Amodal phonology

Does knowledge of language transfer spontaneously across language modalities? For example, do English speakers, who have had no command of a sign language, spontaneously project grammatical constraints from English to linguistic signs? Here, we address this question by examining the constraints on doubling. We first demonstrate that doubling (e.g. panana; generally: ABB) is amenable to two conflicting parses (identity vs. reduplication), depending on the level of analysis (phonology vs. morphology). We next show that speakers with no command of a sign language spontaneously project these two parses to novel ABB signs in American Sign Language. Moreover, the chosen parse (for signs) is constrained by the morphology of spoken language. Hebrew speakers can project the morphological parse when doubling indicates diminution, but English speakers only do so when doubling indicates plurality, in line with the distinct morphological properties of their spoken languages. These observations suggest that doubling in speech and signs is constrained by a common set of linguistic principles that are algebraic, amodal and abstract.

Download Full-text

People Are Less Susceptible to Illusion When They Use Their Hands to Communicate Rather Than Estimate

Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0956797621991552 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 095679762199155

Author(s):

Amanda R. Brown ◽

Wim Pouw ◽

Diane Brentari ◽

Susan Goldin-Meadow

Keyword(s):

American Sign Language ◽

Sign Language ◽

English Speakers ◽

American Sign ◽

Estimation Task ◽

Sign Languages ◽

Lyer Illusion ◽

Description Task ◽

The Way

When we use our hands to estimate the length of a stick in the Müller-Lyer illusion, we are highly susceptible to the illusion. But when we prepare to act on sticks under the same conditions, we are significantly less susceptible. Here, we asked whether people are susceptible to illusion when they use their hands not to act on objects but to describe them in spontaneous co-speech gestures or conventional sign languages of the deaf. Thirty-two English speakers and 13 American Sign Language signers used their hands to act on, estimate the length of, and describe sticks eliciting the Müller-Lyer illusion. For both gesture and sign, the magnitude of illusion in the description task was smaller than the magnitude of illusion in the estimation task and not different from the magnitude of illusion in the action task. The mechanisms responsible for producing gesture in speech and sign thus appear to operate not on percepts involved in estimation but on percepts derived from the way we act on objects.

Download Full-text

Referring strategies in American Sign Language and English (with co-speech gesture): The role of modality in referring to non-nameable objects

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716418000061 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (5) ◽

pp. 961-987 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

ZED SEVCIKOVA SEHYR ◽

BRENDA NICODEMUS ◽

JENNIFER PETRICH ◽

KAREN EMMOREY

Keyword(s):

American Sign Language ◽

Sign Language ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Referential Communication ◽

English Speakers ◽

American Sign ◽

Linguistic Resources ◽

Visual Spatial ◽

Communication Task ◽

Language Modality

ABSTRACTAmerican Sign Language (ASL) and English differ in linguistic resources available to express visual–spatial information. In a referential communication task, we examined the effect of language modality on the creation and mutual acceptance of reference to non-nameable figures. In both languages, description times reduced over iterations and references to the figures’ geometric properties (“shape-based reference”) declined over time in favor of expressions describing the figures’ resemblance to nameable objects (“analogy-based reference”). ASL signers maintained a preference for shape-based reference until the final (sixth) round, while English speakers transitioned toward analogy-based reference by Round 3. Analogy-based references were more time efficient (associated with shorter round description times). Round completion times were longer for ASL than for English, possibly due to gaze demands of the task and/or to more shape-based descriptions. Signers’ referring expressions remained unaffected by figure complexity while speakers preferred analogy-based expressions for complex figures and shape-based expressions for simple figures. Like speech, co-speech gestures decreased over iterations. Gestures primarily accompanied shape-based references, but listeners rarely looked at these gestures, suggesting that they were recruited to aid the speaker rather than the addressee. Overall, different linguistic resources (classifier constructions vs. geometric vocabulary) imposed distinct demands on referring strategies in ASL and English.

Download Full-text

Looking for Frogs in the Narrative Stream: Global and Local Relations in Maternal Narratives

Journal of Narrative and Life History ◽

10.1075/jnlh.6.1.04loo ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 65-86 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marina L. McIntire ◽

Judy Reilly

Keyword(s):

American Sign Language ◽

Sign Language ◽

English Speakers ◽

American Sign ◽

Children's Attention ◽

Global And Local ◽

Global Relations

Abstract In this study, we compared storytelling of a pictured narrative, Frog, Where Are You?, by 6 Deaf and 6 hearing mothers in American Sign Language (ASL) and in English, respectively. How do these mothers construct their stories, that is, how do they mark episodes? And how do English-speakers' strategies differ from ASL-users' strategies? We found that stories in ASL contained more explicit markers to signal both local and global relations of the narrative. Because of modality and grammatical differences between English and ASL, Deaf mothers seemed to have more strategies available to use. Although the overall pattern of use throughout the story was similar, Deaf mothers appeared to be more "dramatic" in their storytelling than were hearing mothers. Both groups of parents used a variety of markers to call their children's attention to the theme of the story. (Psychology)

Download Full-text

Pragmatic and Linguistic Constraints on Message Formulation

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.3406.1346 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 34 (6) ◽

pp. 1346-1361

Author(s):

Paula M. Brown ◽

Susan D. Fischer ◽

Wynne Janis

Keyword(s):

