Edward S. Klima was an eminent linguist who specialized in the study of
sign languageA sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
s. Klima's work was heavily influenced by
Noam ChomskyAvram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
's then-revolutionary theory of the biological basis of linguistics, and applied that analysis to
sign languageA sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
s.
Klima, much of whose work was in collaboration with his wife,
Ursula BellugiUrsula Bellugi is a Professor and Director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. Broadly stated, she conducts research on the biological bases of language...
, was among the first to prove that sign languages are complete languages and have complex grammars that have all the features of grammars of spoken languages. Widespread recognition of this fact was one of the catalysts to the cultural changes in and towards the deaf community in favor of encouraging the use sign language, which had often been discouraged in favor of lip reading in the past.
Klima studied linguistics at
Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, earning his bachelor's degree in 1953. Two years later, he received a masters in the same subject from
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. Starting in 1957, Klima worked as an Instructor at the
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
under
Noam ChomskyAvram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
. After earning his Ph.D in linguistics from Harvard University in 1965, he joined the linguistics department at the
University of California, San DiegoThe University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
. Later he also became an adjunct professor at the
Salk Institute for Biological StudiesThe Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a premier independent, non-profit, scientific research institute located in La Jolla, California. It was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine; among the founding consultants were Jacob Bronowski and Francis Crick. Building...
, where his wife is a professor, and director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience (of which Klima acted as associate director).