Richard P. Meier

Structural Packaging in the Input to Language Learning: Contributions of Prosodic and Morphological Marking of Phrases to the Acquisition of Language.

Abstract The linguistic input to language learning is usually thought to consist of simple strings of words. We argue that input must also include information about how words group into syntactic phrases. Natural languages regularly incorporate correlated cues to phrase structure, such as prosody, function words, and concord morphology. The claim that such cues are necessary for successful acquisition of syntax was tested in a series of miniature language learning experiments with adult subjects. In each experiment, when input included some cue marking the phrase structure of sentences, subjects were entirely successful in learning syntax; in contrast, when input lacked such a cue (but was otherwise identical), subjects failed to learn significant portions of syntax. Cues to phrase structure appear to facilitate learning by indicating to the learner those domains within which distributional analyses may be most efficiently pursued, thereby reducing the amount and complexity of required input data. More complex target systems place greater premiums on efficient analysis; hence, such cues may be even more crucial for acquisition of natural language syntax. We suggest that the finding that phrase structure cues are a necessary aspect of language input reflects the limited capacities of human language learners; languages may incorporate structural cues in part to circumvent such limitations and ensure successful acquisition.

Modality and Structure in Signed and Spoken Languages

The realization that signed languages are true languages is one of the great discoveries of the last 30 years of linguistic research. The work of many sign language researchers has revealed deep similarities between signed and spoken languages in their structure, acquisition, and processing, as well as differences, arising from the differing articulatory and perceptual constraints under which signed languages are used and learned. This book provides a crosslinguistic examination of the properties of many signed languages, including detailed case studies of Hong Kong, British, Mexican, and German sign languages. The contributions to this volume, by some of the most prominent researchers in the field, focus on a single question: to what extent is linguistic structure influenced by the modality of language? Their answers offer particular insights into the factors that shape the nature of language and contribute to our understanding of why languages are organized as they are.

On the linguistic status of 'agreement' in sign languages.

Abstract In signed languages, the arguments of verbs can be marked by a system of verbal modification that has been termed “agreement” (more neutrally, “directionality”). Fundamental issues regarding directionality remain unresolved and the phenomenon has characteristics that call into question its analysis as agreement. We conclude that directionality marks person in American Sign Language, and the ways person marking interacts with syntactic phenomena are largely analogous to morpho-syntactic properties of familiar agreement systems. Overall, signed languages provide a crucial test for how gestural and linguistic mechanisms can jointly contribute to the satisfaction of fundamental aspects of linguistic structure.

Facilitating the acquisition of syntax with cross-sentential cues to phrase structure☆

Abstract Several previous studies using miniature language methodology have shown that the acquisition of syntax is facilitated by language input that incorporates cues to sentence phrase structure. These studies have examined effects of LOCAL cues, such as prosody or function words, which are physically identifiable aspects of input and which directly indicate the phrase bracketing of individual input strings. In the present study, we examine the effects of CROSS-SENTENTIAL cues to phrase structure—cues that lack overt manifestations in individual strings, arise solely as consequences of the rule system underlying the input language, and must be extracted from input through comparisons of semantically and syntactically related strings. Grammars incorporating rules of pronominalization and permutation were used to generate input with cross-sentential cues. Subjects exposed to such input were completely successful in learning syntax, whereas subjects exposed to input generated by a simpler grammar (and lacking either local or cross-sentential cues) failed to learn complex aspects of syntax. Natural languages regularly include the types of rules that give rise to cross-sentential cues and also regularly possess multiple local cues to phrase structure. These patterns of universality, coupled with the consistent facilitative effects of structural cues on learning, suggest that such cues may constitute a necessary component of language input.

The Form of Children's Early Signs: Iconic or Motoric Determinants?

The two major language modalities—the visual-gestural modality of sign and the oral-aural modality of speech—offer different resources to the infant word learner and impose differing constraints on the infants production of lexical items. For example, the attraction of iconicity to signing children could be such that their errors would reveal little role for biomechanical factors analogous to those that constrain early speech production. The earliest ASL signs of four deaf infants, aged 8 to 17 months, are examined. Three studies of a corpus of 632 early sign tokens are reported. The first study examined the effects of childrens errors on the iconicity of the target signs. Childrens signs were—with few exceptions—judged to be either as iconic (or noniconic) as the adult model or to be less iconic than the adult model. The second and third studies examined two independently-attested tendencies from general motor development: in many motor domains (including speech), infants exhibit repetitive movement patterns; infants may also proximalize movement vis-à-vis what would be expected from adults. Both tendencies are shown to predict error patterns found in the early sign data.

