Language emergence can take multiple paths: Using motion capture to track axis use in Nicaraguan Sign Language

Research on emergent sign languages suggests that younger sign languages may make greater use of the z-axis, moving outwards from the body, than more established sign languages when describing the relationships between participants and events (Padden, Meir, Aronoff, and Sandler, 2010). This has been suggested to reflect a transition from iconicity rooted in the body (Meir, Padden, Aronoff, and Sandler, 2007) towards a more abstract schematic iconicity. We present the results of an experimental investigation into the use of axis by signers of Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL). We analysed 1074 verb tokens elicited from NSL signers who entered the signing community at different points in time between 1974 and 2003. We used depth and motion tracking technology to quantify the position of signers’ wrists over time, allowing us to build an automated and continuous measure of axis use. We also consider axis use from two perspectives: a camera-centric perspective and a signer-centric perspective. In contrast to earlier work, we do not observe a trend towards increasing use of the x-axis. Instead we find that signers appear to have an overall preference for the z-axis. However, this preference is only observed from the camera-centric perspective. When measured relative to the body, signers appear to be making approximately equal use of both axes, suggesting the preference for the z-axis is largely driven by signers moving their bodies (and not just their hands) along the z-axis. We argue from this finding that language emergence patterns are not necessarily universal and that use of the x-axis may not be a prerequisite for the establishment of a spatial grammar.

Factors in Toddlers With Late Language Emergence in a Middle-Income South African Sample

Late language emergence (LLE) may result from genetic and environmental factors. Little is known about environmental factors in LLE in South Africa. The study describes the nature of differences in language functioning between toddlers with LLE and without LLE, and which factors were associated with LLE in a middle-income area in South Africa. Toddlers, aged 24 to 36 months with LLE ( n = 20) were matched with a control group (CG, n = 21) for household income, age, gender, maternal education, and parental employment. The research group (RG) showed moderate delays in expressive and receptive language, and play skills, while the controls exhibited no delay. Significant differences in early feeding history and multilingual exposure were found between the groups. As far as known, it is the first study utilizing a South African middle-income sample indicating that multilingual exposure may play a role in LLE. The study focuses the attention on environmental factors which are potentially modifiable in LLE.

Formal variation in the Kata Kolok lexicon

Sign language lexicons incorporate phonological specifications. Evidence from emerging sign languages suggests that phonological structure emerges gradually in a new language. In this study, we investigate variation in the form of signs across 20 deaf adult signers of Kata Kolok, a sign language that emerged spontaneously in a Balinese village community. Combining methods previously used for sign comparisons, we introduce a new numeric measure of variation. Our nuanced yet comprehensive approach to form variation integrates three levels (iconic motivation, surface realisation, feature differences) and allows for refinement through weighting the variation score by token and signer frequency. We demonstrate that variation in the form of signs appears in different degrees at different levels. Token frequency in a given dataset greatly affects how much variation can surface, suggesting caution in interpreting previous findings. Different sign variants have different scopes of use among the signing population, with some more widely used than others. Both frequency weightings (token and signer) identify dominant sign variants, i.e., sign forms that are produced frequently or by many signers. We argue that variation does not equal the absence of conventionalisation. Indeed, especially in micro-community sign languages, variation may be key to understanding patterns of language emergence.

Late Language Emergence

Infants usually say their first word at the age of 12 months; subsequently, within the next 6–12 months, they develop a vocabulary of approximately 50 words, along with the ability to make two-word combinations. However, late talkers (LTs) demonstrate delayed speech in the absence of hearing impairments, cognitive developmental issues or relevant birth history. The prevalence of late language emergence (LLE) in toddlers is reported to be 10–15%. Studies of LTs are both theoretically and clinically significant. Early diagnosis and clinical intervention may result in relatively stable speech capabilities by the early school years. The present article aimed to review both theoretical and empirical studies regarding LLE within the process of first language acquisition, as well as methods for the early diagnosis of delayed speech in children and the authors’ own clinical and theoretical recommendations. Keywords: Infants; Speech; Language Development; Speech-Language Pathology; Language Development Disorders; Rehabilitation of Speech and Language Disorders.

The Role of Children in the Revival of Hebrew

This chapter discusses the role played by the first generation of Hebrew-speaking children in the emergence processes of Modern Hebrew. As the education system was a major agent in the dissemination of Hebrew speech, the first section is dedicated to a detailed survey of the development of Hebrew education in Palestine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Next, the sociolinguistic aspects of speech revival are discussed, with particular reference to the crucial contribution of the introduction of preschool education in Hebrew. Finally, the chapter analyzes linguistic aspects of the process; it is suggested that insights gained from some well-studied cases of language emergence presented in the linguistic literature may be used to explain how a distinct, relatively uniform native variety emerged in Hebrew within a very short time span.

Agent-based modelling using naming game for language evolution studies

The article describes approaches to applying agent-based modelling and, particularly, the case of Naming Game, in linguistic studies and within teaching foreign languages. Computational modelling implementation has become a comprehensive and ambitious field of research, as its methods are applicable to solving tasks set within various aspects of contemporary society and science. The main purpose of this paper is to perform an analysis of Naming Game implementation in language emergence and evolution studies. To achieve this purpose we set several tasks: to present a vast literature review on agent-based modelling in linguistics and other adjacent sciences; to give an overview and description of the Naming Game; to perform simulations within the Naming Game and present their outcomes. As the main methodology the article uses simulations. The paper concludes that a clear hysteresis effect is present in the dependence of the size of the population vocabulary from the size of vocabulary of its average agent. At the point where the population vocabulary transitions into the uniform distribution the average agent’s vocabulary reaches saturation and plateaus. Those dynamics also change as the population vocabulary grows and declines. Agent-based modelling is a relatively novel direction for linguistics with a modest number of research papers. Results, presented in the paper, give a fresh angle on the issues of language emergence and evolution.

Gesture and anthropology

This essay is a (necessarily selective) historical review of some contributions to the study of gesture (in all its varieties) from an anthropological perspective. Reasons for an interest in gesture by the authors considered are varied. Some are interested because it seems a simpler form of communication which might throw light on language emergence, others see it as interesting as a form of communication in its own right. In the early days of ethnography attempts were made to describe all aspects of “primitive”or “savage” life and if gestures were noticed an attempt would be made to describe them. Later on, especially as we get into the second half of the twentieth century, much study of gesture was motivated by the idea that it might serve as a “window” on mental processes, rather than how it works in communication, but in recent years the role of gesture in communication has once again received more emphasis and its study from an anthropological viewpoint has, accordingly, again gained in importance.