29.2163, All: Obituary: Vale, John Bonvillian

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-29-2163. Fri May 18 2018. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 29.2163, All: Obituary: Vale, John Bonvillian

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Date: Fri, 18 May 2018 11:59:14
From: Lise Dobrin [dobrin at virginia.edu]
Subject: Obituary: Vale, John Bonvillian

 
With deep sadness I write to report the death of John Bonvillian. John was a
developmental psycholinguist who retired from the University of Virginia
Psychology Department in 2015. He was influential in founding UVa's ASL
program and served for a time as director of UVa's Linguistics Program.

John will be remembered for teaching many generations of college students,
collaborating enthusiastically with colleagues and graduate students, and
delighting everyone who knew him with the colorful stories (about everything!)
that he so loved to share. 

At the time of his passing John was still actively at work on a three-volume
dictionary of simplified signs, which he had been developing toward the end of
his career. His research showed that speech-accompanying manual signs,
especially iconic signs, could be immensely helpful for those acquiring
language. He was dedicated to this project because he was convinced it could
enhance the quality of life for those who have a limited ability to speak,
such as children with autism, Down Syndrome, or cerebral palsy. He hoped to
extend the use of simplified signs to learning foreign-language vocabulary
items as well. 

Here are a couple of links to recently published obituaries that talk about
John's work: 

http://www.dailyprogress.com/obituaries/bonvillian-john-doughty/article_c7ee3c
e6-fbb5-570a-9100-6852b09d6f99.html

https://news.virginia.edu/content/memoriam-john-d-bonvillian-who-developed-sim
plified-sign-language

A memorial service is planned for early fall.

Lise

Lise M. Dobrin
Associate Professor
Linguistics Program Director
Department of Anthropology
University of Virginia
 


Linguistic Field(s): Psycholinguistics



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