Carol A. Padden (born 1955 in Washington, D.C.) is an American Deaf academic, author, and professor specializing in the study of sign language, communication, and Deaf culture. She is Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where she has taught since 1983. Padden’s scholarship bridges linguistics and cultural studies, with significant contributions to the understanding of American Sign Language (ASL), the grammatical and cultural dimensions of sign languages, and language emergence.
Background and Early Life
Carol Padden was born deaf into a Deaf family in Washington, D.C.; both of her parents were faculty at Gallaudet University, and she also has an older deaf brother[1]. Raised bilingually in English and American Sign Language (ASL), Padden was immersed in Deaf culture from early childhood, often attending Deaf schools and clubs with her family[1]. As she put it, being placed in a public school at age eight, where people did not sign, felt “like being educated abroad,” marking a strong sense of self and difference that shaped her cultural and linguistic identity[1].
Education
Padden received her Bachelor of Science in linguistics from Georgetown University in 1978[1]. She then pursued graduate studies in linguistics at UCSD, earning her PhD in 1983[1]. Her doctoral dissertation was later published in the Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics series by Garland Press in 1988[1][2].
Academic Career at UCSD
Immediately following her PhD, Padden joined the Department of Communication at UCSD in 1983, where she began her distinguished academic career[3]. She holds the Sanford I. Berman Chair in Language and Human Communication and has also served in leadership roles, including Associate Dean and Faculty Equity Advisor in the School of Social Sciences (2008–2013), before becoming Dean of the School in 2014[3]. Her research encompasses the structure and emergence of sign languages, with a longstanding focus on ASL and broader questions about language and culture[3].
Research and Scholarship
Padden’s research has evolved over time, expanding from investigations of ASL structure to the processes through which new sign languages emerge and conventionalize in communities. Early in her career, her work centered on morphology, syntax, and narrative structures in ASL. More recently, Padden has explored emerging sign languages—examining how language forms develop across generations, including word order, prosody, syntax, and iconicity, and how language and culture interrelate in natural communication environments[3]. This work deepens understanding of the multimodal nature of human languages and the ways small communities can rapidly conventionalize communicative forms[3].
Honors and Recognition
Padden was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1992, recognizing her creativity and scholarly promise in linguistic research[1]. In 2010, the MacArthur Foundation granted her a MacArthur Fellowship for her pioneering work on ASL morphology and evolution[1][4]. In 2011, she was elected a Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America, acknowledging her significant contributions to the field of linguistics[1].
Impact
Carol Padden’s legacy is multifaceted:
- Academic Foundations: Her doctoral work and early publications laid critical groundwork for the linguistic study of ASL, emphasizing the interplay between morphology and syntax.
- Cultural Scholarship: Through Deaf in America and Inside Deaf Culture, Padden shifted scholarly and public attention from hearing loss to Deaf culture as a rich, distinct linguistic and cultural community.
- Language Emergence Insights: Her collaborative research on emerging sign languages has transformed understanding of how linguistic forms originate, solidify, and spread—even within small communities—offering profound implications for general theories of language.
- Recognition and Inspiration: Her awards, especially the MacArthur Fellowship, and her continued status as a prominent keynote speaker, underscore her inspirational influence on linguists, Deaf Studies scholars, and the broader academic community.
Through her scholarly contributions, mentorship, and cultural advocacy, Carol Padden’s work continues to shape both academic discourse and the world’s recognition of Deaf language, culture, and intellectual potential.
- Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Carol Padden. In Wikipedia.
- University of California San Diego, Department of Communication. Carol Padden – UC San Diego Faculty Profile.
- Society for the Neurobiology of Language. (2025). “Keynote Lecture: Carol Padden.”
- Gallaudet University (2010, September 29). Dr. Carol Padden named MacArthur fellow.Gallaudet News.
