The noun-verb distinction in established and emergent sign systems

Abstract: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 homesigns. We show that a distinction between nouns and verbs is marked (by utterance position and movement size) and thus present in all groups–even homesigners, who have invented their systems without a conventional language model. However, there is also evidence of emerging crosslinguistic variation in whether a base hand is used to mark the noun-verb contrast. Finally, variation in how movement repetition and base hand are used across Nicaraguan groups offers insight into the pressures that influence the development of a linguistic system. Specifically, early signers of NSL use movement repetition and base hand in ways similar to homesigners but different from signers who entered the NSL community more recently, suggesting that intergenerational transmission to new learners (not just sharing a language with a community) plays a key role in the development of these devices. These results bear not only on the importance of the noun-verb distinction in human communication, but also on how this distinction emerges and develops in a new (sign) language.

[1]  Emerging Sign Languages of the Americas , 2020 .

[2]  Natasha Abner What You See Is What You Get.Get: Surface Transparency and Ambiguity of Nominalizing Reduplication in American Sign Language , 2017 .

[3]  Annelies Kusters,et al.  Innovations in deaf studies: The role of deaf scholars , 2017 .

[4]  M. Coppola,et al.  Successful communication does not drive language development: Evidence from adult homesign , 2017, Cognition.

[5]  R. Pfau,et al.  Positive signs: How sign language typology benefits deaf communities and linguistic theory , 2016 .

[6]  C. Padden Interaction of Morphology and Syntax in American Sign Language , 2016 .

[7]  D. Brentari,et al.  The double identity of linguistic doubling , 2016, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[8]  O. Crasborn,et al.  Towards a Classification of Weak Hand Holds , 2016 .

[9]  Ronnie B. Wilbur,et al.  Assessment of information content in visual signal: analysis of optical flow fractal complexity , 2016 .

[10]  S. Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Does language shape silent gesture? , 2016, Cognition.

[11]  John B. Haviland,et al.  The emerging grammar of nouns in a first generation sign language: Specification, iconicity, and syntax , 2015 .

[12]  D. Brentari,et al.  Watching language grow in the manual modality: Nominals, predicates, and handshapes , 2015, Cognition.

[13]  Richard Futrell,et al.  Cross-linguistic gestures reflect typological universals: A subject-initial, verb-final bias in speakers of diverse languages , 2015, Cognition.

[14]  Matthew L. Hall,et al.  Cognitive constraints on constituent order: Evidence from elicited pantomime , 2013, Cognition.

[15]  Elizabet Spaepen,et al.  Communicating about quantity without a language model: Number devices in homesign grammar , 2013, Cognitive Psychology.

[16]  Susan Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Acquiring Word Class Distinctions in American Sign Language: Evidence from Handshape , 2013, Language learning and development : the official journal of the Society for Language Development.

[17]  Susan Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Hierarchical structure in a self-created communication system: Building nominal constituents in homesign , 2012, Language.

[18]  D. Brentari,et al.  When does a system become phonological? Handshape production in gesturers, signers, and homesigners , 2012, Natural language & linguistic theory.

[19]  U. Zeshan,et al.  Sign languages in village communities: Anthropological and linguistic insights , 2012 .

[20]  Susan Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Negation, questions, and structure building in a homesign system , 2011, Cognition.

[21]  Yv Delaporte,et al.  New Perspectives on the History of American Sign Language , 2011 .

[22]  C. Padden,et al.  THE INTERACTION OF ANIMACY AND WORD ORDER IN HUMAN LANGUAGES: A STUDY OF STRATEGIES IN A NOVEL COMMUNICATION TASK , 2010 .

[23]  Richard S. Kayne Antisymmetry and the lexicon , 2009 .

[24]  S. Goldin-Meadow,et al.  The natural order of events: How speakers of different languages represent events nonverbally , 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[25]  Steven D. Emery The emergence of the deaf community in Nicaragua: ‘with sign language you can learn so much’. Laura Polich, Gallaudet University Press, Washington DC, 2005, 228 pp. ISBN 1 56368 324 5 , 2008 .

[26]  S. Goldin-Meadow,et al.  How children make language out of gesture: Morphological structure in gesture systems developed by American and Chinese deaf children , 2007, Cognitive Psychology.

[27]  J. Snedeker,et al.  Starting Over , 2007, Psychological science.

[28]  Marie Coppola,et al.  Grammatical Subjects in home sign: Abstract linguistic structure in adult primary gesture systems without linguistic input. , 2005, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[29]  M. Aronoff,et al.  The Paradox of Sign Language Morphology , 2005, Language.

[30]  Susan Goldin-Meadow,et al.  The Resilience of Language , 2005 .

