Department
Linguistics

Program
Linguistics

Office Location
Sorenson Language and Communication Center (SLCC)  3212

Email Address
ceil.lucas@gallaudet.edu

My research interests center around the sociolinguistics of Deaf communities, including issues of sociolinguistic variation within signed languages, issues of bilingualism and language contact, language policy and planning, and language attitudes. I am also interested in the structure of sign language discourse. From 1995 to 2010, I edited a series entitled Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities, which has produced a yearly volume consisting of papers in all areas of sociolinguistics pertaining to Deaf communities from all over the world. I am co-director of a project funded by the National Science Foundation on sociolinguistic variation in American Sign Language as well as another National Science Foundation funded project on Black ASL (2007-2011).

My publications include:

McCaskill, C., Lucas, C., Bayley, R. and Hill, J.  (2011). The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: It's History and Structure. (book and DVD). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press

Lucas, C., & Valli, C. (1992). Language Contact in the American Deaf Community. New York: Academic Press.

Lucas, C., & Valli, C., Mulrooney, K. and Villanueva, M. (2011). Linguistics of American Sign Language (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. An undergraduate-level text and DVD designed to provide an introduction to the linguistic structure of ASL.

Lucas, C. (ed.). (2001). The Sociolinguistics of Sign Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lucas, C., Bayley, R. and Valli, C. [in collaboration with Mary Rose, Alyssa Wulf, Paul Dudis, Laura Sanheim, and Susan Schatz]. (2001). Sociolinguistic Variation in ASL (Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities, vol. 7). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.

Lucas, C., R. Bayley, and C. Valli. (2003). What's Your Sign for PIZZA? An Introduction to Variation in ASL. (book and DVD). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.