Donna Jo Napoli
Donna Jo Napoli
https://www.swarthmore.edu/donna-jo-napoli
Research
Dona Jo Napoli’s research on sign languages is largely on on theoretical matters in phonetics, morphology, syntax, and semantics, as well as on what we can learn about sign grammar from analyzing creative language, including poetry, stories, humorous language, and taboo language. Her linguistics website is https://www.swarthmore.edu/donna-jo-napoli. She is part of a project developing bimodal-bilingual videobooks for deaf children (https://riseebooks.wixsite.com/access) and is ready to start research on what factors make a bi-bi videobooks effective in terms of catching and holding the attention of deaf children and, thus, having a chance at helping to develop preliteracy skills.
Profile
Donna Jo Napoli is Prof. of Linguistics and Social Justice at Swarthmore College.
Main publication in the last 5 years
Taboo in sign languages. (co-author with Jami Fisher and Gene Mirus). Cambridge Element. Cambridge U Press. forthcoming.
Before their very eyes: Enhancing the (pre)literacy skills of deaf children. (with Melissa Curran and Gene Mirus). Language. (forthcoming)
Depicting translocating motion in sign languages. (with Cornelia Loos) Sign Language Studies. (forthcoming)
The nature of torso articulation in human expression: Signing and dancing. (with Rachel Sutton-Spence. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science. (2023) https://rdcu.be/dhKwx)
Social justice and language rights for deaf children. (with Tom Humphries, Gaurav Mathur, and Christian Rathmann). In Angharad E. Beckett and Anne-Marie Callus (eds.), The Routledge international handbook of children’s rights and disability, 537–554. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. (2023)
Sign language and multimodality as indicators of health for deaf newborns and young children: Guidance for families and medical professionals. (with Tom Humphries, Gaurav Mathur, and Christian Rathmann) Medical Research Archives 11, 1, ISSN 2375-1924 (2023) Open Access: https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/3280
Awake not sleeping: The power of storytelling to activate gender equality and respectful relationships in our minds, homes, and communities. (with Angela Walsh, Alia El-Yasir, Kalina Maleska, and Nadia Albert). Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies 36, 2, 287–308 (2022).
Deaf children need rich language input from the start: Support in advising parents. (with Tom Humphries, Gaurav Mathur, Carol Padden, and Christian Rathmann). Children 9, 11, 1609 (special issue “Pediatric Otolaryngology-Expert Reviews and Advances”, section Global and Public Health) (2022) Open access: https://www.mdpi.com/2227- 9067/9/11/1609
Alignment mouth demonstrations in sign languages. (with Ronice Quadros and Christian Rathmann). Sign Language Studies 22, 3, 359–398 (2022)
Senior theses: One way of doing them. (with Emily Gasser and Shizhe Huang). Language 98, 1, e26–e43 (2022).
Stimuli for initiation: A comparison of dance and (sign) language. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science. 6, 287–303 (2022). Open access: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41809-022-00095-y.
Clause-initial Vs in sign languages. (with Rachel Sutton-Spence). In Vera Lee-Schoenfeld and Dennis Ott (eds.) Parameters of predicate fronting, 192–219. Oxford: Oxford U Press. (2021)
Expanding Echo: Coordinated head articulations as nonmanual enhancements in sign language phonology. (with Cornelia Loos) Cognitive Science. 45, 5, e12958 (2021).
Correlations between handshape and movement in sign languages. (with Casey Ferrara). Cognitive Science. 45, 5, e12944 (2021). Open access: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cogs.12944
Unveiling sign languages in the linguistic landscape: Representations of sign languages in nonsigning and signing milieu. (with Jami Fisher and Gene Mirus). In Greg Niedt and Corinne A. Seals (eds.), Linguistic landscapes beyond the language classroom, 39–58. London: Bloomsbury. (2020) [website for images: https://preview89.sspbloomsbury.com/chapter-2]
Global regulatory review needed for cochlear implants: A call for FDA leadership. (with Tom Humphries, Poorna Kushalnagar, Gaurav Mathur, and Christian Rathmann) Maternal and Child Health Journal 24, 11, 1345-1359. (2020). ISSN 1092-7875. doi: 10.1007/s10995-020-03002-5. Available for online reading: https://rdcu.be/b6HK6
