coverage:1200-present. Selecting WSU custom page provides localized content from Wichita State University Libraries' collection.

Some Select Titles:

Sign Language Archaeology by Ted Supalla; Patricia Clark
Call Number: ONLINE
ISBN: 9781563684944
Publication Date: 2015-02-28
This engrossing study investigates the infancy of American Sign Language (ASL).
A Historical and Etymological Dictionary of American Sign Language by Emily Shaw; Yves Delaporte; Carole Marion (Illustrator)
Call Number: ONLINE
ISBN: 9781563686221
Publication Date: 2015-06-30
The story of how American Sign Language (ASL) came to be is almost mythic. In the early 19th century, a hearing American reverend, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, met a Deaf French educator, Laurent Clerc, who agreed to come to the United States and help establish the first school in America to use sign language to teach deaf children. The trail of ASL's development meanders at this point. No documentation of early ASL was published until the late 19th century, almost seven decades after the school's founding. While there are many missing pieces in the history of America's sign language, plenty of data exist regarding ASL etymology. This book collects all known texts featuring illustrations of early ASL and historical images of French Sign Language--langue des signes française (LSF)--and links them with contemporary signs.
Form, Meaning, and Focus in American Sign Language by Miako N. P. Rankin
Call Number: ONLINE
ISBN: 9781563685743
Publication Date: 2013-12-10
The meaning of any linguistic expression resides not only in the words, but also in the ways that those words are conveyed. Here Miako N. P. Rankin highlights the crucial interrelatedness of form and meaning at all levels in order to consider specific types of American Sign Language (ASL) expression.

Some Select Titles:

American Sign Language. Level 1 Greetings, The Alphabet, and More-American Sign Language
Call Number: ONLINE
This program shows viewers how to sign each letter of the alphabet, then demonstrates the signs for introductions and greetings, family members, rooms in the house, animals, and question forms.
American Sign Language. Level 1 Numbers, Money, and More-American Sign Language
Call Number: ONLINE
In this program viewers learn the signs for numbers, money, time, months, weather, transportation, directions, hobbies, and food. There are demonstrations throughout the video of how to formulate the signs, along with vocabulary sections, receptive skills practice, and question and answer sections that allow viewers to recap and assess their newly acquired knowledge.
American Sign Language : Subjects and Object, Fingerspelling, and Numbers
Call Number: ONLINE
This program covers the following integral facets of ASL: identifying the Subject and Object of a sentence and the inclusion of spatial referencing; clarifying the context of a discourse using Fingerspelling; and the elements to consider when signing Numbers in ASL.
American sign language a student text
Call Number: HV2474 .C6395 2007 (3 DVDs)
Each dialogue is presented three times to allow the student to "converse with" each signer and ends with stories, anecdotes or poems spontaneously told in ASL.
American Sign Language tales from the green books by Charlotte Baker-Shenk and Dennis Cokely
Call Number: HV2474 .C6398 2007
Twenty-six stories, poems, and anecdotes presented by six Deaf signers.
ASL grammatical aspects
Call Number: HV2474 .A852 2006
Presents sample sentences using both Pidgin Sign English ("Contact Signing") and American Sign Language.
Signing Black in America
Call Number: ONLINE
A documentary about Black ASL, the unique dialect of American Sign Language (ASL) that developed within historically segregated African American Deaf communities. The program highlights the different uses of space, hand use, directional movement, and facial expression, which are ways that Black ASL distinguishes itself as a vibrant dialect of American Sign Language.

To Search for More Video Resources:

WSU Online Catalog
Check in the online catalog for videos to check out and watch. Language related videos are found in both Ablah Library and the Music and Languages Innovation Center, Jardine Hall, room 313.

Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
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This is a comprehensive video collection that delivers more than 48,000 video titles spanning essential subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, history, music, film, and more. It includes documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs & newsreels, field recordings, commercials, and raw footage. It has award-winning films, including Academy, Emmy, and Peabody winners.
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60 Minutes: 1997-2014, American History in Video, Art and Architecture in Video, Asian Film Online (Volumes * & II), Black Studies in Video, Business Education in Video, Classical Music in Video, Counseling and Therapy in Video (Volumes I-III), Criminal Justice and Public Safety in Video, Current Affairs in Video, Dance in Video (Volumes I & II), Education in Video (Volumes I & II), Environmental Studies in Video, Ethnographic Video Online (Volumes I-III), Fashion STudies Online, Filmakers Library Online (Volumes I-III), Health and Society in Video, Latin American in Video, LGBT Studies in Video, The March of Time, Meet the Press, new World Cinema: Independent Features and Shorts, 1990-Present, Opera in Video, BBC Video Collection, PBS Video Collect (2nd Ed), Silent Film Online, Theatre in Video (Volumes I & II), Video Journal of Counseling and Therapy, World History in Video, and World Newsreels Online.
Films On Demand This link opens in a new window
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A source of high-quality video and multimedia for academic, vocational and life-skills content. Includes the Master Academic Collection and the FMG Archival Films and Newsreels Collection.
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American Sign Language University
ASLU English to ASL Dictionary
ASL-LEX
ASL-LEX is a database of lexical and phonological properties of American Sign Language signs.
ASLCORE
Presents suggested signs in several topic areas, developed according to ASL linguistic principles by fluent Deaf ASL signers. The goal is to provide descriptive signs which may serve to complement other initialized or English-influenced sign choices. These signs are presented for consideration, modification, and adoption if they function well in your work as students, professionals, teachers, or interpreters!
ASLized
ASLized fosters the integration of American Sign Language (ASL) educational research into visual media and literacy. The main objective is to produce teaching and learning materials in ASL with two focuses: 1.) ASL literature, preserving culture and history and 2.) ASL Linguistics, promoting a better understanding of the complex structure and use of sign languages.
The Daily Moth
The Daily Moth delivers news in video using American Sign Language.
Deaf Linx
A site with links to information on deafness, deaf culture, American Sign Langauge (ASL) and all other related topics. Deaf Linx firmly believes that deafness is not a disability, but a condition that produces a sub-culture that should be celebrated.
Handspeak
ASL Sign Language Dictionary
Langue des Signes Française (LSF) American Sign Language (ASL)
A dictionary with historical information.
National Association of the Deaf.
A civil rights organization of, by and for deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the United States of America.
Signing Savvy
A dictionary and set of American Sign Language (ASL) learning tools for parents, teachers, interpreters, and learners of all skill levels.

Some Suggested Search Terms

Some suggested search terms/phrases:

American sign language
ASL
deaf community
deaf culture
deaf community
deaf literature
deaf art
finger spelling
Language transfer (Language Learning)

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American Sign Language (ASL)

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