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The Forgotten Voices of Martha's Vineyard Sign Language
How an Island Community Created Its Own Sign System

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About this book:

The Forgotten Voices of Martha's Vineyard Sign Language Discover the astonishing story of Martha’s Vineyard, where a hereditary deafness traced back to Kentish settlers turned an isolated island into a pioneering experiment in universal communication. For more than two centuries, hearing and deaf residents alike spoke Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language—sharing market bargains, town meetings, family jokes, and daily labor without a single spoken word. This book reveals how geography, genetics, and tight‑knit community forged a world where deafness was simply another human trait, not a barrier.

From the stone walls of Chilmark’s farms to the salt‑sprayed docks of Menemsha, *The Forgotten Voices of Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language* follows the rise, golden age, and gentle decline of a language that helped shape modern American Sign Language. Drawing on archives, genealogies, and personal accounts, it resurrects the lives of those whose silent voices once echoed across the island—and offers a timeless lesson about inclusion, community, and the power of a shared language.

Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1 The Isolated Isle: Geography and Settlement of Early Martha's Vineyard
  • Chapter 2 Genetic Threads: The Kentish Roots of Island Deafness
  • Chapter 3 Silent Arrival: The First Deaf Settlers of Chilmark
  • Chapter 4 A Village Speaks: The Genesis of a Shared Gesture System
  • Chapter 5 Beyond Disability: Re-Defining Deafness in an Island Setting
  • Chapter 6 Grammar of the Hearth: Everyday Life in a Bilingual Community
  • Chapter 7 Hands in the Field: Sign Language in Agriculture and Maritime Trades
  • Chapter 8 Town Meetings and Tallow Lamps: Civic Life in Sign
  • Chapter 9 The Hearing Majority: Why Everyone Learned to Sign
  • Chapter 10 Childhood in Chilmark: Growing Up Without Language Barriers
  • Chapter 11 Folklore, Jokes, and Gossip: The Nuances of Vineyard Sign
  • Chapter 12 The Up-Island Isolation: Cultural Divide Between Towns
  • Chapter 13 Mid-Century Peak: The Golden Age of Island Sign
  • Chapter 14 Strangers on the Shore: Outsiders Encountering the Silent Isle
  • Chapter 15 The Hartford Connection: The Opening of the American School for the Deaf
  • Chapter 16 Fusion and Influence: Vineyard Sign Meets American Sign Language
  • Chapter 17 Changing Tides: Post-Civil War Migration and Economic Shifts
  • Chapter 18 Dilution of the Gene Pool: Marrying Beyond the Island
  • Chapter 19 The Steamship Era: Modernity and the Break from Isolation
  • Chapter 20 The Last Generation: Profiles of the Final Native Signers
  • Chapter 21 Silence Fades: The Mid-Twentieth Century Decline
  • Chapter 22 Alexander Graham Bell and the Vineyard: Historical Perspectives on Deafness
  • Chapter 23 Nora Groce and the Rediscovery: Uncovering a Lost Heritage
  • Chapter 24 Echoes in Modern Linguistics: What the Vineyard Taught the World
  • Chapter 25 The Legacy of Inclusion: Lessons from an Integrated Past
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Author:

Sarah L. Hawkins

Published By:

MixCache.com Extended Catalog

Type:

Nonfiction

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