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，这被称为论元顺序。这是语言使用者交流的关键信息，但之前的研究没有确定这种论元的语法标记在语言中来自哪里。接触一种既定语言的儿童在很小的时候就会获得语言特定的语法，但如果儿童没有接触到使用这种语法的语言会发生什么？全世界大约95%的失聪儿童出生在不会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，如果有的话。当聋哑儿童聚集在一起，没有机会使用手语时，他们开发的交流系统将在几代用户的帮助下成为一种新的手语。这篇博士论文通过考察语序作为语法标记在三种不同年龄的手语中的发展，考察了接触年龄和语言年龄对论元结构发展的影响。这三种手语中有两种以前没有记载过，而且历史还不到40年。除了培训一名博士生外，该项目还将让未被充分代表的个人参与科学研究，并提高公众对新兴手语的认识。这三项研究使用了手语用户描述图片的视频记录。刺激被精心控制，以包括不同的事件类型以及有生命的和无生命的论点。录音被注解为词序和签名者使用的任何其他潜在的语法手段。统计分析被用来确定语言接触的年龄如何影响这些语法手段在这三种语言中的使用。此外，本文研究的群体差异突出了新兴语言的年龄和儿童进入手语社区的年龄对论元顺序的交互作用。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点顺序的起源以及早期接触语言在这一过程中的作用的科学理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.