Cover next page > title: Seeing Language in Sign : The Work of William C. Stokoe author
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| < previous page page_72 next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_73 next page > Page on which the symbols n, v, ph, xi etc, apply, there is another level of structure" Some of Stokoe's points were clear to no one but Stokoe himself. His good friend Carl Croneberg says he admired the book but used it in the classroom for only one semester, "out of a sense of duty to Bill. I used it one day a week in a three-day schedule, and I am pretty sure it was the day disliked most by both me and my students. The Calculus was a very logical and rational analysis of the elements of an English sentence, but at the end of the course I had absolutely no desire ever to use it again in a course. My students disliked The Calculus quite intensely and put up with it only for my sake, I believe. I cannot recall anyone, teachers in the department included, being enthusiastic about it."29 Bill Stokoe had both Sign Language Structure and The Calculus of Structure stocked in the Gallaudet bookstore. Many members of the faculty wondered just who Stokoe thought he was. He was supposed to bean English professor how dare he presume to know enough about "the sign language" to analyze it As Battison explains, "Although Bill was one of the few academically distinguished people at Gallaudet at that time, since he couldn't sign well, of course he wasn't highly regarded by the deaf people for the most part."30 As for The Calculus of Structure, a perfectly appropriate publication for an English professor, many English faculty accused him of pressuring them to use the book in their classes. Had Stokoe been at any other institution, the appearance of two of his books in the bookstore would have attracted little attention. But Gallaudet professors at that time did not regularly engage in research and publishing, and Bill Stokoe was George Detmold's best friend. To make matters worse, in both publications Stokoe had given Detmold credit for helping him to secure research funding. Detmold's extraordinary efforts to win accreditation for the college had made him many enemies along the way. The faculty saw the publication of Stokoe's work as an occasion for venting their anger and frustration at the changes. Jerome Schein, who was teaching at Gallaudet at the time, explains "Bills closeness to Detmold made many jealous. Download 2.48 Mb. Share with your friends:
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