Manuela Coppola
Biographic Data
| ID | 218678 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Manuela Coppola |
| GIVEN NAMES | Manuela |
| FAMILY NAME | Coppola |
| SIGNATURE | COPPOLA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Connecticut |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8319-2284 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Avoiding unintended consequences: Science of reading policies may harm deaf children
Many U.S. policies inspired by the Science of Reading rest on two assumptions: (1) skilled reading always involves automatic mapping between written words and speech sounds, and (2) all children benefit from systematic instruction of phonological awareness and phonics. These assumptions are not wholly accurate, that they do not consider scientific evidence from deaf readers, and that policies based on these assumptions may be harmful to deaf chil…
Delayed First Language Exposure Negatively Impacts Representation of Small Quantities: Evidence from Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children
Most deaf and hard-of-hearing children are born to hearing parents, often delaying exposure to their first language. This negatively influences development of not only language, but also many other aspects of cognition, including exact representations of large quantities. The core knowledge view of numeracy predicts that delays in language exposure should not affect nonverbal representations of small quantities (1–3). This study is the first to i…
Early Language Access and STEAM Education: Keys to Optimal Outcomes for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students
This paper offers an overview of a large study of language and cognitive development in deaf and hard of hearing children. Specifically, we investigated how acquiring a signed or spoken language (language modality) and when a child’s access to language begins (i.e., at birth or later in development) influence cognitive development. We conducted in-person behavioral assessments with 404 children 3–10 years old (280 deaf and hard of hearing; 124 ty…
What skills and knowledge should speech-language pathologists have to work with deaf/hard of hearing children who use signed language
The majority of deaf/hard of hearing (DHH) children receive services in schools under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and other legislation, which means that speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are often part of the team supporting them. Specifically, a 2022 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) survey found that ⁓42% of SLPs regularly serve at least one DHH child on their caseload. However, many SLPs have little tra…
The organization of verb meaning in Lengua de Señas Nicaragüense (LSN): Sequential or simultaneous structures
One structural dimension that varies across languages is the simultaneous or sequential expression of meaning. Complex predicates can layer meanings together simultaneously in a single-verb predicate (SVP) or distribute them sequentially in a multiple-verb predicate (MVP). We ask whether typological variability in this dimension might be a consequence of systematic patterns of diachronic change. We examine the distribution of markers of agency an…
Potentially recursive structures emerge quickly when a new language community forms
Early access to language supports number mapping skills in deaf children
The ability to associate different types of number representations referring to the same quantity (symbolic Arabic numerals, signed/spoken number words, and nonsymbolic quantities), is an important predictor of overall mathematical success. This foundational skill—mapping—has not been examined in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. To address this gap, we studied 188 4 1/2 to 9-year-old DHH and hearing children and systematically examined th…
Language not auditory experience is related to parent-reported executive functioning in preschool-aged deaf and hard-of-hearing children
Much research has found disrupted executive functioning (EF) in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children; while some theories emphasize the role of auditory deprivation, others posit delayed language experience as the primary cause. This study investigated the role of language and auditory experience in parent-reported EF for 123 preschool-aged children (Mage = 60.1 months, 53.7% female, 84.6% White). Comparisons between DHH and typically hearing …
Conventionalization of Iconic Handshape Preferences in Family Homesign Systems
Variation in the linguistic use of handshapes exists across sign languages, but it is unclear how these iconic handshape preferences arise and become conventionalized. In order to understand the factors that shape such handshape preferences in the earliest stages of language emergence, we examined communication within family homesign systems. Homesigners are deaf individuals who have not acquired a signed or spoken language and who innovate uniqu…
Community interactions and phonemic inventories in emerging sign languages
In this work, we address structural, iconic and social dimensions of the emergence of phonological systems in two emerging sign languages. A comparative analysis is conducted of data from a village sign language (Central Taurus Sign Language; CTSL) and a community sign language (Nicaraguan Sign Language; NSL). Both languages are approximately 50 years old, but the sizes and social structures of their respective communities are quite different. We…
Irit Meir
Preview this article: Irit Meir, Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/sll.00041.int-1.gif
The communicative importance of agent-backgrounding: Evidence from homesign and Nicaraguan Sign Language
Converging evidence: Network structure effects on conventionalization of gestural referring expressions
New languages emerge through interactions among people, yet the role of social network structure in language emergence is not clear, despite research from experimental semiotics, observational fieldwork, and computational modeling. To better understand the effects of social network structure on the formation of conventional referring expressions, we use a silent gesture paradigm that combines the methodological control of experimental semiotics a…
