SignLanguageAcquisition Flashcards
(28 cards)
Language Acquisition:
IIlustrate parts of language and steps
in acquisition through sign language
acquisition
What are sign languages?
⚫Sign languages are a visual spatial system of communication used as the primary means of communication by communities of deaf people around the world
⚫ASL (American Sign Language), as used in Anglophone North America, is
completely different from BSL
⚫Indeed, there are 114 sign languages in the world
Knowledge of Sign Languages
⚫ Sign languages have existed for at < 2 millenia, but have been studied only in the past 40 years
⚫ Early studies focused on overcoming oralist biases
⚫ Showed that sign languages have complex phonology, morphology, syntax, & semantics
⚫ And that equally complex ideas can be communicated
⚫ (Hans Furth, “Thinking Without Language”)
Debates: Oralists vs. Deaf Culture
⚫ > 100 yrs, debates re optimal education
⚫ E.g., strong oralist traditions (eg. A Graham Bell)
⚫ But, rejection of deafness as a deficit that needs to be fixed
⚫ A different way of being in the world
⚫ Strong movement until recently for signing only, including signing only communities
⚫ Now, with cochlear implants, some accepting sign plus spoken language…issues…
Like any other language
⚫ Requires a community to be used – need a critical mass of users
⚫ A child alone, without other humans, will not develop language
⚫ A deaf child in a hearing family, will invent “home signs”
Regular across situations, some combining
Sometimes hearing people use in return, sometimes not
Like any other language
⚫ Until about 40 years ago, no critical mass in Nicaragua
⚫ Then, children brought together into a school
⚫ Developed a pidgin, and then a creole
⚫ Now a complex languag
American Sign Language (ASL)
- based in french
- Natural signed language used in the U.S, English-speaking Canada, & parts of Mexico
- Approximately 2 million signers
- History of ASL
Origins
Deaf community
ASL vs. Sign Systems
Why is ASL important to study?
- Language = Speech
- Separate but parallel development
- Unique way to look at language
processing
Foundations of Sign Perception in Infancy
⚫ Preference for speech
(Vouloumanos & Werker,
Developmental Science, 2004; 2007)
⚫ Preference for sign (Krentz
& Hilldebrandt, 2008)
⚫ Hearing infants 6 prefered L & 10
months (no preference)
⚫ L – sign: e.g. about
waiting for the bus
⚫ R – pantomime: e.g.
putting on makeup
⚫ Preferential Looking
Background: Phonology
⚫4 sign components:
1. Location: where sign is in relation to body
2. Movement: how hand moves in space
3. Handshape: actual form of hand
4. Orientation: direction of palm in relation to body
⚫Combine simultaneously but still separate components - minimal pairs
Minimal Pairs
⚫In English: rake vs. lake
[rek] vs [lek]
⚫Only 1 feature/sound differs, all else same
ex
mother touches the queixo vs father touches fourhead
Age related decline in sign discrimination
⚫ Habituation Method
⚫ 4- and 14- months
⚫ Sign Discrimination
⚫ Hearing infants
declined
⚫ Hearing, Sign- learning infants
maintained
⚫ Actually – a bit more nuanced
than that . . . See next slides
Categorical Perception in Sign
Non-signers discriminate small changes along the continuum
Signers show a categorical boundary # 4 & #7
non-signers can see bigger differences between sign that are signers (adults)
because they are not trating as languague
same thing heppens with sign
they are hearing ba-ba -ba-pa hear ba-ba-ba-ba
Categorical Perception of Speech Sounds
by Infants
One- and four-month-olds
were habituated to a tape of
artificial speech sounds.
- Group that habituated to
/ba/ (VOT=20)
dishabituated to /pa/
(VOT=40), and group
habituated to /pa/ (VOT=60)
continued habituation to
/pa/ (VOT =80). - These findings suggest that,
like adults, they did not
discriminate between these
two sounds. (Adapted from
Eimas et al., 1971)
Is there perceptual attunement?
⚫Tested non-signing infants 4 & 14 months
⚫Tested sign learning infants 14 months
⚫Used alternating(sign 4,4,4, 7)/non-alternating task
⚫Tested
2 within category :1 vs 4 and 7 vs 10
1 between category: 4 vs 7
a non-change control: either 4-4 or 7-7
result
same result as in adults
the older the child (14 hearing month) more descrimination(higher within categories-similar signs)
4 months had the same amount as 14 months ASL infants(higher descrimination across category)
Babbling
⚫Spoken language:
Timing: Emerges 7-11
months
Structure: Small set of
phonetic units, repeated CV
pattern [baba, mama]
All babies vocally babble(even deth)
Babbling
⚫Sign Language (Petitto & Marentette, 1991)
Timing:Emerges 7-11 months
Structure: Small set of phonetic units, repeated
pattern
Only children learning sign babble manually
Emerge in order of complexity of production, just as in oral babble
First Words
⚫Norms for 1st spoken words
- 10 months ?
First Signs
⚫Signs earlier than spoken words
⚫Parental reports & monthly videotape sessions
First signs = 8.5 months
⚫But not everyone agrees
those are full signs….
First Signs
⚫ Signs (at least) same time as spoken words
⚫ ALL babies produce non-linguistic gestures (reaching, raising hands, twisting hands like opening jar)
⚫ “Linguistic” gestures = distinct from referring object/action & single, consistent form, naming
⚫ Monthly videotape sessions; elicitation protocol
First signs = 12 months
⚫ Bonvillian & Folven study revisited (1993)
First signs =12.6 months
