Representations of the fingers are embodied in our cognition and influence performance in enumeration tasks. Among deaf signers, the fingers also serve as a tool for communication in sign language. Previous studies in normal hearing (NH) participants showed effects of embodiment (i.e., embodied numerosity) on tactile enumeration using the fingers…

Defining what makes a person bilingual is notoriously difficult and dependent on various factors like fluency, age of acquisition, and situational context, among others. The notion of a "balanced bilingual" is even more elusive and fraught with limitations regarding the proper assessment and linguistic profiling of bilinguals, leading to…

The document reports on a seminar sponsored by the West Central Region for Low-Incident Handicapped Children, on the acquisition, construction, and use of American Sign Language with severely handicapped children. Topics addressed include the cognitive preconditions to language, sign formational rules, the structure of sign, and American Sign…

The placement of laughter in the speech of hearing individuals is not random but "punctuates" speech, occurring during pauses and at phrase boundaries where punctuation would be placed in a transcript of a conversation. For speakers, language is dominant in the competition for the vocal tract since laughter seldom interrupts spoken phrases. For…

Recent research concerning learning via a single mode or particular combination of modes prompted an experiment which used a dual stimuli methodology. Manual sign, graphic, and oral stimuli were presented, in pure and in combination, to normal adults without previous signing experience. An efficiency rating of method of presentation was obtained.…

To better understand the mechanisms underlying encoding, manual signs and spoken words were presented in a short term memory task to six severely retarded children (11 to 14 years old). It was found that manual signs were encoded differently from spoken words for short term memory storage. (Author/PHR)

Ten children and adolescents with severe mental retardation were assigned in matched pairs to either a lexigram augmentative communication condition (graphic symbols) or a control condition (social stimulation). The three subjects who successfully acquired lexigrams also exhibited changes in attention, intentional communication, and sociability.…

Three papers comment on a paper by Abrahamsen et al (EC 212 728) on concomitants of success in acquiring an augmentative communication system (AAC) by persons with severe mental retardation. Comments focus on design and methodological requirements, principles of AAC, and sequence and process in indirect aspects of communicative gains. (DB)

The study measured hearing-impaired (N=106) students' reception of language presented via five modes: oral, aural, manual, oral-aural;, and simultaneous manual and oral. The simultaneous manual and oral and the manual modes received the highest ratings. Results are discussed in terms of theories of cognitive processing and selective attention.…

A collection of research materials on sign language and primatology is presented here. The essays attempt to show that: sign language is a legitimate language that can be learned not only by humans but by nonhuman primates as well, and nonhuman primates have the capability to acquire a human language using a different mode. The following…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 27 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: facilitation of language development in disadvantaged preschool children; auditory-visual discrimination skills, language performance, and development of manual…