As a long-time student of ASL (and other languages) I was looking forward to a more accessible book. I would not recommend this book to anyone without a degree in linguistics and even then I would hesitate. The authors seem to maximize the use of technical jargon and acronyms without even the slightest effort to define terms for the non-specialist. This is an opaque thesis that I mistook for a general work on the subject of ASL syntax. Other books on the linguistics of ASL are head and shoulders above this one.On top of this, the photos are abysmal. For a book that is trying to illustrate subtleties of ASL non-manual markers, etc., to have the photos be so poor is inexplicable. They look like the twentieth photocopy made with the exposure set to "extra dark."What a missed opportunity! Isn't there anyone out there that can present the syntax of ASL systematically and in clear English?