Glossary

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Co-Cultural Theory(also: Co-Cultural Communication Theory)

A communication theory developed by Mark Orbe that examines how members of marginalized or underrepresented groups communicate within dominant societal structures. The theory identifies the Deaf community as a subordinate group within a hearing-dominated society and analyzes how…

Critical Period(also: Critical Period Hypothesis, Sensitive Period)

A developmental window during early childhood when the brain is especially receptive to acquiring language. If sufficient language input is not received during this period, language development may be significantly and permanently impaired. The critical period is particularly…

Language Acquisition(also: Language Development, Language Learning)

The process by which humans develop the ability to perceive, produce, and use language to communicate. In deaf children, language acquisition presents unique challenges: 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and without early exposure to an accessible language (such…

Languaging

A sociolinguistic concept that reframes language as an ongoing activity rather than a fixed system. Developed by scholars including Alastair Pennycook and Li Wei, languaging treats communication as the dynamic use of all available linguistic and semiotic resources — words,…

Milan Congress(also: Milan Congress of 1880, Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf)

The Milan Congress was an international conference on the education of Deaf children held in Milan in 1880, where hearing educators voted to ban sign language from Deaf schools and impose oralism, the exclusive use of speech and lip-reading, as the standard pedagogy. The…

Oralism(also: Oral Method, Oral Education)

An educational philosophy and approach for deaf and hard of hearing individuals that emphasizes spoken language and lip-reading over the use of sign language. Historically, oralism dominated deaf education following the 1880 Milan Conference, which effectively banned sign…

Phonocentrism

The ideological privileging of spoken language as the default and superior mode of communication, with corresponding devaluation of signed, typed, symbolic, or augmentative forms. In accessibility, phonocentrism surfaces when technologies (voice assistants, automatic speech…

Sign Linguistics(also: Sign Language Linguistics)

The scientific study of the structure and properties of sign languages. Sign linguistics examines the phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic components of visual-gestural languages. Key parameters studied include handshape (approximately 90 distinct configurations…

Signed Exact English(also: SEE, SEE-II, Signing Exact English)

A manually coded sign system that represents spoken English visually by following English grammar, word order, and morphology rather than using the natural grammar of American Sign Language (ASL). Unlike ASL, which is a distinct language with its own syntax and structure, Signed…

Translated Deaf Self

A concept coined by Alys Young, Jemina Napier, and Rosemary Oram describing how deaf signers' lifelong experiences of being encountered, represented, and inter-subjectively known by others occur in a translated form. The term captures the ontological consequences of routine…

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