Doctoral Dissertation Research: Effects of age of acquisition in emerging sign languages

语法在语言中的基本功能之一是标记谁对谁做了什么，这被称为论元排序。这是语言使用者交流的关键信息，但以前的研究还没有确定这种语法标记的论点来自语言。接触到一种既定语言的儿童在很小的时候就获得了语言特定的语法，但是当儿童没有接触到这种语法的语言时会发生什么呢？全世界大约95%的失聪儿童出生在不使用手语的听力正常家庭。这些人第一次接触语言的年龄差异很大，通常发生在教育环境中。当聋哑儿童聚集在一起而无法使用手语时，他们开发的交流系统将成为一代又一代用户的新手语。这个博士论文项目通过观察不同年龄的三种手语中作为语法标记的语序的发展来研究暴露年龄和语言年龄对论证结构发展的影响。三种手语中有两种以前没有记录，而且不到40年。沿着一名博士生的培训，该项目将使代表性不足的个人参与科学研究，并提高公众对新兴手语的认识。刺激被仔细控制，包括不同的事件类型和有生命和无生命的论点。录音被注释为词序和签名者使用的任何其他潜在的语法手段。统计分析用于确定语言暴露的年龄如何影响这些语法手段在三种语言中的每一种中的使用。此外，在本论文的研究中，组之间的差异突出的互动影响的年龄的新兴语言和年龄的儿童进入签署社区的论点排序。通过在这些独特的情况下观察这些因素，该项目增加了对语言中论证顺序的起源以及抢先体验在该过程中的作用的科学理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

One of the basic functions of grammar in a language is to mark who does what to whom, which is referred to as argument ordering. This is critical information for users of the language to communicate, but previous research has not identified where such grammatical marking of arguments comes from in language. Children exposed to an established language acquire the language specific grammar at a young age, but what happens when children are not exposed to a language with this grammar? Around 95% of deaf children around the world are born into hearing families who do not sign. Age of first exposure to language for these individuals varies widely and often occurs in educational settings, if at all. When deaf children are gathered without access to a sign language, the communication system they develop will become a new sign language over generations of users. This doctoral dissertation project examines the effects of age of exposure and age of language on the development of argument structure by looking at the development of word order as grammatical marking in three sign languages of various ages. Two of the three sign languages have not been documented previously and are less than 40 years old. Along with training of a doctoral student, this project will engage underrepresented individuals in scientific research and raise public awareness about emerging sign languages.The three studies use video recordings of sign language users describing pictures. The stimuli are carefully controlled to include different event types and both animate and inanimate arguments. Recordings are annotated for word order and any other potential grammatical devices used by the signers. Statistical analyses are used to determine how age of language exposure impacts the use of these grammatical devices in each of the three languages. Furthermore, differences between groups in the studies of this dissertation highlight interacting effects of both age of the emerging language and the age at which children enter the signing community on argument ordering. By looking at these factors in these unique situations, this project adds to the scientific understanding of the origins of argument ordering in language and the role of early access to language in that process.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.