Sign Language’ Syntax and Acquisition – SiLSA
This project aims at filling the gap in describing (French) Sign Language Syntax and its Acquisition (SiLSA). A first necessary step in this direction will be descriptive, as a lot is still unknown regarding French Sign Language (Langue des Signes Française, LSF)’s syntax, especially when it comes to subordinate clauses (relative, complement, and adverbial clauses). The second step will consist in investigating the acquisition of such structures in LSF, across the variety of linguistic profiles that exists in deaf children. Deaf children come to sign languages at a variety of ages, through family (5-10% only), institutions or associations. A delayed age of acquisition has consequences on their language proficiency that remain in adulthood, especially when facing complex sentences (Boudreault & Mayberry 2006). We expect the acquisition path of complex structures to vary depending on whether the children are native (born from Deaf parents), early (exposed before 6 y.o.) or late signers (exposed after 6 y.o.).
Deaf children are also exposed to the surrounding spoken language. As such, the assessment of their language development has to be considered within the domain of minority language bilingualism. An axis of research interested in children whose first language is different from the language of the wider community they live in (Cummins, 1976). Thus, the third step of SiLSA will have to assess language proficiency in written French. A battery parallel to that developed for LSF will be administered to the older children (from 8 to 10 y.o.) to see if any difference can be found across modalities. The tests will be carried across two types of deaf institutions: oralist schools and bilingual LSF-French schools to see if the change in setting affects children’s performance.On top of helping us unveil the acquisition path of both languages in Deaf children, the outcome of our research will have a broader impact regarding pedagogical options more suited for deaf education.
Project coordination
Charlotte HAUSER (Structures formelles du langage)
The author of this summary is the project coordinator, who is responsible for the content of this summary. The ANR declines any responsibility as for its contents.
Partner
SFL Structures formelles du langage
Help of the ANR 285,626 euros
Beginning and duration of the scientific project:
October 2023
- 48 Months