William Stokoe

Who was William Stokoe?

William C. Stokoe, Jr. was a scholar who researched American Sign Language extensively while he worked at Gallaudet University. He coined the term cherology, the equivalent of phonology for sign language. However, sign language linguists, of which he may have been the first, now generally use the term "phonology" for signed languages.

Stokoe graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY in 1941, from where in 1946 he earned his Ph.D. in English, specifically medieval literature. From there, he became an instructor of English at Wells College in Aurora, NY.

From 1955 to 1970 he served as a professor and chairman of the English department at Gallaudet University, after being recruited to the position by Dean George Detmold. He published Sign Language Structure and co-authored A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles. The latter was the first place the term American Sign Language was ever formally used. He also started the academic journal Sign Language Studies in 1972, which he edited until 1996. Stokoe's final book, Language in Hand, was published in 2001, after his death.