The noun-verb distinction in established and emergent sign systems: Supplemental Material
The noun-verb distinction in established and emergent sign systems
In a number of signed languages, the distinction between nouns and verbs is evident in the morphophonology of the signs themselves. Here we use a novel elicitation paradigm to investigate the systematicity, emergence, and development of the noun-verb distinction (qua objects vs. actions) in an established sign language, American Sign Language (ASL), an emerging sign language, Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL), and in the precursor to NSL, Nicaraguan…
Effects of gesture restriction on quality of narrative production
Hand gestures have been found to provide both semantic information and cognitive facilitative effects in language tasks. These benefits, however, have typically been linked to micro-levels of word and sentence production, and little attention has been paid to the macro-levels of narrative production and organization. In this study, we examined the length, content, syntactic complexity, and organization of narratives of ten typically developing ad…
A tale of two wives: The transnational poetry of Patience Agbabi and Jean 'Binta' Breeze
This article approaches transnational poetry through the recent engagement of medieval studies with the theoretical frame of postcolonial studies, which raises questions about periodization, contact zones and axes of power. The intersection of postcolonial theory and medievalism has uncovered global interconnections across time and space through a transnational dialectics investigating the contemporaneity of the Middle Ages and modernity. The art…
Forging a morphological system out of two dimensions: Agentivity and number
Languages have diverse strategies for marking agentivity and number. These strategies are negotiated to create combinatorial systems. We consider the emergence of these strategies by studying features of movement in a young sign language in Nicaragua (NSL). We compare two age cohorts of Nicaraguan signers (NSL1 and NSL2), adult homesigners in Nicaragua (deaf individuals creating a gestural system without linguistic input), signers of American and…
Queering Sonnets: Sexuality and Transnational Identity in the Poetry of Patience Agbabi
The emergence of queer diaspora studies has demanded increasing attention to the ways in which women writers have challenged the heterocentrism of dominant conceptions of diaspora. The theoretical intersection of queer studies with diaspora and black studies in relatively recent years has produced a vital reassessment of the black studies project. In the attempt to reconceptualize black queer and black diaspora, Rinaldo Walcott, in particular, ha…
When does a system become phonological? Handshape production in gesturers, signers, and homesigners
Rented spaces: Italian postcolonial literature
Moving from the marginal social space assigned to migrant women and from their condition of objects of enunciation, this essay analyses the literature produced by Italophone women writers, Italians of African, Eastern European or Indian ancestry as a controversial site of self-representation. Although they gain increasing visibility through access to publication, these writers still occupy ambiguous spaces of exotic objectification and limiting d…
Women, Migration and Precarity
This focus group took place at the Università di Napoli 'L'Orientale' and was structured around recent female migration patterns in the south of Italy. The discussion included academics, artists, and care workers. The condition of women migrants was seen as one of precarity in the two main contexts we discussed: work and places of encounter. In an effort to move away from the purely material dimension of migration and deal with its emotional and …
Children Creating Language: How Nicaraguan Sign Language Acquired a Spatial Grammar
It has long been postulated that language is not purely learned, but arises from an interaction between environmental exposure and innate abilities. The innate component becomes more evident in rare situations in which the environment is markedly impoverished. The present study investigated the language production of a generation of deaf Nicaraguans who had not been exposed to a developed language. We examined the changing use of early linguistic…
Sensitivity of children's inflection to grammatical structure
What is the input to the mental System that computes inflected forms like walked, came, dogs , and men ? Recent connectionist models feed a word's phonological features into a single network, allowing it to generalize both regular and irregular phonological patterns, like stop-stopped, step-stepped and fling-flung, cling-clung . But for adults, phonological input is insufficient: verbs derived from nouns like ring the city always have regular pas…
When does a system become phonological? Handshape production in gesturers, signers, and homesigners
The noun-verb distinction in established and emergent sign systems
In a number of signed languages, the distinction between nouns and verbs is evident in the morphophonology of the signs themselves. Here we use a novel elicitation paradigm to investigate the systematicity, emergence, and development of the noun-verb distinction (qua objects vs. actions) in an established sign language, American Sign Language (ASL), an emerging sign language, Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL), and in the precursor to NSL, Nicaraguan…
Rented spaces: Italian postcolonial literature
Moving from the marginal social space assigned to migrant women and from their condition of objects of enunciation, this essay analyses the literature produced by Italophone women writers, Italians of African, Eastern European or Indian ancestry as a controversial site of self-representation. Although they gain increasing visibility through access to publication, these writers still occupy ambiguous spaces of exotic objectification and limiting d…
Women, Migration and Precarity
