From Seed to System
The Emergence of Non-Manual Markers for Wh-Questions in Nicaraguan Sign Language
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5900142 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Annemarie Kocab (Harvard University, corresponding author), Ann Senghas (0000-0001-9144-0658, Barnard College), Jennie Pyers (0000-0002-7932-2912, Wellesley College) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 137 |
| Publication date | 2022-05-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Languages (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/languages7020137 |
| PMID | 40822936 |
| OpenAlex | W4281740676 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 45 |
At a language's inception, what determines which elements are taken up to build a grammar? How is the initial raw material reshaped through intergenerational language learning? We approached this question by focusing on the emergence of non-manual wh-question markers in Nicaraguan Sign Language (LSN), a young sign language. We asked whether the seeds of non-manual markers originate in the facial gestures of the hearing Nicaraguan community, and we explored the iterated process by which a form becomes selected and then systematized through generational transmission. We identified six non-manual facial and body movements produced with questions by 34 deaf LSN signers, representing three sequential age cohorts of learners, and compared them to those produced by 16 non-signing Spanish speakers. We examined the frequency and duration of each non-manual, and its temporal overlap with a question word. One non-manual, the brow furrow, was overwhelmingly represented among LSN signers, despite appearing rarely among non-signers and not being initially favored in duration or temporal overlap. With the second and third cohorts, the brow furrow emerges as a frequent and systematic marker. With each cycle of child learners, variable input was transformed into a more constrained set of grammatical forms
American Sign Language · Art · Duration (music · Gesture · Grammar · Linguistics · Literature · Set (abstract data type · Sign (mathematics · Sign language · Communication · Computer Science · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Mathematics · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
Language, Usage and Cognition
Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language
Sign Language and Linguistic Universals
Getting it right by getting it wrong
Data Analysis
When learners surpass their models
Children Creating Language
Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4
Statistical Learning by 8-Month-Old Infants
The relationship between spontaneous gestures of the hearing and American Sign Language
The apparent time construct
Do you hear what I hear? Experimental measurement of the perceptual salience of acoustically manipulated vowel variants by Southern speakers in Memphis, TN
Manual backchannel responses in signers' conversations in Swedish Sign Language
Emergence or Grammaticalization? The Case of Negation in Kata Kolok
Frequency effects in language acquisition, language use, and diachronic change
The Social Motivation of a Sound Change
The emergence of complexity in prosody and syntax
The marking of information structure in German Sign Language
Interrogative Constructions in Signed Languages
WH-Movement and the Position of Spec-CP
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |