Children Creating Core Properties of Language: Evidence from an Emerging Sign Language in Nicaragua
Koç University · Radboud University Nijmegen · +4 more institutions
Abstract
A new sign language has been created by deaf Nicaraguans over the past 25 years, providing an opportunity to observe the inception of universal hallmarks of language. We found that in their initial creation of the language, children analyzed complex events into basic elements and sequenced these elements into hierarchically structured expressions according to principles not observed in gestures accompanying speech in the surrounding language. Successive cohorts of learners extended this procedure, transforming Nicaraguan signing from its early gestural form into a linguistic system. We propose that this early segmentation and recombination reflect mechanisms with which children learn, and thereby perpetuate,…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 19.92
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 23
Authors
3- ASAnn SenghasCorresponding
Koç University, Radboud University Nijmegen, University of Bristol, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Columbia University, Barnard College
- SKSotaro Kita
Koç University, Radboud University Nijmegen, University of Bristol, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Columbia University, Barnard College
- AÖAslı Özyürek
Koç University, Radboud University Nijmegen, University of Bristol, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Columbia University, Barnard College
Topics & keywords
- Gesture
- Sign language
- Linguistics
- Sign (mathematics)
- Computer science
- Language development
- Core (optical fiber)
- Psychology
- Quality Education