This focus group took place at the Università di Napoli 'L'Orientale' and was structured around recent female migration patterns in the south of Italy. The discussion included academics, artists, and care workers. The condition of women migrants was seen as one of precarity in the two main contexts we discussed: work and places of encounter. In an effort to move away from the purely material dimension of migration and deal with its emotional and …
A tale of two wives: The transnational poetry of Patience Agbabi and Jean 'Binta' Breeze
This article approaches transnational poetry through the recent engagement of medieval studies with the theoretical frame of postcolonial studies, which raises questions about periodization, contact zones and axes of power. The intersection of postcolonial theory and medievalism has uncovered global interconnections across time and space through a transnational dialectics investigating the contemporaneity of the Middle Ages and modernity. The art…
Effects of gesture restriction on quality of narrative production
Hand gestures have been found to provide both semantic information and cognitive facilitative effects in language tasks. These benefits, however, have typically been linked to micro-levels of word and sentence production, and little attention has been paid to the macro-levels of narrative production and organization. In this study, we examined the length, content, syntactic complexity, and organization of narratives of ten typically developing ad…
Sensitivity of children's inflection to grammatical structure
What is the input to the mental System that computes inflected forms like walked, came, dogs , and men ? Recent connectionist models feed a word's phonological features into a single network, allowing it to generalize both regular and irregular phonological patterns, like stop-stopped, step-stepped and fling-flung, cling-clung . But for adults, phonological input is insufficient: verbs derived from nouns like ring the city always have regular pas…
Children Creating Language: How Nicaraguan Sign Language Acquired a Spatial Grammar
It has long been postulated that language is not purely learned, but arises from an interaction between environmental exposure and innate abilities. The innate component becomes more evident in rare situations in which the environment is markedly impoverished. The present study investigated the language production of a generation of deaf Nicaraguans who had not been exposed to a developed language. We examined the changing use of early linguistic…
Women, Migration and Precarity
This focus group took place at the Università di Napoli 'L'Orientale' and was structured around recent female migration patterns in the south of Italy. The discussion included academics, artists, and care workers. The condition of women migrants was seen as one of precarity in the two main contexts we discussed: work and places of encounter. In an effort to move away from the purely material dimension of migration and deal with its emotional and …
Rented spaces: Italian postcolonial literature
Moving from the marginal social space assigned to migrant women and from their condition of objects of enunciation, this essay analyses the literature produced by Italophone women writers, Italians of African, Eastern European or Indian ancestry as a controversial site of self-representation. Although they gain increasing visibility through access to publication, these writers still occupy ambiguous spaces of exotic objectification and limiting d…
When does a system become phonological? Handshape production in gesturers, signers, and homesigners
Forging a morphological system out of two dimensions: Agentivity and number
Languages have diverse strategies for marking agentivity and number. These strategies are negotiated to create combinatorial systems. We consider the emergence of these strategies by studying features of movement in a young sign language in Nicaragua (NSL). We compare two age cohorts of Nicaraguan signers (NSL1 and NSL2), adult homesigners in Nicaragua (deaf individuals creating a gestural system without linguistic input), signers of American and…
Queering Sonnets: Sexuality and Transnational Identity in the Poetry of Patience Agbabi
The emergence of queer diaspora studies has demanded increasing attention to the ways in which women writers have challenged the heterocentrism of dominant conceptions of diaspora. The theoretical intersection of queer studies with diaspora and black studies in relatively recent years has produced a vital reassessment of the black studies project. In the attempt to reconceptualize black queer and black diaspora, Rinaldo Walcott, in particular, ha…
A tale of two wives: The transnational poetry of Patience Agbabi and Jean 'Binta' Breeze
This article approaches transnational poetry through the recent engagement of medieval studies with the theoretical frame of postcolonial studies, which raises questions about periodization, contact zones and axes of power. The intersection of postcolonial theory and medievalism has uncovered global interconnections across time and space through a transnational dialectics investigating the contemporaneity of the Middle Ages and modernity. The art…
Effects of gesture restriction on quality of narrative production
Hand gestures have been found to provide both semantic information and cognitive facilitative effects in language tasks. These benefits, however, have typically been linked to micro-levels of word and sentence production, and little attention has been paid to the macro-levels of narrative production and organization. In this study, we examined the length, content, syntactic complexity, and organization of narratives of ten typically developing ad…
The noun-verb distinction in established and emergent sign systems: Supplemental Material
The noun-verb distinction in established and emergent sign systems
In a number of signed languages, the distinction between nouns and verbs is evident in the morphophonology of the signs themselves. Here we use a novel elicitation paradigm to investigate the systematicity, emergence, and development of the noun-verb distinction (qua objects vs. actions) in an established sign language, American Sign Language (ASL), an emerging sign language, Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL), and in the precursor to NSL, Nicaraguan…
Irit Meir