[31]  A. Kendon Gesture: Visible Action as Utterance , 2004 .

[32]  Sandra R. Waxman,et al.  Weaving a Lexicon , 2004 .

[33]  Hagit Borer,et al.  The Grammar Machine , 2004 .

[34]  Ann Senghas,et al.  Intergenerational influence and ontogenetic development in the emergence of spatial grammar in Nicaraguan Sign Language , 2003 .

[35]  Claire Bowern,et al.  Sign Language in Indo-Pakistan: A Description of a Signed Language (review) , 2003 .

[36]  Lisa Gershkoff-Stowe,et al.  Is there a natural order for expressing semantic relations? , 2002, Cognitive Psychology.

[37]  R. Jackendoff Foundations of Language: Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution , 2002 .

[38]  T Johnston,et al.  Nouns and verbs in Australian sign language: an open and shut case? , 2001, Journal of deaf studies and deaf education.

[39]  Carol Neidle,et al.  The Syntax of American Sign Language: Functional Categories and Hierarchical Structure , 1999 .

[40]  Diane Brentari,et al.  A Prosodic Model of Sign Language Phonology , 1999 .

[41]  S. Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Spontaneous sign systems created by deaf children in two cultures , 1998, Nature.

[42]  Kazumi Matsuoka,et al.  Verb raising in American sign language , 1997 .

[43]  Elena Antinoro Pizzuto,et al.  Noun morphology in Italian sign language (LIS) , 1996 .

[44]  Susan Goldin-Meadow,et al.  The resilience of combinatorial structure at the word level: morphology in self-styled gesture systems , 1995, Cognition.

[45]  C. Butcher,et al.  Nouns and Verbs in A Self-Styled Gesture System: What′s in A Name? , 1994, Cognitive Psychology.

[46]  W. Bruce Croft Syntactic categories and grammatical relations : the cognitive organization of information , 1993 .

[47]  Joseph H. Greenberg,et al.  Some Universals of Grammar with Particular Reference to the Order of Meaningful Elements , 1990, On Language.

[48]  G. Lasker Everyone here spoke sign language: Hereditary deafness on martha's Vineyard. By Nora Ellen Groce. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1985. x + 169 pp., figures, tables, two appendices, bibliography, notes. $17.50 (cloth); $8.95 (paper) , 1988 .

[49]  Carol Padden,et al.  American Sign Language and the architecture of phonological theory , 1987 .

[50]  Diane C. Lillo-Martin,et al.  Two kinds of null arguments in American Sign Language , 1986 .

[51]  R. G. Emerton Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha's Vineyard , 1986 .

[52]  Harlan Lane,et al.  Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha's Vineyard , 1986 .

[53]  Judy Kegl,et al.  When is a Classifier No Longer a Classifier , 1986 .

[54]  S. Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Gestural communication in deaf children: noneffect of parental input on language development. , 1983, Science.

[55]  Scott K. Liddell American Sign Language Syntax , 1981 .

[56]  James D. McCawley,et al.  The Logic of Common Nouns: An Investigation in Quantified Modal Logic , 1980 .

[57]  R. Battison,et al.  Lexical Borrowing in American Sign Language , 1978 .

[58]  Nancy J. Frishberg ARBITRARINESS AND ICONICITY: HISTORICAL CHANGE IN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE , 1975 .

[59]  S. Potter,et al.  Universals of Language , 1966 .

[60]  Peter Geach,et al.  Reference and Generality: An Examination of Some Medieval and Modern Theories , 1965 .

[61]  W. Stokoe Sign language structure: an outline of the visual communication systems of the American deaf. 1960. , 1961, Journal of deaf studies and deaf education.

[62]  Edward Sapir,et al.  Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech , 1955 .

[63]  H. Hoijer Phonetic and Phonemic Change in the Athapaskan Languages , 1942 .

[64]  R. Paget The Origin of Speech , 1927, Nature.

[65]  D. Brentari,et al.  Typology in sign languages: Can it be predictive? , 2016 .

[66]  A. Sommer Reduplication Doubling In Morphology , 2016 .

[67]  Susan Goldin-Meadow,et al.  The Impact of Time on Predicate Forms in the Manual Modality: Signers, Homesigners, and Silent Gesturers , 2015, Top. Cogn. Sci..

[68]  M. Flaherty The emergence of argument structural devices in Nicaraguan Sign Language , 2014 .

[69]  S. Goldin-Meadow,et al.  How handshape type can distinguish between nouns and verbs in homesign. , 2013, Gesture.

[70]  Wendy Sandler,et al.  The noun-verb distinction in two young sign languages , 2013 .

[71]  Marie Coppola,et al.  Sign Languages: Deixis in an emerging sign language , 2010 .

