William Stokoe
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William Stokoe (pronounced Stokie) (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". 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.
Writing system for American Sign Language
Stokoe invented a written notation for sign language as ASL had no written form at the time. Unlike SignWriting which was developed later, it is not iconic, but draws heavily on the handshapes used in the production of signs. Thus the sign for the concept of mother is said to use the '5' handshape and this as one would logically deduce means the fingers are spread to display all five fingers. A flat hand is denoted by 'B', and '8' indicates that the thumb and middle finger are forward, maybe touching, while the others are spread. All the handshapes that occur in ASL are deliniated and labeled in a similar manner. As part of his system for describing the parts of signs he coined the words dez, sig, and tab for kinds of cheremes. Cheremes are the elemental units of manual language, analogous to phonemes in spoken languages. Stokoe's notation system is mostly restricted to use by linguists and academics.