William Stokoe
| William C. Stokoe, Jr. | |
|---|---|
William Stokoe, 1993
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| Born |
July 21, 1919 New Hampshire, USA |
| Died | April 4, 2000 (aged 80) Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA |
| Fields | English, American Sign Language (ASL) |
| Institutions | Wells College, Gallaudet University |
| Alma mater | Cornell University (Ph.D., 1946) |
| Known for | Redefining language, establishing American Sign Language as a unique language, Stokoe notation |
William C. Stokoe, Jr. (/ˈstoʊkiː/ STOH-kee; July 21, 1919 in New Hampshire – April 4, 2000 in Chevy Chase, Maryland), a long-time professor at Gallaudet University, was an American linguist. His research on American Sign Language (ASL) revolutionized the understanding of ASL in the United States and sign languages throughout the world and had a profound impact on deaf culture, deaf education, and sign language teaching and interpreting. Stokoe's work led to a widespread recognition that sign languages are true languages, exhibiting syntax and morphology, and are not mere systems of gesture. This work thus redefined "language" itself, and influenced thinking in theoretical linguistics, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, neural studies, and even jurisprudence.
William C. Stokoe, Jr. was born July 21, 1919, in New Hampshire and died April 4, 2000, in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Stokoe graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY in 1941, from where in 1946 he earned his Ph.D. in English, specifically medieval literature. From there, he became an instructor of English at Wells College in Aurora, NY.
From 1955 to 1970 he served as a professor and chairman of the English department at Gallaudet University, after being recruited to the position by Dean George Detmold. He published Sign Language Structure (1960) and co-authored along with Dorothy C. Casterline and Carl G. Croneberg, A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles (1965). The latter was the first place the term American Sign Language was ever formally used. He also started the academic journal Sign Language Studies in 1972, which he edited until 1996. Stokoe's final book, Language in Hand, was published in 2001, after his death.
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