[72]  C. Padden,et al.  Sign Languages: The grammar of space in two new sign languages , 2010 .

[73]  Vadim Kimmelman,et al.  Parts of speech in Russian Sign Language: The role of iconicity and economy , 2009 .

[74]  戴 浩一,et al.  Taiwan sign language and beyond , 2009 .

[75]  Karsten Koch,et al.  The lexical category debate in Salish and its relevance for Tagalog , 2009 .

[76]  Marie Coppola,et al.  To appear in Sign Languages : A Cambridge Language Survey , 2009 .

[77]  Bernadet Hendriks,et al.  Jordanian Sign Language: Aspects of grammar from a cross-linguistic perspective: (University of Amsterdam, 2008) , 2008 .

[78]  C. Barker Nominals don't provide criteria of identity , 2008 .

[79]  Barbara Hunger,et al.  Noun/Verb Pairs in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) , 2006 .

[80]  G. Mathur,et al.  Laboratory Phonology VIII: Varieties of Phonological Competence , 2006 .

[81]  D. McNeill Gesture and Thought , 2005 .

[82]  Henri Cohen,et al.  Handbook of categorization in cognitive science , 2005 .

[83]  W. So,et al.  Abstract and Object-Anchored Deixis: Pointing and Spatial Layout in Adult Homesign Systems in Nicaragua , 2005 .

[84]  Amélie Voghel Phonologically identical noun-verb pairs in Quebec Sign Language (LSQ) : Form and context , 2005 .

[85]  Jonas Langer,et al.  Biology and knowledge revisited : from neurogenesis to psychogenesis , 2005 .

[86]  Wendy Sandler,et al.  Phonology , phonetics and the nondominant hand , 2005 .

[87]  L. Travis Lexical, Functional, Crossover, and Multifunctional Categories , 2005 .

[88]  Elena Anagnostopoulou,et al.  The Unaccusativity Puzzle: Explorations of the Syntax-Lexicon Interface , 2004 .

[89]  Ka Cormier,et al.  Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America , 2004 .

[90]  Susan Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Lexical Development without a Language Model: Are Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives Essential to the Lexicon? , 2004 .

[91]  E. Newport,et al.  Argument Structure in Nicaraguan Sign Language : The Emergence of Grammatical Devices , 2004 .

[92]  Mark C. Baker Lexical Categories: Verbs, Nouns and Adjectives , 2003 .

[93]  Ronnie B. Wilbur,et al.  Representations of Telicity in ASL , 2003 .

[94]  M. Marschark,et al.  The Oxford handbook of deaf studies, language, and education , 2003 .

[95]  Silvia Kouwenberg,et al.  Twice as meaningful : reduplication in pidgins, creoles and other contact languages , 2003 .

[96]  Regina Pustet,et al.  Copulas: Universals in the Categorization of the Lexicon , 2003 .

[97]  Elissa L. Newport,et al.  The Emergence of Grammatical Categories in Home Sign: Evidence from Family-based Gesture Systems in Nicaragua , 2002 .

[98]  Deborah Chen Pichler,et al.  Word order variation and acquisition in American Sign Language , 2002 .

[99]  Kearsy Cormier,et al.  Modality and structure in signed and spoken languages: Frontmatter , 2002 .

[100]  Terry Janzen,et al.  Modality and structure in signed and spoken languages: Gesture as the substrate in the process of ASL grammaticization , 2002 .

[101]  Jennifer L. Smith Lexical Category and Phonological Contrast , 2001 .

[102]  Ulrike Zeshan,et al.  Sign language in Indo-Pakistan , 2000 .

[103]  Elissa L. Newport,et al.  Sign Language Research at the Millennium , 2000 .

[104]  Alec Marantz,et al.  No escape from syntax: Don't try morphological analysis in the privacy of your own lexicon , 1997 .

[105]  S Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Silence is liberating: removing the handcuffs on grammatical expression in the manual modality. , 1996, Psychological review.

[106]  A. Senghas,et al.  Children's contribution to the birth of Nicaraguan sign language , 1995 .

[107]  Susan Goldin-Meadow,et al.  The Development of Morphology Without a Conventional Language Model , 1990 .

[108]  Peter M. Duppenthaler Maturational Constraints on Language Learning , 1990 .

[109]  Diane Lil' Lo-Martin Two kinds of null arguments in American Sign Language , 1986 .

[110]  S Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Gestural communication in deaf children: the effects and noneffects of parental input on early language development. , 1984, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development.

[111]  Patricia Siple,et al.  Understanding language through sign language research , 1978 .

[112]  W. Stokoe,et al.  A dictionary of American sign language on linguistic principles , 1965 .