Effects of age of acquisition and of community on argument ordering

项目摘要 全世界婴儿耳聋最普遍的后果之一是暴露年龄延迟 这是众所周知的语言，导致较低的性能在语言任务，无论是在最终的第一 （Mayberry，1993; Mayberry &艾兴，1991）和第二语言（Mayberry，2007; Mayberry & Lock， 2003年）。这些研究调查了三个群体的论元排序的发展， 聋人接触三种不同的手语：美国手语（200年） 瓦努阿图手语（5岁）和斐济手语（30岁）。在一起，三个 拟议的研究探讨了第一次接触语言的年龄（目标1）和语言年龄的相互作用， 社区（目标2）关于论证排序的发展。 在典型的发展中，早期语言接触到既定语言的儿童会产生 在他们早期的多词产出中，他们的环境的论元排序， 在六岁之前就能在理解中标记形态句法论元。在新兴的迹象 语言，语法手段，包括词序，发展在随后的几代人或同伙 因为儿童不仅习得周围的语言，而且创造语言结构。拟议 研究使用图片描述范式，从聋人参与者中引出产出性语言， 一种既定语言（ASL）或一种新兴语言（瓦努阿图和斐济）的签署人。用于分析 其中的论点顺序在每个群体中普遍存在，生产任务的刺激被划分为 基于传递性和可逆性的事件类型。这些因素在儿童语言中很突出 发展，并已被证明在新兴的手语中引出不同的论点顺序， 家庭标志。受试者之间的分析将比较每个受试者的论点顺序， 他们的学习能力与他们第一次接触语言的年龄有关。三项研究的比较 本研究的目的是探讨语言社群的年龄对聋人论元排序的影响 各种环境中的人。总之，拟议的研究将提供洞察力的创造和收购 世界各地聋人的语言。 此外，本研究项目将提高申请人的研究生院培训，并大大 增加她的机会，有一个富有成效的职业生涯作为一个独立的研究人员，专注于影响 由于婴儿耳聋而导致的语言剥夺和延迟。

Project Summary One of the most prevalent consequences of infant deafness worldwide is delayed age of exposure to language which is known to lead to lower performance on language tasks both in the eventual first (Mayberry, 1993; Mayberry & Eichen, 1991) and second languages (Mayberry, 2007; Mayberry & Lock, 2003). The proposed studies investigate the development of argument ordering in three populations of deaf individuals who were exposed to three distinct sign languages: American Sign Language (200 years old), Vanuatu Sign Language (5 years old) and Fijian Sign Language (30 years old). Together, the three proposed studies examine the interplay of age of first exposure to language (Aim 1) and age of language community (Aim 2) on the development of argument ordering. In typical development, children with early language exposure to an established language produce the argument ordering of their environment in their early multi-word productions and rely on morphosyntactic argument marking in comprehension by the age of six years. In emerging sign languages, grammatical devices, including word order, develop over subsequent generations or cohorts as children not only acquire the language around them but create linguistic structure. The proposed studies use a picture description paradigm to elicit productive language from deaf participants who are signers of either an established language (ASL) or an emerging language (Vanuatu and Fiji). For analysis of which orders of arguments are prevalent in each population, stimuli of the production tasks are divided into event types based on transitivity and reversibility. These factors are salient in child language development and have been shown to elicit different argument ordering in emerging sign languages and homesign. Between subject analyses will compare the argument ordering of participants within each study as a function of their age of first exposure to language. Comparison across the three studies of the proposal will elucidate the effects of age of language community on the argument ordering used by deaf people in various settings. Together, the proposed studies will provide insight the creation and acquisition of language by deaf people around the world. In addition, this research project will enhance the applicant’s graduate school training, and greatly increase her chances to have a productive career as an independent researcher focusing on the effects of language deprivation and delay due to infant deafness.