Dorothy Casterline
Born
Dorothy Chiyoko Sueoka Casterline

(1928-04-27)April 27, 1928
DiedAugust 8, 2023(2023-08-08) (aged 95)
CitizenshipPacific Islander 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

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

  1. 1 2 "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. 1 2 "Gallaudet University Commencement Ceremonies Program Book". Gallaudet University. May 2, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Deaf/Signing Community: Support Recognition of Dorothy "Dot" Sueoka Casterline". RIT Libraries. March 25, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 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. 1 2 Weinstock, Robert (August 11, 2023). "Dorothy Chiyoko Sueoka Casterline: An appreciation". Gallaudet University.
  8. 1 2 "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. 1 2 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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