Differentiation in language and gesture use during early bilingual development of hearing children of Deaf parents

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 769-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURA KANTO ◽  
MARJA-LEENA LAAKSO ◽  
KERTTU HUTTUNEN
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Differentiation ◽  
Deaf Parents ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Structural Differences ◽  
Hearing Children ◽  
Early Phases

Hearing children of Deaf parents simultaneously acquire sign language and spoken language, which have many structural differences and represent two different modalities. We video-recorded eight children every six months between the ages of 12 and 24 months during three different play sessions: with their Deaf parent, with the Deaf parent and a hearing adult, and with a hearing adult alone. Additionally, we collected data on their vocabulary development in both sign language and spoken language. Children as young as 12 months old accommodated their language use according to the language(s) of their interlocutor(s). Additionally, the children used a manual modality that included gestures more frequently and in a more diverse way when interacting with their Deaf parent than with a hearing person. These findings bring new knowledge about language differentiation and gesture use of bilingual children during the early phases of language acquisition.

Use of code-mixing by young hearing children of Deaf parents

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 947-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURA KANTO ◽  
MARJA-LEENA LAAKSO ◽  
KERTTU HUTTUNEN
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Pragmatic Development ◽  
Simultaneous Production ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
Deaf Parents ◽  
Hearing Children

In this study we followed the characteristics and use of code-mixing by eight KODAs – hearing children of Deaf parents – from the age of 12 to 36 months. The children's interaction was video-recorded twice a year during three different play sessions: with their Deaf parent, with the Deaf parent and a hearing adult, and with the hearing adult alone. Additionally, data were collected on the children's overall language development in both sign language and spoken language. Our results showed that the children preferred to produce code-blends – simultaneous production of semantically congruent signs and words – in a way that was in accordance with the morphosyntactic structure of both languages being acquired. A Deaf parent as the interlocutor increased the number of and affected the type of code-blended utterances. These findings suggest that code-mixing in young bimodal bilingual KODA children can be highly systematic and synchronised in nature and can indicate pragmatic development.

scholarly journals Brazilian Bimodal Bilinguals as Heritage Signers

Languages ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Ronice Quadros ◽  
Diane Lillo-Martin
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Language Fluency ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Deaf Parents ◽  
Hearing Children ◽  
Theoretical Issues

This paper presents an analysis of heritage signers: bimodal bilinguals, who are adult hearing children of Deaf parents who acquired sign language at home with their parents and the spoken language from the surrounding community. Analyzing heritage language with bimodal bilinguals who possess pairs of languages in different modalities provides a new kind of evidence for understanding the heritage language phenomenon as well as for theoretical issues regarding human language. Language production data were collected from four Brazilian bimodal bilinguals separately in both sign and speech, as well as from monolingual comparison Deaf signers and hearing speakers. The data were subsequently analyzed for various grammatical components. As with other types of heritage speakers, we observed a great degree of individual variation in the sign (heritage) language of balanced participants who patterned similarly to the monolingual signers, compared to those whose use of sign language differed greatly from monolinguals. One participant showed some weaknesses in the second (spoken) language. We approach the variation in language fluency in the two languages by considering the different contexts of language development and continuing use.

Language Intervention With a Child With Hearing Whose Parents Are Deaf

1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda C. Seal ◽  
Lisa A. Hammett
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Significant Delay ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Deaf Parents ◽  
Home Based Intervention ◽  
Hearing Children

Literature concerning language acquisition in hearing children of deaf parents provides clinicians with a variety of case studies. Some of these studies found that language acquisition progressed in both sign language and spoken language without delay or disorder; others indicate concerns, especially in the development of spoken language. This case study describes an intervention program with a 20-month-old hearing child whose parents are deaf. The child was diagnosed as having a significant delay in both spoken and sign language. The home-based intervention program is described and the results are discussed, with implications for similar programming.

