E.A. Ormel

The Relationship between the Reading and Signing Skills of Deaf Children in Bilingual Education Programs.

This paper reports on one experiment in which we investigated the relationship between reading and signing skills. We administered a vocabulary task and a story comprehension task in Sign Language of the Netherlands and in written Dutch to a group of 87 deaf children from bilingual education programs. We found a strong and positive correlation between the scores obtained in the sign vocabulary task and the reading vocabulary task when age, short-term memory scores, and nonverbal intelligence scores were controlled for. In addition, a correlation was observed between the scores in the story comprehension tasks in Sign Language of the Netherlands and written Dutch but only when vocabulary scores for words and signs were not taken into account. The results are briefly discussed with reference to a model we recently proposed to describe lexical development for deaf children in bilingual education programs (Hermans, D., Knoors, H., Ormel, E., & Verhoeven, L., 2008). In addition, the implications of the results of the present study for previous studies on the relationship between reading and signing skills are discussed.

The Role of Sign Phonology and Iconicity During Sign Processing: The Case of Deaf Children

To investigate the influence of sign phonology and iconicity during sign processing in deaf children, the roles of these sign features were examined using an experimental sign-picture verification paradigm. Participants had to make decisions about sign-picture pairs, manipulated according to phonological sign features (i.e., hand shape, movement, and location) and iconic sign features (i.e., transparent depiction of meaning or not). We found that phonologically related sign pairs resulted in relatively longer response latencies and more errors whereas iconic sign pairs resulted in relatively shorter response latencies and fewer errors. The results showed that competing lexical sign candidates (neighbor signs) were activated during sign processing by deaf children. In addition, deaf children exploit the iconicity of signs during sign recognition.

Cross-language effects in written word recognition: The case of bilingual deaf children

In recent years, multiple studies have shown that the languages of a bilingual interact during processing. We investigated sign activation as deaf children read words. In a word–picture verification task, we manipulated the underlying sign equivalents. We presented children with word–picture pairs for which the sign translation equivalents varied with respect to sign phonology overlap (i.e., handshape, movement, hand-palm orientation, and location) and sign iconicity (i.e., transparent depiction of meaning or not). For the deaf children, non-matching word–picture pairs with sign translation equivalents that had highly similar elements (i.e., strong sign phonological relations) showed relatively longer response latencies and more errors than non-matching word–picture pairs without sign phonological relations (inhibitory effects). In contrast, matching word–picture pairs with strongly iconic sign translation equivalents showed relatively shorter response latencies and fewer errors than pairs with weakly iconic translation equivalents (facilitatory effects). No such activation effects were found in the word–picture verification task for the hearing children. The results provide evidence for interactive cross-language processing in deaf children.

Semantic categorization: a comparison between deaf and hearing children.

UNLABELLED Learning to read is a major obstacle for children who are deaf. The otherwise significant role of phonology is often limited as a result of hearing loss. However, semantic knowledge may facilitate reading comprehension. One important aspect of semantic knowledge concerns semantic categorization. In the present study, the quality of the semantic categorization of both deaf and hearing children was examined for written words and pictures at two categorization levels. The deaf children performed better at the picture condition compared to the written word condition, while the hearing children performed similarly at pictures and written words. The hearing children outperformed the deaf children, in particular for written words. In addition, the results of the deaf children for the written words correlated to their sign vocabulary and sign language comprehension. The increase in semantic categorization was limited across elementary school grade levels. LEARNING OUTCOMES Readers will be able to: (1) understand several semantic categorization differences between groups of deaf and hearing children; (2) describe factors that may affect the development of semantic categorization, in particular the relationship between sign language skills and semantic categorization for deaf children.

