Sign language development

Sign language
• Deaf children acquiring sign language
from deaf parents
• Deaf children born of hearing parents and
their acquisition of sign language
• The case of Nicaraguan Sign Language
 Sign language quiz
Yes No
All deaf people in the world use the same language (or
system of gestures to communicate).
Signing is based on spoken languages, so American
Sign Language (ASL) is a signed form of English:
Learn to ‘read’ the signs, like you learn to read the
letters, and you know ASL.
American Sign Language syntax is based on English
syntax, in that the signs are placed in the same order
as the English words.
Sign languages are man-made, artificial languages.
They have been consciously designed by people.
Sign languages do not have an arbitrary relationship
between the sign and its referent.
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• Three possibilities with respect to the
acquisition of sign language (by deaf
children of deaf parents)
– Perhaps acquiring a sign language is easier
than acquiring a spoken language
– Perhaps it’s more difficult
– Perhaps it’s just the same
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• Perhaps it is
easier: Some signs
are iconic (the
sign somewhat
resembles what it
is referring to)
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• However, sign languages are far more
complex than just pantomimes and
gestures
• Most signs in ASL are not iconic (i.e., they
have little or no resemblance to the things
they are referring to)
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• But if iconicity is not important, perhaps we
could argue that making handshapes
involves less fine motor control than with
the articulatory muscles of the mouth
– Hence, babies learning sign language may be
able to communicate via signs much earlier
than they would be able to via sounds
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• However, perhaps we could argue that
acquiring a sign language is more difficult
than acquiring a spoken language (i.e.,
modality still makes a difference)
• Consider morphology in English
• There is sequential presentation of
information: eat + ing
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• However, in sign
languages, there is
simultaneous
presentation of
information
– ASL eat
– ASL eating: the hand
continues to move
repeatedly towards the
mouth
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• But it turns out that children born to deaf
parents, and therefore exposed from birth to
sign language, acquire sign language just as
easily as (and no more easily than) hearing
children acquiring spoken language
• Moreover, deaf children learning sign
languages progress through the same
stages as hearing children with spoken
languages
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• Review: stages of phonological
development
– Reflexive vocalizations (birth to two months)
– Cooing and laughter (2 to 4 months)
– Vocal play (4 to 6 months)
– Canonical babbling (6 months and older)
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• Deaf children, even the profoundly deaf,
also pass through these stages (up until
some canonical babbling)—then they stop
– The deaf child lacks feedback from h/er own
sounds
– Unable to hear vocal stimulation from
caregivers
– First indication that the child has a hearing
problem
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• But soon deaf children of deaf parents
start babbling with their hands (7-10
months)
– These are not just random gestures—
because they only produce those signs that
are possible in sign languages
– For example, children may open and close
the hand (this happens to be the ASL sign for
milk)
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• The fact that the child produces the sign,
e.g., for milk, at 7-10 months has
occasionally been interpreted as evidence
that there is a “sign advantage”
• However, like hearing children producing
the sounds “mama” at 7-10 months, there
is no evidence that the infant has any
awareness that the sound/sign refers to
anything in their environment
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• They are just playing with the units of the
language that they are exposed
• Evidence for this: Petitto’s study of six
hearing babies
– Three were born to profoundly deaf parents
and received only sign language input
– Three were born to hearing parents and
received only sound language input
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• Like hearing babies and their production of
relatively easy-to-produce sounds (e.g.,
back vowels and consonants), deaf infant
s’ babbling contains signs that are
relatively easy to produce
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• Their first words are also similar to those
produced by hearing babies learning
spoken language
• They also begin to be produced at the
same time hearing babies begin producing
spoken words
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• It is not until about 12 months that deaf
children clearly use their signs
referentially (i.e., to name or indicate
objects and actions in their worlds)
– Same age as hearing children use spoken
words referentially
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• Once deaf children begin using signs
referentially, do they acquire the iconic
signs first?
• For adults learning sign languages (e.g.,
ASL), signs like DRINK or TREE are easy to
remember and are among the first
acquired
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• However, children don't seem to notice, or
at least they fail to take advantage of, the
iconicity of the signs they are learning
– Less than 1/3 of the early signs that deaf
children produce can be considered iconic
• The early signs deaf children do produce
are those that refer to objects and actions
that all young children talk about
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• The first signs tend to be almost identical to
the first words produced by hearing babies
(e.g., MOMMY, DADDY, MILK and DOGGIE)
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• Just like hearing children, deaf children
may exhibit signs of undergeneralization
(e.g., using the sign DOG only to refer to
the family dog) and overgeneralization
(e.g., using the sign MILK to refer to all
liquids)
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• Like hearing children making mistakes
with the pronunciation of spoken words,
deaf children learning sign languages also
make errors in their early signs
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• In signed languages, there is
(1) the place where the sign is made (location)
(2) the configuration of the hand (handshape)
(3) the movement of the hand(s)
(4) the orientation of the hands; facial
expressions, body postures and head
movements
 Deaf children of deaf parents
• Like hearing children’s phonological
simplifications (e.g., [gæg] for [bæg]), deaf
children also make simplifications of signs
• e.g., the signs for MOTHER and FATHER
involve the thumb; deaf infants tend to use
the finger because it is easier
 Summary
• The rate of acquisition and the stages that
children pass through in acquisition are
not significantly different for spoken and
signed languages
– i.e., modality does not make a difference
– Nativists: the biological imperative for
language is so strong that it doesn’t
distinguish between the signed and spoken
modalities
Deaf children of hearing parents
• Whereas deaf children born to deaf
parents are exposed to a natural sign
language from the beginning and are
socialized into Deaf culture, deaf children
of hearing parents do not receive this kind
of input/socialization
– 90% of all deaf children are born to hearing
parents
Deaf children of hearing parents
• Physical limitations prevent children from
making use of the auditory input that
surrounds them
• Parents are unlikely to be fluent in sign
language
– Result: The child does not receive full
language input
Deaf children of hearing parents
• If children rely solely on imitation and
reinforcement in acquiring a language, the
fact that they cannot hear and their
parents cannot (or can barely) sign should
mean that the children do not acquire any
(or extremely little) language
Deaf children of hearing parents
• Is this the case?
– Simon
– Nicaraguan Sign Language
Deaf children of hearing parents
• Simon:
– Parents were late learners of ASL
– Parents used the required ASL verb
inflections 60% of the time (either omitted
them or used the wrong ones)
– In school, Simon was only exposed to a
signed English system (fingerspelling)
Deaf children of hearing parents
• If the behaviorists are correct (that
language acquisition is primarily the result
of imitation and reinforcement), what
would you expect about Simon’s
language?
Deaf children of hearing parents
• Simon’s output:
– As good as “native of native” children on most
aspects of ASL syntax and morphology
– Simon does not acquire the “noise” of his
parents’ sign language
– Rather, he regularizes the irregular input from
his parents
 Summary
• The acquisition process involved in signed
and spoken languages is not significantly
different (modality is not important)
• Children exposed to fragmentary input can
“go beyond” the input to construct a full-
blown language (deaf children of hearing
parents and Nicaraguan Sign Language)
• Good day for the nativists