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Dorothy Casterline
Born
Dorothy Chiyoko Sueoka Casterline

(1928-04-27)April 27, 1928
Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, U.S.
DiedAugust 8, 2023(2023-08-08) (aged 95)
Irmo, South Carolina, U.S.
CitizenshipPacific Islander[dubious – discuss] and American
Occupation(s)Researcher, educator
SpouseJames Casterline
Children2
Parents
  • Toshie Sueoka (father)
  • Takiyo Sueoka (mother)
Academic background
Education
Academic work
DisciplineLinguist
Sub-disciplineAmerican Sign Language
InstitutionsGallaudet University

Dorothy Chiyoko Sueoka Casterline (April 27, 1928 – August 8, 2023) was an American deaf linguist known for her contribution to A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles, considered a foundational work of sign language linguistics.

Life and career

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Casterline was born Dorothy Sueoka on April 27, 1928,[1][2] to parents of Japanese descent, and she grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii.[3][4][5][6] She became deaf at age 14.[7] After graduating from the Hawaii School for the Deaf and the Blind, then known as the Diamond Head School for the Deaf, she obtained a bachelor's degree in English from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. in 1958.[4][5][8] She was the first deaf Hawaiian student to graduate from Gallaudet. She married fellow alumnus Jim Casterline, and they remained married until his death in 2012.[9][10]

While at Gallaudet, she and her colleague Carl Croneberg were recruited by the linguist William Stokoe to contribute to their joint work A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles.[4][3][11] Published in 1965, the dictionary is considered a seminal text in the study of ASL, which promoted greater interest in and respect for the language.[4][5][11][12] It was innovative in treating ASL as a real and natural language, rather than a variant of English.[5][13] Casterline played an important role as a deaf collaborator with the hearing professor Stokoe over the several years it took to produce the dictionary.[5] Stokoe also valued the multicultural makeup of his team, with Casterline's Asian Pacific Islander background and Croneberg's Swedish one.[14] As part of this project, she collaborated with Stokoe and Croneberg beginning in 1960 on a study of the syntax and dialects of American Sign Language under funding provided by the National Science Foundation.[15]

Casterline was living in Laurel, Maryland, as of 1994.[16] In 2022, She was given an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Gallaudet, in recognition of her contributions to ASL linguistics and deaf studies.[8] She died on August 8, 2023, at age 95.[1][7][17]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Dorothy Casterline Obituary". Dignity Memorial. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  2. ^ Weinstock, Robert (August 11, 2023). "Dorothy Chiyoko Sueoka Casterline: An appreciation". Gallaudet University. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Gallaudet University Commencement Ceremonies Program Book". Gallaudet University. May 2, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d "Deaf/Signing Community: Support Recognition of Dorothy "Dot" Sueoka Casterline". RIT Libraries. March 25, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e Hochgesang, Julie A.; Miller, Marvin T. (2016). "A Celebration of the Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles: Fifty Years Later". Sign Language Studies. 16 (4): 563–591. ISSN 0302-1475. JSTOR 26191234.
  6. ^ "Political correctness enters world of deaf". Baltimore Sun. January 3, 1994.
  7. ^ a b Weinstock, Robert (August 11, 2023). "Dorothy Chiyoko Sueoka Casterline: An appreciation". Gallaudet University.
  8. ^ a b "Commencement". Gallaudet University. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  9. ^ "James L. Casterline Jr". The State. March 29, 2012. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  10. ^ Tepe, Heather (October 2, 2002). "Storytelling at the library, American Sign Language-style". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  11. ^ a b Risen, Clay (August 29, 2022). "Carl Croneberg, Explorer of Deaf Culture, Dies at 92". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  12. ^ Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove; Phillipson, Robert (November 14, 2022). The Handbook of Linguistic Human Rights. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-75390-2.
  13. ^ Sanchez, Rebecca (2011). ""Human Bodies Are Words": Towards a Theory of Non-Verbal Voice". CEA Critic. 73 (3): 33–47. ISSN 0007-8069. JSTOR 44378451.
  14. ^ Stokoe, William C. (1993). "Dictionary Making, then and Now". Sign Language Studies (79): 127–146. ISSN 0302-1475. JSTOR 26204580.
  15. ^ DSH Abstracts. Deafness Speech and Hearing Publications. August 13, 1960. p. 149.
  16. ^ Senior, Jennifer (January 3, 1994). "Language of the Deaf Evolves To Reflect New Sensibilities". The New York Times.
  17. ^ Risen, Clay (August 16, 2023). "Dorothy Casterline, Who Codified American Sign Language, Dies at 95". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
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