Establishing a Bimodal Bilingual Co-Enrollment Program in Germany: Preconditions, Policy, and Preliminary Data

2019 ◽  
pp. 149-164
Author(s):  
Johannes Hennies ◽  
Kristin Hennies
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Preliminary Data ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
The Political ◽  
Bilingual Programs ◽  
Regular School ◽  
Schools For The Deaf ◽  
Hearing Children

In 2016, the first German bimodal bilingual co-enrollment program for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students, CODAs, and other hearing children was established in Erfurt, Thuringia. There is a tradition of different models of co-enrollment for DHH children in a spoken language setting in Germany, but there has been no permanent program for co-enrollment of DHH children who use sign language so far. This program draws from the experience of an existing model in Austria to enroll a group of DHH children using sign language in a regular school and from two well-documented bimodal bilingual programs in German schools for the deaf. The chapter describes the preconditions for the project, the political circumstances of the establishment of bimodal bilingual co-enrollment, and the factors that seem crucial for successful realization.

scholarly journals Adoption of the sign language with deaf and hard of hearing preschool children

Bastina ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 513-535
Author(s):  
Tamara Kovačević ◽  
Ljubica Isaković
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Critical Period ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
The Family ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Hearing Children

This study analyses the process of adopting of the sign language with deaf and hard of hearing preschool children in the context of the result of linguistic and psycholinguistic research. The importance of the sign language is emphasized and its historical development is analyzed. It is pointed to the significance of the critical period for the adoption and the learning of the sign and spoken language with deaf and hard of hearing preschool children. The sign language is natural and primary linguistic expression of deaf children. Deaf and hard of hearing children are exposed to the sign and spoken language, they have better understanding and linguistic production than the children who are only exposed to the spoken language. Bilingualism involves the knowledge and the regular use of the sign language, which is used by the deaf community, and of the spoken language, which is used by the hearing majority. Children at the preschool age should be enabled to continue to adopt the language they started to adopt within the family (the sign language or the spoken language). Children will adopt the best both linguistic modalities through the interaction with other fluent speakers (the adults and children).

Language Development and Deaf Children

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Marschark ◽  
Harry G. Lang ◽  
John A. Albertini
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
University Center ◽  
Language Modality ◽  
Hearing Children

To understand the complex relations between language and learning, we have to look at both how children learn language and what it is that they learn that allows them to communicate with others. To accomplish this, we need to distinguish between apparent differences in language that are related to the modality of communication and actual differences in language fluencies observed among deaf children. It also will help to examine some relevant differences between deaf children and hearing children. We have already pointed out that the distinction between spoken language and sign language, while a theoretically important one for researchers, is an oversimplification for most practical purposes. It is rare that deaf children are exposed only to spoken language or sign language, even if that is the intention of their parents or teachers. According to 1999 data, approximately 55 percent of deaf children in the United States are formally educated in programs that report either using sign language exclusively (just over 5 percent) or signed and spoken language together (just over 49 percent) (Gallaudet University, Center for Applied Demographic Statistics). Because almost half of all deaf children in the United States are missed in such surveys, however, these numbers only should be taken as approximate. Comparisons of the language abilities of deaf children who primarily use sign language with those who primarily use spoken language represent one of the most popular and potentially informative areas in research relating to language development and academic success. Unfortunately, this area is also one of the most complex. Educational programs emphasizing spoken or sign language often have different educational philosophies and curricula as well as different communication philosophies. Programs may only admit children with particular histories of early intervention, and parents will be drawn to different programs for a variety of reasons. Differences observed between children from any two programs thus might be the result of a number of variables rather than, or in addition to, language modality per se. Even when deaf children are educated in spoken language environments, they often develop systems of gestural communication with their parents (Greenberg et al., 1984).

