The Development of Semantic Associations in Profoundly Deaf Children

1973 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan D. Tweney ◽  
Harry W. Hoemann
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Word List ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Paradigmatic Shift ◽  
Language System ◽  
Semantic Associations ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Hearing Children

Studies of the development of associations in profoundly deaf children using English words and English associations have not presented clear evidence of a syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift. This study used stimulus words in and allowed responses in American Sign Language. Forty-Six profoundly deaf children (CA 9–CA 13) were tested and compared to 30 hearing children (CA 7, CA 9, CA 13) given the same word list in English. Both groups manifested a clear syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift, though the level of paradigmatic responding was lower for deaf children, suggesting quantitative but not qualitative differences. The results provide clear evidence for a syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift in deaf children’s American Sign Language lexical items, in contrast to previous reports using English lexical items. The results further suggest that evaluation of a deaf child’s psycholinguistic functioning may be more appropriate when conducted in the child’s aominant language system, whether sign language or English.

Developing Sign Language Measurements for Research With Deaf Populations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Henner ◽  
Robert Hoffmeister ◽  
Jeanne Reis
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Language Deprivation ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Language Assessments ◽  
Hearing Children

Limited choices exist for assessing the signed language development of deaf and hard of hearing children. Over the past 30 years, the American Sign Language Assessment Instrument (ASLAI) has been one of the top choices for norm-referenced assessment of deaf and hard of hearing children who use American Sign Language. Signed language assessments can also be used to evaluate the effects of a phenomenon known as language deprivation, which tends to affect deaf children. They can also measure the effects of impoverished and idiosyncratic nonstandard signs and grammar used by educators of the deaf and professionals who serve the Deaf community. This chapter discusses what was learned while developing the ASLAI and provides guidelines for educators and researchers of the deaf who seek to develop their own signed language assessments.

The Acquisition of Question Formation in Spoken English and American Sign Language by Two Hearing Children of Deaf Parents

1979 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Jones ◽  
Stephen P. Quigley
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Deaf Parents ◽  
Question Formation ◽  
Hearing Children ◽  
Parallel Fashion

This longitudinal study investigated the acquisition of question formation in spoken English and American Sign Language (ASL) by two young hearing children of deaf parents. The linguistic environment of the children included varying amounts of exposure and interaction with normal speech and with the nonstandard speech of their deaf parents. This atypical speech environment did not impede the children’s acquisition of English question forms. The two children also acquired question forms in ASL that are similar to those produced by deaf children of deaf parents. The two languages, ASL and English, developed in parallel fashion in the two children, and the two systems did not interfere with each other. This dual language development is illustrated by utterances in which the children communicated a sentence in spoken English and ASL simultaneously, with normal English structure in the spoken version and sign language structure in the ASL version.

The Development of American Sign Language–Based Analogical Reasoning in Signing Deaf Children

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-105
Author(s):  
Jon Henner ◽  
Rama Novogrodsky ◽  
Catherine Caldwell-Harris ◽  
Robert Hoffmeister
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Analogical Reasoning ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Reasoning Abilities ◽  
Development Of Language

Purpose This article examines whether syntactic and vocabulary abilities in American Sign Language (ASL) facilitate 6 categories of language-based analogical reasoning. Method Data for this study were collected from 267 deaf participants, aged 7;6 (years;months) to 18;5. The data were collected from an ongoing study initially funded by the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences in 2010. The participants were given assessments of ASL vocabulary and syntax knowledge and a task of language-based analogies presented in ASL. The data were analyzed using mixed-effects linear modeling to first see how language-based analogical reasoning developed in deaf children and then to see how ASL knowledge influenced this developmental trajectory. Results Signing deaf children were shown to demonstrate language-based reasoning abilities in ASL consistent with both chronological age and home language environment. Notably, when ASL vocabulary and syntax abilities were statistically taken into account, these were more important in fostering the development of language-based analogical reasoning abilities than were chronological age and home language. We further showed that ASL vocabulary ability and ASL syntactic knowledge made different contributions to different analogical reasoning subconstructs. Conclusions ASL is a viable language that supports the development of language-based analogical reasoning abilities in deaf children.

Lending a helping hand: Linguistic input and sign language acquisition in deaf children

1985 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip M. Prinz ◽  
Louise Masin
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Spontaneous Production ◽  
Linguistic Input ◽  
Teachers And Parents ◽  
The One

ABSTRACTThis study examined the effects of adult “recasting” in sign language on the acquisition of specific syntactic-semantic structures by six deaf children between 9 and 76 months who were primarily at the one-sign utterance stage of development. In “recast” replies in conversation, the child's utterance is redisplayed in an altered sentence structure that still refers to the central meanings of the first sentence. Syntactic-semantic structures targeted for input intervention by teachers and parents using recasts included subject–verb relations, attribution, negation, subject–verb–object relations, conjunction, and conditionality. Recasting triggered the acquisition of new syntactic-semantic structures in American Sign Language and English which were evident in the spontaneous production of previously non-used sign utterances.

CopyCat: An American Sign Language game for deaf children

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahoor Zafrulla ◽  
Helene Brashear ◽  
Peter Presti ◽  
Harley Hamilton ◽  
Thad Starner
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Game ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
American Sign

Language and Reading Comprehension Abilities of Elementary School-Aged Deaf Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-169
Author(s):  
Peter K Crume ◽  
Amy Lederberg ◽  
Brenda Schick
Keyword(s):  
Bilingual Education ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Language Of Instruction ◽  
Significant Difference

Abstract Bilingual education programs for deaf children have long asserted that American Sign Language (ASL) is a better language of instruction English-like signing because ASL is a natural language. However, English-like signing may be a useful bridge to reading English. In the present study, we tested 32 deaf children between third and sixth grade to assess their capacity to use ASL or English-like signing in nine different languages and reading tasks. Our results found that there was no significant difference in the deaf children’s ability to comprehend narratives in ASL compared to when they are told in English-like signing. Additionally, language abilities in ASL and English-like signing were strongly related to each other and to reading. Reading was also strongly related to fingerspelling. Our results suggest that there may be a role in literacy instruction for English-like signing as a supplement to ASL in deaf bilingual schools.

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