The puzzle of negation: How children move from communicative to grammatical negation in ASL
- 1 October 1997
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Applied Psycholinguistics
- Vol. 18 (4) , 411-429
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0142716400010912
Abstract
In American Sign Language (ASL), in addition to manual signs, specific nonmanual behaviors play a crucial role in the grammar of the language. For example, conditionals and relative clauses are signaled by obligatory nonmanual markers. This study focuses on the acquisition of negation in ASL, which is signaled by manual signs as well as an obligatory headshake. In particular, we address the developmental relationship between the communicative and grammatical (or linguistic) headshakes for negation. Study 1 includes naturalistic data from a cross-sectional sample of 51 deaf children, ranging in age from 1: 0 to 4: 11, who are acquiring ASL as their primary language. Study 2 includes longitudinal data from 16 of these children.Keywords
This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit:
- A Linguistic Analysis of the Negative Headshake in American Sign LanguageSign Language Studies, 1990
- The acquisition of conditionals in American Sign Language: Grammaticized facial expressionsApplied Psycholinguistics, 1990
- On the autonomy of language and gesture: Evidence from the acquisition of personal pronouns in American sign languageCognition, 1987
- American Sign Language SyntaxPublished by Walter de Gruyter GmbH ,1980
- Implicational Variation in American Sign Language: Negative IncorporationSign Language Studies, 1974
- A First LanguagePublished by Harvard University Press ,1973
- A comparison of sign language and spoken languageCognition, 1972