Elicited imitation of verb agreement in American Sign Language: Iconically or morphologically determined?☆

Abstract In American Sign Language (ASL), many verbs inflected for subject and object agreement are highly iconic. Two models of the acquisition of verb agreement are compared. The first assumes that childrens acquisition of agreement is guided by the global iconic properties of such verbs and the second assumes that acquisition is sensitive to the internal morphological organization of these inflected verbs. The contrasting predictions of these two models were tested by an elicited imitation experiment. Deaf children who were native learners of ASL were asked to imitate sign utterances containing agreeing verbs. The results confirm the predictions of the morphological model.

The Use of Sign Language Pronouns by Native-Signing Children with Autism.

We report the first study on pronoun use by an under-studied research population, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exposed to American Sign Language from birth by their deaf parents. Personal pronouns cause difficulties for hearing children with ASD, who sometimes reverse or avoid them. Unlike speech pronouns, sign pronouns are indexical points to self and other. Despite this transparency, we find evidence from an elicitation task and parental report that signing children with ASD avoid sign pronouns in favor of names. An analysis of spontaneous usage showed that all children demonstrated the ability to point, but only children with better-developed sign language produced pronouns. Differences in language abilities and self-representation may explain these phenomena in sign and speech.

Semantic reference and phrasal grouping in the acquisition of a miniature phrase structure language

In this study we examine the roles of semantic reference and of grammatical morphology in the learning of an artificial syntax. Subjects assigned to one of three training conditions viewed sentences from a miniature phrase structure language. In the reference field condition, subjects saw sentences which each referred to an array of geometric figures. In the morphology condition no reference field was present, but inflectional suffixes marked each sentence’s constituent structure. Control condition subjects studied sentences lacking semantic reference and inflectional morphology. Unlike control subjects, subjects in both the reference field and morphology conditions learned the miniature syntax, as evidenced by successful discrimination of novel grammatical versus ungrammatical sentences. Therefore, when surface features mark constituents, adult learning of complex syntactic regularities proceeds even in the absence of semantic reference. c 1986 Academic Press. Inc. One method for experimentally examining the language acquisition process involves the exposure of adult subjects to sentences from miniature artificial languages (Braine, 1963; Esper, 192.5; Miller, 1967; Reber, 1967). Use of such artificial languages in the laboratory enables the rigorous-and ethical-manipulation of the input to the language learner. Although the analogy between these experiments and first language learning is necessarily imperfect (Bever, Fodor, & Weksel, 1965). we suggest that these experiments can address hypotheses about the language acquisition process which are difficult, if not impossible, to test in the natural languagelearning environment. In the experiment reported here, we examine the role of semantic reference in the learning of the syntax of a miniature phrase structure language. In particular, we will argue that the syntax of a referenceless language can be

Open class and closed class: Sentence-imitation experiments on intrasentential code-switching

One of the most striking facts about exchange errors in speech is that open class items are exchanged, but closed class items are not. This article argues that a pattern analogous to that in speech errors also appears in intrasentential code-switching. Intrasentential code-switching is the alternating use of two languages in a sentence by bilinguals. Studies of the spontaneous conversation of bilinguals have supported the claim that open class items may be codeswitched, but closed class items may not. This claim was tested by two sentence repetition experiments, one with Japanese/English bilinguals and the other with Spanish/English bilinguals. The results show that the switching of closed class items caused significantly longer response times and more errors than the switching of open class items.

A PSYCHOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE ON PHONOLOGICAL SEGMENTATION IN SIGN AND SPEECH

Publisher Summary Within the phonological literature on ASL, there are at least three competing proposals as to the fundamental segment types in that language: (1) movements (M) and holds (H), (2) movements and locations (L), and (3) movements and positions (P). This chapter presents several differences between the primary language modalities that might affect the types of phonological representations found in signed versus spoken languages. Resolution of whether phonological constructs such as segment and syllable are needed in an empirically adequate description of the phonology of ASL (or of other sign languages) may allow for the refinement of the understanding of what segments and syllables are.