Acquisition of Language in Deaf Children

描述(由申请者提供)：描述：我们研究项目的目的是通过考察先天和后天对语言习得过程的不同影响来更好地理解语言习得的机制。为了达到这个目的，我们想知道语言习得的具体过程是如何受到环境差异的影响的。本研究旨在探讨延迟输入与母语输入条件下第一语言习得的本质。这个项目的动机是寻求理解语言发展的认知机制的本质，以及它们可能如何随着时间的推移而变化。本文研究了四名聋儿从出生起就以美国手语(ASL)为第一语言习得美国手语(ASL)，以及两名6岁才开始输入美国手语(ASL)的聋儿的现有纵向个案研究数据，以解决关于语言习得敏感期性质的具体研究假设。长期以来，人们一直猜测，语言输入必须在一定的关键或敏感时期内接受，才能在正常范围内进行语言发展。这是第一项通过对儿童的纵向数据进行详细分析来检验这一建议的研究，这些儿童的投入直到学龄儿童才开始。相关性：该项目通过研究从出生起就接触到美国手语的聋儿与6岁前没有语言输入的聋儿获得美国手语的情况，来调查语言习得可能关键时期的性质。了解ASL的正常发展过程，以及当语言输入大大延迟时会发生什么，将有助于我们理解语言是如何在所有儿童的头脑中发展的。该项目还提供了有关手语发展的宝贵信息，这是了解聋哑儿童正常和受损发育所必需的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): DESCRIPTION: The aim of our research program is to better understand the mechanisms involved in language acquisition by examining the differing effects of nature and nurture on this process. Toward this aim, we ask how the specific course of language acquisition is affected by differences in environment. This project investigates the nature of first language acquisition under delayed input as compared with native input. The motivation for this project is the search for understanding the nature of the cognitive mechanisms of language development, and how they might change over time. Existing longitudinal case study data from four deaf children acquiring American Sign Language (ASL) as a first language with input from birth, and two with input beginning only at 6 years of age, are examined to address specific research hypotheses about the nature of a sensitive period for language acquisition. There has long been speculation that linguistic input must be received within a certain critical, or sensitive period, in order for language development to occur within normal limits. This is the first study to examine this proposal through detailed analysis of longitudinal data from children whose input begins only well into school age. RELEVANCE: This project investigates the nature of a possible critical period for language acquisition, by studying the acquisition of American Sign Language by deaf children who are exposed to it from birth, as compared with deaf children with no language input until the age of 6 years. Understanding both the normal course of development of ASL and what happens when language input is considerably delayed will help us to understand how language develops in the minds of all children. The project also supplies valuable information on sign language development, needed to understand normal and impaired development by deaf children.