"This collection presents the research from the sixth Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research conference in 1998. Divided into six sections, it focuses on previously ignored international signed languages. Part One addresses articulatory constraints and the signed language of the Netherlands. In Part Two, researchers tackle noun classifiers, nonhanded signs, and verb classes in the signed languages of Sweden, the United States, and Israel. Part Three, Psycholinguistics, offers the study, "Functional Consequences of Modality: Spatial Coding in Working Memory for Signs."". "Language acquisition is analyzed in both adult learners and deaf children in Part Four. Part Five studies the relationship between language and society around the world, concentrating on the signed languages of Venezuela and northern Nigeria. Part Six considers the techniques employed in British Sign Language poetry and ASL poetry. Signed Languages sets the standard for current signed language research, becoming an essential resource for every linguist's and Deaf studies scholar's library."--BOOK JACKET.