Doctoral Disseration Research: Conventionalization of Homesign Systems in Guatemala: Lexical and Morpho-phonological Dimensions

博士论文研究：危地马拉的手语系统的常规化：词汇和形态语音维度

• 批准号: 1627520
• 负责人: Diane Brentari
• 金额: $ 1.78万
• 依托单位: University of Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1627520&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Disseration; Research; Conventionalization; Homesign

The term "emergence" is sometimes used for the process by which children acquire their first language because all children create language, even as they acquire it. This project addresses how much communicative input children require to eventually develop adult-like language proficiency. It will examine whether the source of the communicative input affects eventual fluency to determine if child learners benefit more from an adult language model or the model provided by same-aged peers. This project also will examine whether the emergence of a new language in a community of speakers or signers parallels or diverges from emergence in a single child who is isolated from users of a fully established sign language. The findings from this study may inform educational policy and pedagogy for the deaf. These issues will be addressed by studying the gestural communication strategies invented by deaf children and adults who live in Guatemala. Because of their deafness, the participants in this study do not have access to the spoken language in their community, and there is not an established sign language in use in their town. The systems that deaf individuals create under such circumstances are called "homesign systems." Language-like features in these systems emerged in the absence of a language model. Thus the participants in this study lack language input, but they do have a model in the form of other homesign systems created by the other deaf individuals with whom they interact. Under the direction of Dr. Brentari, Ms. Horton will work with families with multiple generations of deafness as well as with deaf children who attend school together. The homesign input that a deaf child receives from a deaf adult relative is construed as a vertical form of transmission, whereas the homesign contact that deaf children attending school together experience is construed as horizontal transmission. The project will analyze the signs that each participant from a different social context produces to understand whether horizontal or vertical transmission accelerates the consistency of the forms and the grammar in each homesign system. Results from this study will be compared to datasets from other homesigners who have had little or no contact with deaf people as well as to native signers who use a more established sign language like American Sign Language.

“出现”一词有时用于儿童获得第一语言的过程，因为所有孩子都会创建语言，即使他们获得了语言。该项目解决了最终发展类似成人语言的语言水平所需的交流输入所需的数量。它将检查交流输入的来源是否会影响最终的流利程度，以确定儿童学习者是否从成人语言模型或同龄同龄人提供的模型中受益更多。该项目还将研究说话者或签名者社区中新语言的出现是否相似或与一个单身儿童的出现分歧，而单个孩子与完全建立的手语的用户隔离了。 这项研究的发现可能会为聋人提供教育政策和教学法。这些问题将通过研究居住在危地马拉的聋哑儿童和成人发明的手势交流策略来解决。由于他们的耳聋，这项研究的参与者无法访问其社区中的口头语言，并且在他们的城镇中没有建立的手语。在这种情况下，聋哑人创造的系统称为“ Homeign Systems”。在没有语言模型的情况下出现了这些系统中的语言特征。因此，这项研究的参与者缺乏语言输入，但他们的确具有与其他聋人相互作用的其他聋哑人创建的模型。在布伦塔里（Brentari）博士的指导下，霍顿女士将与有多个耳聋的家庭以及一起上学的聋哑儿童。聋哑儿童从聋哑人亲戚接收的家庭签名被解释为垂直形式的传播形式，而聋哑儿童一起上学经验的家庭接触被解释为水平传播。该项目将分析来自不同社会环境的每个参与者都会产生的迹象，以了解水平传播还是垂直传播会加速每个家庭签名系统中形式和语法的一致性。这项研究的结果将与其他家庭签名人的数据集进行比较，他们与聋人几乎没有或没有接触，以及使用使用美国手语（如American Sign语言）的本地签名人。