American Sign Language

Introduces receptive and expressive American Sign Language skills, including basic vocabulary, sentence structure, classifiers, use of space, non-manual type indicators, and fingerspelling. Examines signing deaf people as a linguistic/cultural minority.

Continues training in American Sign Language, with focus on more complex sentence types, signs, and idioms. Considers ASL literary forms such as poetry, theater, and storytelling, as well as deaf history and other related topics. Prerequisite: ASL 1020 or successful completion of placement exam.

Continues language and cultural instruction with emphasis on everyday conversation. Topics include common idioms and slang, explaining rules, discussing finances and major decisions, and storytelling techniques such as role-shifting and narrative structure. Students will be required to interact with deaf signers. Prerequisite: ASL 2020 or successful completion of placement interview.

The ASL language course related to residency in the Shea Language House at UVA for students who have applied to and been accepted into the ASL Language Pod in the Shea House dormitory. Student residents will further develop their ASL language skills and understanding of Deaf culture through conversations among their peers in their dorm setting, weekly dinner meetings, and other arranged activities.

What do the Peace Corps, deaf tour guides, NGOs, and missionaries share? How have U.S. ideas shaped deaf education and sign languages in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Indonesia? Why do deaf people seek each other out when traveling? This course analyzes the movement of capital, commodities, sign languages, and ideologies through migration, tourism, and diaspora, exploring contemporary deaf identities, communities, and experiences worldwide.

This new course will examine the history of deaf people in the United States over the last three centuries, with particular attention to the emergence and evolution of a community of Deaf people who share a distinct sign language and culture. We will read both primary texts from specific periods and secondary sources. We will also view a few historical films. Prerequisite: none (thought a previous class in History or ASL is recommended)

Describes spoken English and ASL (American Sign Language) on five levels: phonological, morphological, lexical, syntactic, and discourse and compares/contrasts them using real-world examples. Describes major linguistic components and processes of English and ASL. Introduces basic theories regarding ASL structure. Emphasizes ASL's status as a natural language by comparing/contrasting similarities and unique differences between the two languages.

Independent Study in American Sign Language. Prerequisite: Instructor Permission