From Seed to System: The Emergence of Non-Manual Markers for Wh-Questions in Nicaraguan Sign Language
At a language’s inception, what determines which elements are taken up to build a grammar? How is the initial raw material reshaped through intergenerational language learning? We approached this question by focusing on the emergence of non-manual wh-question markers in Nicaraguan Sign Language (LSN...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-05-01
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| Series: | Languages |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/7/2/137 |
| _version_ | 1797485262646804480 |
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| author | Annemarie Kocab Ann Senghas Jennie Pyers |
| author_facet | Annemarie Kocab Ann Senghas Jennie Pyers |
| author_sort | Annemarie Kocab |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | At a language’s inception, what determines which elements are taken up to build a grammar? How is the initial raw material reshaped through intergenerational language learning? We approached this question by focusing on the emergence of non-manual wh-question markers in Nicaraguan Sign Language (LSN), a young sign language. We asked whether the seeds of non-manual markers originate in the facial gestures of the hearing Nicaraguan community, and we explored the iterated process by which a form becomes selected and then systematized through generational transmission. We identified six non-manual facial and body movements produced with questions by 34 deaf LSN signers, representing three sequential age cohorts of learners, and compared them to those produced by 16 non-signing Spanish speakers. We examined the frequency and duration of each non-manual, and its temporal overlap with a question word. One non-manual, the brow furrow, was overwhelmingly represented among LSN signers, despite appearing rarely among non-signers and not being initially favored in duration or temporal overlap. With the second and third cohorts, the brow furrow emerges as a frequent and systematic marker. With each cycle of child learners, variable input was transformed into a more constrained set of grammatical forms. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T23:16:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-19a55f0376ca435a8ca7451051ddd963 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T23:16:18Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj.art-19a55f0376ca435a8ca7451051ddd9632023-11-23T17:34:34ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2022-05-017213710.3390/languages7020137From Seed to System: The Emergence of Non-Manual Markers for Wh-Questions in Nicaraguan Sign LanguageAnnemarie Kocab0Ann Senghas1Jennie Pyers2Departments of Psychology and Linguistics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USADepartment of Psychology, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USADepartment of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481, USAAt a language’s inception, what determines which elements are taken up to build a grammar? How is the initial raw material reshaped through intergenerational language learning? We approached this question by focusing on the emergence of non-manual wh-question markers in Nicaraguan Sign Language (LSN), a young sign language. We asked whether the seeds of non-manual markers originate in the facial gestures of the hearing Nicaraguan community, and we explored the iterated process by which a form becomes selected and then systematized through generational transmission. We identified six non-manual facial and body movements produced with questions by 34 deaf LSN signers, representing three sequential age cohorts of learners, and compared them to those produced by 16 non-signing Spanish speakers. We examined the frequency and duration of each non-manual, and its temporal overlap with a question word. One non-manual, the brow furrow, was overwhelmingly represented among LSN signers, despite appearing rarely among non-signers and not being initially favored in duration or temporal overlap. With the second and third cohorts, the brow furrow emerges as a frequent and systematic marker. With each cycle of child learners, variable input was transformed into a more constrained set of grammatical forms.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/7/2/137language emergenceNicaraguan Sign Languagenon-manual markerswh-questions |
| spellingShingle | Annemarie Kocab Ann Senghas Jennie Pyers From Seed to System: The Emergence of Non-Manual Markers for Wh-Questions in Nicaraguan Sign Language Languages language emergence Nicaraguan Sign Language non-manual markers wh-questions |
| title | From Seed to System: The Emergence of Non-Manual Markers for Wh-Questions in Nicaraguan Sign Language |
| title_full | From Seed to System: The Emergence of Non-Manual Markers for Wh-Questions in Nicaraguan Sign Language |
| title_fullStr | From Seed to System: The Emergence of Non-Manual Markers for Wh-Questions in Nicaraguan Sign Language |
| title_full_unstemmed | From Seed to System: The Emergence of Non-Manual Markers for Wh-Questions in Nicaraguan Sign Language |
| title_short | From Seed to System: The Emergence of Non-Manual Markers for Wh-Questions in Nicaraguan Sign Language |
| title_sort | from seed to system the emergence of non manual markers for wh questions in nicaraguan sign language |
| topic | language emergence Nicaraguan Sign Language non-manual markers wh-questions |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/7/2/137 |
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