Deaf history

Sign Language history: 20th Century - 1970s

1970s

Sesame Street

1970: Linda Bove was a guest on the American children's popular TV show, "Sesame Street," to teach a sign language in 1970. Eventually, she became a regular actress in 1976.

Phyllis French was the first Deaf Signer to win a Tony award (the Best Actress), for playing a "Sarah" role in the play, "Children of a Lesser God".

ASL Linguistics Research

1979: Klima and Bellugi conducted the first linguistics research on American Sign Language.

Related posts

Related links: Timeline: 1980s.

New to sign language? "Where do I start?" or "How do I start learning sign language?" This ASL Rookie guide lists some selected links to the tutorials for ASL beginners to get started and keep rolling. It may be a useful review for intermediate-level learners and ASL students as well.

Some tutorial pages are a mix of free and premium versions. Access to premium content and links below are available in the PatronPlus subscription. More links/posts will be added from time to time.

Expressing needs and wants

  1. Making commands or requests

Talking about activities

  1. Frequency of time: how often?

Are you able to carry everyday conversations in ASL? Are you a student in the intermediate levels and beyond, who wishes to boost up your signing skills? You've come to the selected tutorial series. (Some premium content are available to PatronPlus membership.)

Stories, poems, performance arts, etc. in sign language.

This documentation project follows a child's language acquisition, literacy development, and phonological acquisition in sign language, specifically ASL, from newborn to age five in a natural native-ASL environment and visual culture.