Acquisition of Language in Deaf Children

产品说明： 我们的研究计划的目的是通过以下方式更好地了解语言习得的机制： 研究先天和后天对这一过程的不同影响。为了实现这一目标，我们要问， 语言习得的具体过程受环境差异的影响。该项目调查 延迟输入与母语输入相比，母语习得的本质。的动机 这个项目是对理解语言认知机制本质的探索 发展，以及它们如何随着时间的推移而变化。 现有的纵向个案研究数据，从四个聋哑儿童获得美国手语（ASL）作为一种语言， 第一语言输入从出生，和两个输入开始只有在6岁，检查， 解决关于语言习得敏感期性质的具体研究假设。那里 长期以来，人们一直认为，语言输入必须在一定的关键或敏感时期内接受， 语言发展在正常范围内发生的顺序。这是第一项研究，以审查这一建议 通过对儿童纵向数据的详细分析，这些儿童的输入只在学龄期才开始。 相关性 本项目通过研究语言习得的关键期， 从出生起就接触美国手语的聋哑儿童， 6岁之前没有语言输入的聋哑儿童。了解了正常的 ASL的发展以及当语言输入相当延迟时会发生什么，将有助于我们 了解语言是如何在所有孩子的头脑中发展的。该项目还提供了宝贵的 关于手语发展的信息，需要了解聋人的正常和受损发展 孩子

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 schoolage. 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.