Lexical activation in bilinguals’ speech production is dynamic: How language ambiguous words can affect cross-language activation

Is the bilingual language production system a dynamic system that can operate in different language activation states? Three experiments investigated to what extent cross-language phonological co-activation effects in language production are sensitive to the composition of the stimulus list. L1 Dutch–L2 English bilinguals decided whether or not a particular phoneme was part of the L2 English name of the picture. The phoneme was either part of the English name of the picture (/b/ or /t/ in bottle), the Dutch name of the picture (/f/ in fles [bottle], the cross-language condition), or was not part of either the English or Dutch names of the picture (/p/, the unrelated condition). In Experiment 1, we added a set of filler pictures with noncognate names in Dutch and English. In contrast, the filler pictures in Experiment 2 all had cognate names in Dutch and English. In Experiment 3 the fillers consisted of a mixture of pictures with cognate (25%) and noncognate (75%) names. Cross-language phonological co-activation appeared sensitive to the composition of the stimulus list: Phonological co-activation effects were observed in Experiments 2 and 3, but not in Experiment 1. The results indicate that the bilingual language production system dynamic and can operate in different modes, depending upon the composition of the stimulus list. We discuss implications for experimental paradigms used in the field of bilingual language production, and for current bilingual language production models.

Coarticulation of hand height in Sign Language of the Netherlands is affected by contact type

Abstract Recently, several studies found coarticulation effects for hand location in American Sign Language. In the present study, we established similar effects for Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT). Moreover, we examined whether the degree of coarticulation of location is sensitive to phonological distinctions. We investigated whether types of major locations in the lexicon (i.e., ‘weak hand’, ‘torso’, and ‘neutral space’) showed different degrees of sensitivity to the surrounding signs. Additionally, we investigated whether different types of movement (i.e., initial contact or final contact with the body) influenced the susceptibility of a sign to change its location under the influence of neighbouring signs. Five deaf adult signers participated in our study. The data were collected using CyberGlove and Flock of Bird, respectively tracking the bending of the fingers with 22 resistant bend-sensors and the X , Y , and Z coordinates. Location of hand height was measured in sign series, comparing the effect of surrounding signs at high and low locations. Results showed that height of the neighbouring signs influenced location height of the target sign. Moreover, coarticulation of location was sensitive to phonological distinctions in the lexicon. Strongest effects of coarticulation were observed at the location ‘weak hand’, and were heavily influenced by contact type.

Mutual intelligibility among the sign languages of Belgium and the Netherlands

Abstract In an exploratory study of mutual intelligibility between the sign languages of the northern part of Belgium (Flemish Sign Language, VGT), the southern part of Belgium (French Belgian Sign Language, LSFB), and the Netherlands (Sign Language of the Netherlands, NGT), we tested the comprehension of VGT by signers of LSFB and NGT. In order to measure the influence of iconic structures (classifier constructions and constructed action) that linguistic analyses have shown to be similar across different sign languages, two genres were compared: narrative and informative signing. To investigate the effect of the overlap between the spoken languages surrounding the Dutch and Flemish Deaf communities, videos were presented in two conditions: first without and subsequently with mouthings. As we hypothesized, both LSFB and NGT signers understood narratives better than informative signing, showing for the first time that iconic structures facilitate comprehension of foreign signing. Furthermore, the results at least partially confirm our hypothesis that NGT signers benefit more from mouthings than LSFB signers, uncovering a source of intelligibility that is unique to sign languages.

Semantic categorization and reading skill across Dutch primary grades: development yes, relationship no

In the present study, the development of semantic categorization and its relationship with reading was investigated across Dutch primary grade students. Three Exemplar-level tasks (Experiment 1) and two Superordinate-level tasks (Experiment 2) with different types of distracters (phonological, semantic and perceptual) were administered to assess semantic categorization skills. Reading was measured with a standardized word-reading test. Results of both experiments demonstrated that children in the higher grades had shorter reaction times and fewer errors than children in the lower grades. Reading skill, however, was not related to semantic categorization performance. Moreover, neither grade level nor reading skill was related to the effect of distracter type on error percentages. Based on the results of this study, we suggest a substantial development of semantic categorization skills over time, and reject the notion that Dutch poor readers have less advanced semantic categorization skills than typical readers.