Preview this article: Irit Meir, Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/sll.00041.int-1.gif
The communicative importance of agent-backgrounding: Evidence from homesign and Nicaraguan Sign Language
Converging evidence: Network structure effects on conventionalization of gestural referring expressions
New languages emerge through interactions among people, yet the role of social network structure in language emergence is not clear, despite research from experimental semiotics, observational fieldwork, and computational modeling. To better understand the effects of social network structure on the formation of conventional referring expressions, we use a silent gesture paradigm that combines the methodological control of experimental semiotics a…
Community interactions and phonemic inventories in emerging sign languages
In this work, we address structural, iconic and social dimensions of the emergence of phonological systems in two emerging sign languages. A comparative analysis is conducted of data from a village sign language (Central Taurus Sign Language; CTSL) and a community sign language (Nicaraguan Sign Language; NSL). Both languages are approximately 50 years old, but the sizes and social structures of their respective communities are quite different. We…
Language not auditory experience is related to parent-reported executive functioning in preschool-aged deaf and hard-of-hearing children
Much research has found disrupted executive functioning (EF) in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children; while some theories emphasize the role of auditory deprivation, others posit delayed language experience as the primary cause. This study investigated the role of language and auditory experience in parent-reported EF for 123 preschool-aged children (Mage = 60.1 months, 53.7% female, 84.6% White). Comparisons between DHH and typically hearing …
Conventionalization of Iconic Handshape Preferences in Family Homesign Systems
Variation in the linguistic use of handshapes exists across sign languages, but it is unclear how these iconic handshape preferences arise and become conventionalized. In order to understand the factors that shape such handshape preferences in the earliest stages of language emergence, we examined communication within family homesign systems. Homesigners are deaf individuals who have not acquired a signed or spoken language and who innovate uniqu…
Potentially recursive structures emerge quickly when a new language community forms
Early access to language supports number mapping skills in deaf children
The ability to associate different types of number representations referring to the same quantity (symbolic Arabic numerals, signed/spoken number words, and nonsymbolic quantities), is an important predictor of overall mathematical success. This foundational skill—mapping—has not been examined in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. To address this gap, we studied 188 4 1/2 to 9-year-old DHH and hearing children and systematically examined th…
The organization of verb meaning in Lengua de Señas Nicaragüense (LSN): Sequential or simultaneous structures
One structural dimension that varies across languages is the simultaneous or sequential expression of meaning. Complex predicates can layer meanings together simultaneously in a single-verb predicate (SVP) or distribute them sequentially in a multiple-verb predicate (MVP). We ask whether typological variability in this dimension might be a consequence of systematic patterns of diachronic change. We examine the distribution of markers of agency an…
Delayed First Language Exposure Negatively Impacts Representation of Small Quantities: Evidence from Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children
Most deaf and hard-of-hearing children are born to hearing parents, often delaying exposure to their first language. This negatively influences development of not only language, but also many other aspects of cognition, including exact representations of large quantities. The core knowledge view of numeracy predicts that delays in language exposure should not affect nonverbal representations of small quantities (1–3). This study is the first to i…
Early Language Access and STEAM Education: Keys to Optimal Outcomes for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students
This paper offers an overview of a large study of language and cognitive development in deaf and hard of hearing children. Specifically, we investigated how acquiring a signed or spoken language (language modality) and when a child’s access to language begins (i.e., at birth or later in development) influence cognitive development. We conducted in-person behavioral assessments with 404 children 3–10 years old (280 deaf and hard of hearing; 124 ty…
What skills and knowledge should speech-language pathologists have to work with deaf/hard of hearing children who use signed language
The majority of deaf/hard of hearing (DHH) children receive services in schools under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and other legislation, which means that speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are often part of the team supporting them. Specifically, a 2022 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) survey found that ⁓42% of SLPs regularly serve at least one DHH child on their caseload. However, many SLPs have little tra…
Avoiding unintended consequences: Science of reading policies may harm deaf children
Many U.S. policies inspired by the Science of Reading rest on two assumptions: (1) skilled reading always involves automatic mapping between written words and speech sounds, and (2) all children benefit from systematic instruction of phonological awareness and phonics. These assumptions are not wholly accurate, that they do not consider scientific evidence from deaf readers, and that policies based on these assumptions may be harmful to deaf chil…
Linguistics (18 works) · Hearing Impairment and Communication (15 works) · Psychology (15 works) · Computer Science (14 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (11 works) · Sign language (11 works) · Mathematics (8 works) · American Sign Language (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Sociology (6 works)