Across a diverse range of languages, children proceed through similar stages in their production of causal language: their initial verbs lack internal causal structure, followed by a period during which they produce causative overgeneralizations, indicating knowledge of a productive causative rule. We asked in this study whether a child not…

Handshape works differently in nouns versus a class of verbs in American Sign Language (ASL) and thus can serve as a cue to distinguish between these two word classes. Handshapes representing characteristics of the object itself ("object" handshapes) and handshapes representing how the object is handled ("handling" handshapes)…

In American Sign Language (ASL), a receiver watches the signer and receives language visually. In contrast, when using tactile ASL, a variety of ASL, the deaf-blind receiver receives language by placing a hand on top of the signer's hand. In the study described in this article we compared the functions and frequency of the signs YES and #NO in…