John Benjamins Publishing Company
Expression of temporality in Hebrew narratives written by deaf adolescents
-
Abstract
The chapter examines how temporal relations are expressed in narratives written by deaf compared with hearing Hebrew-speaking adolescents. Written texts of deaf students manifest distinct characteristics, attributable to the different circumstances of acquisition of spoken language in the two populations. The study focuses on two facets of narrative temporality – use of an anchor tense and tense shifting – in order to shed light on linguistic features of cartoon-based texts written by deaf students in Hebrew. Findings show that deaf students have good mastery of Hebrew tense forms and some sensitivity to how these are used to express different discourse functions. However, narrative tense anchoring is less established among deaf than hearing participants, and only the deaf students employ tense shifting for unconventional, not strictly temporal purposes. These results are explained in terms of language-internal features of the Hebrew system of marking tense that present deaf children with particular difficulties together with the external circumstances in which deaf children growing up in Israel acquire and use spoken language.
Abstract
The chapter examines how temporal relations are expressed in narratives written by deaf compared with hearing Hebrew-speaking adolescents. Written texts of deaf students manifest distinct characteristics, attributable to the different circumstances of acquisition of spoken language in the two populations. The study focuses on two facets of narrative temporality – use of an anchor tense and tense shifting – in order to shed light on linguistic features of cartoon-based texts written by deaf students in Hebrew. Findings show that deaf students have good mastery of Hebrew tense forms and some sensitivity to how these are used to express different discourse functions. However, narrative tense anchoring is less established among deaf than hearing participants, and only the deaf students employ tense shifting for unconventional, not strictly temporal purposes. These results are explained in terms of language-internal features of the Hebrew system of marking tense that present deaf children with particular difficulties together with the external circumstances in which deaf children growing up in Israel acquire and use spoken language.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Transcription and coding conventions ix
- Typology, acquisition, and development 1
- Paths and stages in acquisition of the phonological word in Hebrew 39
- Phonological development in Israeli Hebrew-learning infants and toddlers 69
- Foundations of the early root category 95
- Development of Hebrew derivational morphology from preschool to adolescence 135
- Lexical development in Hebrew 175
- The nature of CDS in Hebrew 201
- From opacity to transparency 225
- Development of intra- and inter-clausal dependency in Hebrew 259
- Expression of temporality in Hebrew narratives written by deaf adolescents 295
- Early development of written language in Hebrew 325
- Metalinguistic awareness in reading Hebrew L2 353
- Author Index 387
- Subject Index 395
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Transcription and coding conventions ix
- Typology, acquisition, and development 1
- Paths and stages in acquisition of the phonological word in Hebrew 39
- Phonological development in Israeli Hebrew-learning infants and toddlers 69
- Foundations of the early root category 95
- Development of Hebrew derivational morphology from preschool to adolescence 135
- Lexical development in Hebrew 175
- The nature of CDS in Hebrew 201
- From opacity to transparency 225
- Development of intra- and inter-clausal dependency in Hebrew 259
- Expression of temporality in Hebrew narratives written by deaf adolescents 295
- Early development of written language in Hebrew 325
- Metalinguistic awareness in reading Hebrew L2 353
- Author Index 387
- Subject Index 395
