William C. Stokoe, Jr. ( /ˈstoʊkiː/ stoh-kee; New Hampshire, July 21, 1919 – Chevy Chase, Maryland, April 4, 2000) was a scholar who researched American Sign Language (ASL) extensively while he worked at Gallaudet University. He coined the term cherology, the equivalent of phonology for sign language (but sign language linguists, of which he may have been the first, now generally use the term "phonology").
Stokoe graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY in 1941, and in 1946 received his Ph.D. in English, also from Cornell. From there, he became an instructor of English at Wells College in Aurora, NY.[1]
From 1955 to 1970 he served as a professor and chairman of the English department at Gallaudet University. He published Sign Language Structure[2] and co-authored A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles (1965).
Through the publication of his work, he was instrumental in changing the perception of ASL from that of a broken or simplified version of English to that of a complex and thriving natural language in its own right with an independent syntax and grammar as functional and powerful as any found in the spoken languages of the world.[3][4] Because he raised the prestige of ASL in academic and educational circles, he is considered a hero in the Deaf community.
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Stokoe invented a written notation for sign language (now called Stokoe notation) as ASL had no written form at the time. Unlike SignWriting, which was developed later, it is not pictographic, but drew heavily on the Latin alphabet.
Thus the written form of the sign for 'mother' looks like
The ' ͜ ' indicates that it is signed at the chin, the '5' that is uses a spread hand (the '5' of ASL), and the 'x' that the thumb touches the chin. Stokoe coined the terms tab, dez, and sig, meaning sign location, handshape and motion, to indicate different categories of phonemes in ASL. The Stokoe notation system has been used for other sign languages, but is mostly restricted to linguists and academics.