Differentiating the use of gaze in bilingual-bimodal language acquisition: a comparison of two sets of twins with deaf parents

1999 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. DAYLENE RICHMOND-WELTY ◽  
PATRICIA SIPLE
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Mutual Gaze ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Deaf Parents

Signed languages make unique demands on gaze during communication. Bilingual children acquiring both a spoken and a signed language must learn to differentiate gaze use for their two languages. Gaze during utterances was examined for a set of bilingual-bimodal twins acquiring spoken English and American Sign Language (ASL) and a set of monolingual twins acquiring ASL when the twins were aged 2;0, 3;0 and 4;0. The bilingual-bimodal twins differentiated their languages by age 3;0. Like the monolingual ASL twins, the bilingual-bimodal twins established mutual gaze at the beginning of their ASL utterances and either maintained gaze to the end or alternated gaze to include a terminal look. In contrast, like children acquiring spoken English monolingually, the bilingual-bimodal twins established mutual gaze infrequently for their spoken English utterances. When they did establish mutual gaze, it occurred later in their spoken utterances and they tended to look away before the end.

Can bilingual two-year-olds code-switch?

1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 633-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Lanza
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Mixing ◽  
Language Differentiation ◽  
Language Literature

ABSTRACTSociolinguists have investigated language mixing as code-switching in the speech of bilingual children three years old and older. Language mixing by bilingual two-year-olds, however, has generally been interpreted in the child language literature as a sign of the child's lack of language differentiation. The present study applies perspectives from sociolinguistics to investigate the language mixing of a bilingual two-year-old acquiring Norwegian and English simultaneously in Norway. Monthly recordings of the child's spontaneous speech in interactions with her parents were made from the age of 2;0 to 2;7. An investigation into the formal aspects of the child's mixing and the context of the mixing reveals that she does differentiate her language use in con-textually sensitive ways, hence that she can code-switch. This investigation stresses the need to examine more carefully the roles of dominance and context in the language mixing of young bilingual children.

scholarly journals Reading skills of D/deaf students – native signers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justyna Kotowicz
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Reading Skills ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Deaf Students ◽  
Skilled Readers ◽  
Language Problems ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Native Signers ◽  
Hearing Children

Reading skills of D/deaf students fall behind their hearing peers. The difference in reading skills between D/deaf and hearing children has not decreased for over past three decades. Low level of reading skills in D/deaf students has been associated with their language delay, which is mainly observed in D/deaf children using spoken language that is not fully accessible to “D/deaf individuals” instead of “ppl with hearing impairment”. D/deaf children immersed in sign language since their birth usually do not encounter language problems and they have a potential to become highly-skilled readers. In the present studies we have investigated reading skills of D/deaf students who are native signers of Polish Sign Language. The results have indicated that D/deaf students showed lower level of reading skills than their hearing peers. The present studies call in question Polish education system dedicated to D/deaf students who are native signers. The obtained results suggest that reading classes are probably not adapted to the needs and abilities of highly competent signers.

3. Deaf Persons and Sign Languages

2020 ◽  
pp. 55-92
Author(s):  
John D. Bonvillian ◽  
Nicole Kissane Lee ◽  
Tracy T. Dooley ◽  
Filip T. Loncke
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Distinct Structure ◽  
Hearing Children ◽  
Deaf Persons ◽  
International Conventions

Chapter 3 introduces the reader to various aspects of sign languages, including their historical development and use within educational contexts by Deaf communities in Europe and the United States. Also covered is the initiation of the field of sign language linguistics by William C. Stokoe, a linguist who systematically proved that American Sign Language (ASL) was indeed a language with its own distinct structure and properties that differed from any spoken language. The phonological parameters of signs receive considerable attention, highlighting ways in which the unique properties of sign languages allow them to represent meaning in ways that are more consistently transparent and iconic than similar phenomena in the speech modality. Despite these similarities across sign languages, the differences among the sign languages of the world led Deaf persons to create and develop the lingua franca of International Sign (previously Gestuno) for use at international conventions. Finally, the similarities and distinctions between the processes of language development and acquisition across the modalities of speech and sign are discussed, as well as how signing benefits the learning of spoken language vocabulary by hearing children.

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