SPONTANEOUS SIGN SYSTEMS IN CHILDREN

该提案描述了一项研究计划，以确定属性 语言的发展可以承受广泛的变化， 学习条件--语言的“弹性”属性。 没有接触过传统语言的儿童 将观察输入，以确定哪些属性 儿童可以在一组退化输入下发展语言 条件 研究对象是聋哑儿童， 听力损失如此严重，他们不能自然获得口头 语言，出生于听力正常的父母， 一种手工语言。 先前的研究表明， 贫困的语言学习环境， 孩子能够发展出一种手势交流系统， 在句子层面上（结构横跨 手势）和单词级别（手势中的结构）。 的 一项拟议的研究将确定缺乏听力的聋哑儿童是否 另一种文化（汉语）中的传统语言模式 文化）可以开发手势系统， 句子和单词级别，即，该项目将确定 句子和单词层面结构的“弹性”， 广泛的文化差异。 家庭观察的录像带 10名美国和10名中国听力正常的聋哑儿童 (ages 1;4至6;0）将被转录并分析结构， 句子和单词的水平。

This proposal describes a research plan to identify the properties of language whose development can withstand wide variations in learning conditions -- the "resilient" properties of language. Children who have not been exposed to conventional linguistic input will be observed in order to determine which properties of language can be developed by a child under set of degraded input conditions. The subjects of the study are deaf children with hearing losses so severe that they cannot naturally acquire oral language, and born to hearing parents who have not yet exposed them to a manual language. Previous research has shown that, impoverished language-learning conditions, and American deaf child was able to develop a gestural communication system which as structured at both the sentence level (structure across gestures) and the word level (structure within gestures). The proposed research will determine whether deaf children lacking conventional language models in another culture (the Chinese culture) can develop gesture systems that are structured at both the sentence and word levels, i.e., the project will determine the "resilience" of sentence- and word-level structure in the face of wide cultural variation. Videotapes taken of home observations of ten American and ten Chinese deaf children of hearing parents (ages 1;4 to 6;0) will be transcribed and analyzed for structure at both the sentence and word levels.