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Chapter 17. Motion expression in children’s acquisition of French Sign Language

  • Marie-Anne Sallandre , Camille Schoder and Maya Hickmann✝
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Sources of Variation in First Language Acquisition
This chapter is in the book Sources of Variation in First Language Acquisition

Abstract

Much research has examined the development of motion expression, but little is known about this domain in sign language. This study examines how signers (Deaf children aged 5–10 and adults) of French Sign Language (LSF) described clips showing voluntary motion events with variable Paths and Manners. Using mainly iconic structures, children frequently expressed both Path and Manner early on. However, responses varied with the structures used and increased with age for some event types (downward motion, boundary crossing). In addition, serial constructions increased, typically expressing two perspectives (observer and character). Finally, young children did not always provide relevant locative information (particularly with crossing events) but these cases decreased. In conclusion, iconicity partially invites signers to combine motion components, notwithstanding variation in structure and developmental changes observed with some event types.

Abstract

Much research has examined the development of motion expression, but little is known about this domain in sign language. This study examines how signers (Deaf children aged 5–10 and adults) of French Sign Language (LSF) described clips showing voluntary motion events with variable Paths and Manners. Using mainly iconic structures, children frequently expressed both Path and Manner early on. However, responses varied with the structures used and increased with age for some event types (downward motion, boundary crossing). In addition, serial constructions increased, typically expressing two perspectives (observer and character). Finally, young children did not always provide relevant locative information (particularly with crossing events) but these cases decreased. In conclusion, iconicity partially invites signers to combine motion components, notwithstanding variation in structure and developmental changes observed with some event types.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of authors (alphabetical) vii
  4. Introduction. What can variation tell us about first language acquisition? 1
  5. Part I. Universals and cross-linguistic variation in acquisition
  6. Chapter 1. Templates in child language 27
  7. Chapter 2. Phonological categories and their manifestation in child phonology 45
  8. Chapter 3. Bootstrapping lexical and syntactic acquisition 63
  9. Chapter 4. Retrieving meaning from noun and verb grammatical contexts 81
  10. Chapter 5. Language-specificity in motion expression 103
  11. Chapter 6. Cross-linguistic variation in children’s multimodal utterances 123
  12. Chapter 7. Gesture and speech in adults’ and children’s narratives 139
  13. Part II. Variation in input and contexts during acquisition
  14. Chapter 8. Conversational partners and common ground 163
  15. Chapter 9. Invariance in variation 183
  16. Chapter 10. New perspectives on input-output dynamics 201
  17. Chapter 11. Referential features, speech genres and activity types 219
  18. Chapter 12. Development of discourse competence 243
  19. Chapter 13. Texting by 12-year-olds 265
  20. Part III. Variation in types of acquisition and types of learners
  21. Chapter 14. A unified model of first and second language learning 287
  22. Chapter 15. Online sentence processing in simultaneous French/Swedish bilinguals 313
  23. Chapter 16. The blossoming of negation in gesture, sign and oral productions 339
  24. Chapter 17. Motion expression in children’s acquisition of French Sign Language 365
  25. Chapter 18. Early predictors of language development in Autism Spectrum Disorder 391
  26. Chapter 19. Spoken and written narratives from French- and English-speaking children with Language Impairment\ 409
  27. Chapter 20. Non-literal language comprehension 427
  28. Language index 439
  29. Subject index 440
https://doi.org/10.1075/tilar.22.18sal

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of authors (alphabetical) vii
  4. Introduction. What can variation tell us about first language acquisition? 1
  5. Part I. Universals and cross-linguistic variation in acquisition
  6. Chapter 1. Templates in child language 27
  7. Chapter 2. Phonological categories and their manifestation in child phonology 45
  8. Chapter 3. Bootstrapping lexical and syntactic acquisition 63
  9. Chapter 4. Retrieving meaning from noun and verb grammatical contexts 81
  10. Chapter 5. Language-specificity in motion expression 103
  11. Chapter 6. Cross-linguistic variation in children’s multimodal utterances 123
  12. Chapter 7. Gesture and speech in adults’ and children’s narratives 139
  13. Part II. Variation in input and contexts during acquisition
  14. Chapter 8. Conversational partners and common ground 163
  15. Chapter 9. Invariance in variation 183
  16. Chapter 10. New perspectives on input-output dynamics 201
  17. Chapter 11. Referential features, speech genres and activity types 219
  18. Chapter 12. Development of discourse competence 243
  19. Chapter 13. Texting by 12-year-olds 265
  20. Part III. Variation in types of acquisition and types of learners
  21. Chapter 14. A unified model of first and second language learning 287
  22. Chapter 15. Online sentence processing in simultaneous French/Swedish bilinguals 313
  23. Chapter 16. The blossoming of negation in gesture, sign and oral productions 339
  24. Chapter 17. Motion expression in children’s acquisition of French Sign Language 365
  25. Chapter 18. Early predictors of language development in Autism Spectrum Disorder 391
  26. Chapter 19. Spoken and written narratives from French- and English-speaking children with Language Impairment\ 409
  27. Chapter 20. Non-literal language comprehension 427
  28. Language index 439
  29. Subject index 440
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