Previous studies suggest that age of acquisition affects the outcomes of learning, especially at the morphosyntactic level. Unknown is how syntactic development is affected by increased cognitive maturity and delayed language onset. The current paper studied the early syntactic development of adolescent first language learners by examining word…

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…

This dissertation will show how linguistic description and an Autolexical account of the bound verb root [take] shed a light on the nature of complex verb constructions in American Sign Language (ASL). This is accomplished by creating a new ASL Verb Complex Model unifying all verbs into one category of VERB. This model also accounts for a variety…

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)…

The main research question of this dissertation is the nature of language interaction effects observed in linguistic patterns of multilingual children. Such effects--often described as syntactic transfer/influence of one of the languages on the other--have been richly documented in the multilingualism literature. I review an influential model…

The Effects of the Language for Learning curriculum (Engelmann & Osborne, 1999) on through-the-air (i.e., signed and/or spoken) English skills for students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) were examined by means of a single-subject, concurrent-multiple-probes-across-participants design. Four 11-year-old participants varied in auditory…

The sign language of the American deaf community (ASL) is analyzed from a linguistic point of view. The history of the application of linguistic principles to sign language studies is briefly traced. The cherology (phonology) of sign language is treated with respect to finger spelling, manual numeration, ASL phonetics, and conventions of sign…

Replies to issues raised by Bouchard and Dubuisson (B&D) (1995) about American Sign Language (ASL), refuting B&D's assertion that visual-gestural languages are not bound by any universal constraints on word order and reaffirming that ASL is a highly configurational language with a basic underlying syntactic structure as well as an…

Presents a linguistic description of American Sign Language (ASL) phonology, morphology, and syntax. (AM)

Spontaneous gestures of a deaf child unexposed to sign language were studied to determine whether regularities existing within gestures were akin to morphological structure. The child's gestures, handshape/motion combinations forming a matrix for communication, suggest that structural regularity at the intraword level is a resilient property of…

Outlines phonological structure and processes of American Sign Language (ASL), covering: (1) sequential phenomena found in the production of individual signs; (2) the segmental phonetic transcription system; (3) paradigmatic and syntagmatic contrasts in ASL signs; (4) similarities between ASL and spoken language phonological processes; and (5)…

Research into the sign languages of the deaf is reviewed, particularly as it relates to the study and use of sign language in the Irish context. The first section offers an overview of deafness, the deaf experience, acquisition of linguistic and social identity, the sociology of the deaf community, and the role of sign language. Subsequent…

The article surveys literature and research about deaf children's acquisition of American Sign Language, especially as it compares to language acquisition of their hearing peers. The development of manual articulation as well as vocabulary, morphology, syntax, and fingerspelling acquisition are discussed. (JL)

Examines from a creolist perspective the claim that American Sign Language (ASL) has creole origins. Applying criteria based on the work of various creole researchers, the article concludes that the evidence for creole origins of ASL does not meet any usual definition of a creole. The article discusses lexical and morhosyntactic similarities…

A study examined the process of grammaticalization in American Sign Language, examining basic principles and patterns and drawing parallels with oral language. More advanced stages of grammaticalization (involving fusion and affecting syntax) are examined in depth, leading to proposal of a temporal-ordering analysis to explain sequencing of verbal…