William Stokoe

William C. Stokoe, Jr. (pronounced STOE-kee, (1919 - 2000) was a scholar who researched American Sign Language (ASL) extensively while he worked at Gallaudet University.

From 1955 to 1970 he served as a professor and chairman of the English department at Gallaudet. He published Sign Language Structure and co-authored A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles (1965).

Through the publication of his work he was instrumental in changing the perception of ASL from that of a broken or simplified version of English to that of a complex and thriving natural language in its own right with an independent syntax and grammar as functional and powerful as any found in the spoken languages of the world. Because he raised the prestige of ASL in academic and educational circles, he is considered a hero in the Deaf community.

Life

William Stokoe was born in Lancaster, New Hampshire, and had one brother, Jim, who was two years younger. He grew up near Rochester, New York.

William Stokoe attended Cornell University for his undergraduate degree. He always received good grades, and was awarded a Boldt Scholarship, as well as other scholarships to assist him in paying his tuition. His family was not extremely well off, and he had to work at times while in college. He was also involved in fencing. He was involved in Cornell's ROTC program. He had a nervous breakdown in 1940 and spent some time in the camp hospital, where he was given the diagnosis of manic-depression and given some medication. He took a year off to recover, and returned to Cornell in 1941. When he returned he received the Boldt scholarship again, was the co-captain of the fencing team, and made Phi Beta Kappa. He never had another recurrence of his illness, but always found it difficult that he was not able to serve during the war.

Shortly after returning to Cornell, Stokoe met Ruth Palmeter, also a Cornell student. They were married in November of 1942, and Ruth was helpful in providing him stability during difficult times. William Stokoe's brother Jim died in December of 1942, and this was a very hard time. For a short time, William and Ruth assisted with the family farm, but left for graduate school at Cornell in 1943

William and Ruth had two children: Helen Marie Stokoe, born in 1947, and James Stafford Stokoe, born in 1951. In her later years, Ruth became ill with Alzheimers, and William cared for her.

Work

In 1950, Wiliam Stokoe was invited by one of his oldest friends from Cornell University, George Detmold, to teach English at Gallaudet. During this time Gallaudet was undergoing major curriculum improvements and Detmold's job was to get Gallaudet accredited. Stokoe's acceptance of this offer was a great benefit for Gallaudet College, as there were few professors with Ph.D.s at that time.

Stokoe arrived at Gallaudet College to teach English in 1955. He was somewhat of an unorthodox teacher-he rode his motorcycle to school, and practiced Scottish bagpipes on campus so no one would have to hear him. He continued to publish in the literary articles when he first arrived at Gallaudet. Stokoe had no training in sign language when he arrived at the college.

Although he had no formal training in linguistics, he soon noticed that American Sign Language (ASL) had the elements of true language.

Stokoe invented a written notation for sign language (now called Stokoe notation) as ASL had no written form at the time. Unlike SignWriting, which was developed later, it is not pictographic, but drew heavily on the Latin alphabet.

Thus written form of the sign for the 'mother' looks like U5x. The 'U' indicates that it is signed at the chin, the '5' that is uses a spread hand (the '5' of ASL), and the 'x' that the thumb touches the chin. Stokoe coined the terms tab, dez, and sig, meaning sign location, handshape and motion, to indicate different categories of phonemes in ASL. The Stokoe notation system has been used for other sign languages, but is mostly restricted to linguists and academics.

Legacy

Major Works

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Maher, Jane Seeing in Sign: The Works of William Stokoe ISBN 156368053X
Stokoe, William Language in Hand ISBN 156368103X

External Links

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

William_Stokoe ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

History of "William Stokoe"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.