Emergence of Grammar in a New Sign Language

描述（由申请人提供）：我们的目标是通过进一步调查一个村庄的手语，获得对人类语言的理解，在过去的75年里，几乎没有任何外部影响。当一小群人在没有直接语言输入的情况下一起长大时，他们创造的语言应该为了解所有人类语言的基础提供了一个窗口。研究对象是Al-Sayyid贝都因手语（ABSL），该语言以以色列南部的一个社区命名，该社区是该语言的发源地。这种语言是聋人和听力正常的人使用的，是该村的第二语言，仅次于当地的阿拉伯语方言。老年手语者的语言具有广泛的交流功能，在某些方面是高度规则的。然而，与更成熟的手语不同，它的语法结构似乎非常少，这表明，没有复杂的语法，功能性的人类语言也是可能的。年轻的手语者的语言表现出更复杂和规律性的迹象，我们打算把注意力转向这一群体。我们对以下几种语言复杂性的发展特别感兴趣：句法嵌入、双重模式、复杂构词法和韵律结构。更根本的是，我们感兴趣的是揭示机制和社会环境，这些机制和社会环境允许从ABSL的老年手语使用者中发现的简单系统发展成更复杂的语言。使用我们为这种语言和社区开发的各种启发工具，我们将对三代人的手语使用者进行录像，以完成以下任务：(a)复杂句子；(b)词汇的引用形式；(c)复合词；(d)描述性叙述。在ABSL中，嵌入等命题的复杂性是由韵律来表示的，我们将使用一个特别创建的、详细的韵律编码系统来识别不同年龄段复杂性的发展。人类语言中模式的双重性要求，即无意义层次的构成元素组合起来形成语言的有意义的单词和句子，这一要求从未受到挑战，我们将从三个主要角度来研究这一问题：(1)跨代音韵学分析，并与成熟的手语进行比较；(2)设计感知实验，从离散的手型识别中梳理出梯度；(3)通过反复的社会传播，从整体形式中识别出二元性的自组织。将记录所有手语使用者的手语密度概况，以揭示其家庭和群体中手语互动的数量，作为绘制语言规律性和复杂性在社区中的创新和传播的一种手段。我们期待这个难得的机会来记录一种新语言，以及常规化和复杂性的出现，为语言的基本要素及其组织提供一个模型，为任何正常访问或语言生产受到阻碍的干预计划奠定基础。公共卫生相关性：我们期待这一难得的机会来记录一种新语言，以及常规化和复杂性的出现，与所有与语言相关的健康问题高度相关。它将为自然语言的基本要素及其组织提供一个模型，形成任何干预计划的基础，在正常获取或产生语言受到阻碍的情况下，例如，对于特殊语言障碍；需要熟练掌握手语、口语或书面语基础的失聪儿童；自闭症;脑瘫或其他需要符号操作通信系统的疾病；等。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our aim is to gain understanding of human language through further investigation of a village sign language, created within the past 75 years with little if any outside influence. When a small group of people grow up together with no direct linguistic input, the language that they create should provide a window into the fundamentals of all human languages. The object of study is Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL), named after the community in the south of Israel where the language was created. The language is used by deaf and hearing people, and is the second language of the village after the local dialect of Arabic. The language of the older signers, which serves a wide range of communicative functions, is highly regular in some ways. However, unlike more mature sign languages, it appears to be remarkably spare in grammatical structure, suggesting that functional human language is possible without complex grammar. The language of younger signers shows indications of more complexity and regularity, and it is to this group that we propose to turn our attention. We are particularly interested in the development of the following types of linguistic complexity: syntactic embedding, dual patterning, complex word formation, and prosodic structure. More fundamentally, we are interested in uncovering the mechanisms and social circumstances that permit the development of more complex language from the simple systems found among older signers of ABSL. Using a variety of elicitation tools that we developed for this language and community, we will videotape signers of three generations on tasks designed to produce (a) complex sentences; (b) citation forms of vocabulary items; (c) compound words; and (d) descriptive narratives. Propositional complexity such as embedding is signaled by prosody in ABSL, and we will use a specially created, detailed prosodic coding system to identify the development of complexity across age groups. The requirement for duality of patterning in human language -- a meaningless level of formational elements that combine to form the meaningful words and sentences of language -- has never been challenged before, and we will investigate this issue from three main angles: (1) phonological analysis across generations and in comparison with a mature sign language, (2) a perception experiment designed to tease apart gradient from discrete identification of handshapes, and (3) a laboratory evolution experiment attempting to identify the self-organization of duality from holistic forms through iterated social transmission. A sign language density profile will be recorded for all signers to reveal the amount of sing language interaction in their families and cohorts, as a means of mapping the innovation and spread of linguistic regularity and complexity in the community. We expect this rare opportunity to document a new language and the emergence of conventionalization and complexity to provide a model of the essential elements of language and their organization, forming the basis for any intervention program where normal access to or production of language is hampered. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: We expect this rare opportunity to document a new language and the emergence of conventionalization and complexity to be highly relevant for all language related health issues. It will provide a model of the essential elements of natural language and their organization, forming a basis for any intervention program where normal access to or production of language is hampered, e.g., for SLI; young deaf children in need of a basis for proficiency in sign, oral, or written language; autism; cerebral palsy or other conditions requiring symbol manipulation communication systems; etc.