Short Stories ◽

American Sign Language ◽

Sign Language ◽

Hearing Impaired ◽

Pivotal Role ◽

English Speakers ◽

American Sign ◽

Hearing Status ◽

Linguistic Constraints ◽

Production Decision

This study provides a cross-linguistic replication, using American Sign Language (ASL), of the Brown and Dell (1987) finding that when relaying an action involving an instrument, English speakers are more likely to explicitly mention the instrument if it is atypically, rather than typically, used to accomplish that action. Subjects were 20 hearing-impaired users of English and 20 hearing-impaired users of ASL. Each subject read and retold, in either English or ASL, 20 short stories. Analyses of the stories revealed production decision differences between ASL and English, but no differences related to hearing status. In ASL, there is more explicitness, and importance seems to play a more pivotal role in instrument specification. The results are related to differences in the typology of English and ASL and are discussed with regard to secondlanguage learning and translation

Download Full-text

The double identity of linguistic doubling

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1613749113 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 113 (48) ◽

pp. 13702-13707 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Iris Berent ◽

Outi Bat-El ◽

Diane Brentari ◽

Amanda Dupuis ◽

Vered Vaknin-Nusbaum

Keyword(s):

American Sign Language ◽

Spoken Language ◽

Single Stimulus ◽

Sensorimotor System ◽

American Sign ◽

Stimulus Modality ◽

Knowledge Of Language ◽

Language Modality ◽

Different Levels ◽

Do So

Does knowledge of language consist of abstract principles, or is it fully embodied in the sensorimotor system? To address this question, we investigate the double identity of doubling (e.g.,slaflaf, or generally, XX; where X stands for a phonological constituent). Across languages, doubling is known to elicit conflicting preferences at different levels of linguistic analysis (phonology vs. morphology). Here, we show that these preferences are active in the brains of individual speakers, and they are demonstrably distinct from sensorimotor pressures. We first demonstrate that doubling in novel English words elicits divergent percepts: Viewed as meaningless (phonological) forms, doubling is disliked (e.g.,slaflaf<slafmak), but once doubling in form is systematically linked to meaning (e.g.,slaf =ball,slaflaf =balls), the doubling aversion shifts into a reliable (morphological) preference. We next show that sign-naive speakers spontaneously project these principles to novel signs in American Sign Language, and their capacity to do so depends on the structure of their spoken language (English vs. Hebrew). These results demonstrate that linguistic preferences doubly dissociate from sensorimotor demands: A single stimulus can elicit diverse percepts, yet these percepts are invariant across stimulus modality––for speech and signs. These conclusions are in line with the possibility that some linguistic principles are abstract, and they apply broadly across language modality.

Download Full-text

Performance in an ASL Boundary Perception Task Using Naturalistic Stimuli

LSA Annual Meeting Extended Abstracts ◽

10.3765/exabs.v0i0.591 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 19

Author(s):

Kate Mesh

Keyword(s):

American Sign Language ◽

Sign Language ◽

English Speakers ◽

Response Patterns ◽

American Sign ◽

Subject Group ◽

Perception Task

This study compares the performance of two groups on an American Sign Language (ASL) perception task. Twenty-two L1 signers of ASL and twelve sign-naive English speakers watched a filmed lecture in ASL and pressed a response pad to identify "natural breaks" in the signing. Responses from each subject group were analyzed into agreement clusters--time slices of up to 2 seconds in which a substantial percentage of participants identified a boundary. Comparison of the response patterns of signers and non-signers revealed a one-way implication between signer agreement clusters and non-signer agreement clusters. That is, where signers agreed about the location of a boundary, non-signers did as well, but it was not the case that non-signer agreement about a boundary was a predictor that signers would identify the same boundary.

Download Full-text

Community-Engaged Needs Assessment of Deaf American Sign Language Users in Florida, 2018

Public Health Reports ◽

10.1177/00333549211026782 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 003335492110267

Author(s):

Tyler G. James ◽

Michael M. McKee ◽

Meagan K. Sullivan ◽

Glenna Ashton ◽

Stephen J. Hardy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Education ◽

Needs Assessment ◽

American Sign Language ◽

Sign Language ◽

Health Concern ◽

English Speakers ◽

American Sign ◽

The Past ◽

Education And Health

Objectives Deaf American Sign Language (ASL) users comprise a linguistic and cultural minority group that is understudied and underserved in health education and health care research. We examined differences in health risk behaviors, concerns, and access to health care among Deaf ASL users and hearing English speakers living in Florida. Methods We applied community-engaged research methods to develop and administer the first linguistically accessible and contextually tailored community health needs assessment to Deaf ASL users living in Florida. Deaf ASL users (n = 92) were recruited during a 3-month period in summer 2018 and compared with a subset of data on hearing English speakers from the 2018 Florida Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (n = 12 589). We explored prevalence and adjusted odds of health behavior, including substance use and health care use. Results Mental health was the top health concern among Deaf participants; 15.5% of participants screened as likely having a depressive disorder. Deaf people were 1.8 times more likely than hearing people to engage in binge drinking during the past month. In addition, 37.2% of participants reported being denied an interpreter in a medical facility in the past 12 months. Conclusion This study highlights the need to work with Deaf ASL users to develop context-specific health education and health promotion activities tailored to their linguistic and cultural needs and ensure that they receive accessible health care and health education.

Download Full-text