Sign languages are probably as old as human communication. They are used by deaf communities around the world. This title seeks to stimulate a discussion on the relevance of sign language research to the general study of language acquisition.

1. Series editors' preface; 2. Preface; 3. Introduction (by Morgan, Gary); 4. Foundations of communication and the emergence of language in deaf children (by Marschark, Marc C.); 5. Phonology acquisition in Brazilian Sign Language (by Karnopp, Lodenir Becker); 6. Transcription as a tool for understanding: The Berkeley Transcription System for sign language research (BTS) (by Hoiting, Nini); 7. The development of Italian Sign Language (LIS) in deaf preschoolers (by Antinoro Pizzuto, Elena); 8. The acquisition of verb agreement: Pointing out arguments for the linguistic status of agreement in signed languages (by Meier, Richard P.); 9. The expression of grammatical relations by deaf toddlers learning ASL (by Schick, Brenda); 10. FACES: The acquisition of non-manual morphology in ASL (by Reilly, Judy); 11. Are young deaf children bilingual? (by Bogaerde, Beppie van den); 12. Language emergence in a language-ready brain: Acquisition (by Kegl, Judy A.); 13. The development of complex sentences in British Sign Language (by Morgan, Gary); 14. Afterword: A view from research on spoken language development (by Lieven, Elena); 15. Conclusions and directions for future research (by Woll, Bencie); 16. Glossary; 17. Bibliography; 18. Index