Adjective position and referential efficiency in American Sign Language: Effects of adjective semantics, sign type and age of sign exposure
Adjective position and referential efficiency in American Sign Language: Effects of adjective semantics, sign type and age of sign exposure
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jml.2022.104348
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发表时间：
2022-06-09
影响因子：
4.3
通讯作者：
Lieberman，Amy M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Rubio-Fernandez，Paula;Wienholz，Anne;Lieberman，Amy M.
先前的研究指出交际效率可能是对语言结构的限制。在这里，我们研究了美国手语（ASL）（一种词序相对灵活的语言）中的形容词位置，以检验增量效率假设，根据该假设，说话者和手语者都试图产生对其语言词序敏感的有效指称表达。使用标准指称交流任务的三个实验的结果证实，聋人 ASL 手语者倾向于在名词前位置产生绝对形容词，例如颜色或材料，而标量形容词在表达为词汇符号时倾向于在名词前位置产生，但在表达为分类词时倾向于在名词后位置产生。接触 ASL 的年龄也对参考选择有影响，在某些情况下，接触较早的手语者比接触较晚的手语者产生更多的分类器。总体而言，我们的结果表明，语言、语用和发展因素影响 ASL 中的指称选择，支持了以下假设：交际效率是塑造语言结构和使用的重要因素。
Previous research has pointed at communicative efficiency as a possible constraint on language structure. Here we investigated adjective position in American Sign Language (ASL), a language with relatively flexible word order, to test the incremental efficiency hypothesis, according to which both speakers and signers try to produce efficient referential expressions that are sensitive to the word order of their languages. The results of three experiments using a standard referential communication task confirmed that deaf ASL signers tend to produce absolute adjectives, such as color or material, in prenominal position, while scalar adjectives tend to be produced in prenominal position when expressed as lexical signs, but in postnominal position when expressed as classifiers. Age of ASL exposure also had an effect on referential choice, with early-exposed signers producing more classifiers than late-exposed signers, in some cases. Overall, our results suggest that linguistic, pragmatic and developmental factors affect referential choice in ASL, supporting the hypothesis that communicative efficiency is an important factor in shaping language structure and use.