Cross-fostered chimpanzees modulate signs of American Sign Language

Gesture ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 107-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie J. Chalcraft ◽  
R. Allen Gardner
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Foster Families ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Genetic Endowment ◽  
Evo Devo ◽  
Cross Fostering

Evolutionary and developmental (Evo-Devo) biologists study the interaction between genetic endowment and developmental environment (Lewontin, 2001; Robert, 2004). Cross-fostering is a powerful tool for studying Evo-Devo. Chimpanzees lived under conditions very similar to the conditions of human children with human foster families who used American Sign Language (ASL) exclusively in their presence. In this environment, cross-fostered chimpanzees acquired and used signs as human children do. Intensive analyses of extensive video records of casual conversation show that Tatu at 46–48 months directionally modulated action signs to indicate actor and instrument as human signers do. Tatu directionally modulated action signs in responses to Wh-questions such as “Who?” but directional modulations failed to appear in responses to What Demonstrative questions such as “What that?” These results confirm and extend previous results for Dar at 37–48 months. Further analyses show that Tatu also quantitatively modulated all types of signs to indicate intensity as human signers do.

Cross-fostered chimpanzees modulate signs of American Sign Language

Gesture ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 107-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie J. Chalcraft ◽  
R. Allen Gardner
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Foster Families ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Genetic Endowment ◽  
Evo Devo ◽  
Cross Fostering

Evolutionary and developmental (Evo-Devo) biologists study the interaction between genetic endowment and developmental environment (Lewontin, 2001; Robert, 2004). Cross-fostering is a powerful tool for studying Evo-Devo. Chimpanzees lived under conditions very similar to the conditions of human children with human foster families who used American Sign Language (ASL) exclusively in their presence. In this environment, cross-fostered chimpanzees acquired and used signs as human children do. Intensive analyses of extensive video records of casual conversation show that Tatu at 46–48 months directionally modulated action signs to indicate actor and instrument as human signers do. Tatu directionally modulated action signs in responses to Wh-questions such as “Who?” but directional modulations failed to appear in responses to What Demonstrative questions such as “What that?” These results confirm and extend previous results for Dar at 37–48 months. Further analyses show that Tatu also quantitatively modulated all types of signs to indicate intensity as human signers do.

Syntax and prosodic consequences in ASL

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Churng
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Question Types ◽  
Remnant Movement ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Parallel Merge

This study investigates three different multiple wh-question types in American Sign Language (ASL). While the three are strikingly similar, subtle but systematic differences in their prosody make them semantically distinct. I derive these distinctions from their syntax, via extensions of Koopman and Szabolcsi’s (2000) remnant movement and Sportiche’s (1988) stranded movement, and I propose that multiple wh-questions in ASL involve Parallel Merge structures of the kind proposed by Citko (2005). I also present new generalizations to characterize their prosody, whereby A-bar movement gives rise to prosodic breaks and ‘prosodic resets’.

scholarly journals Felicia Bisnath - Wh-questions in the Trinidad and Tobago Signing Community

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicia Bisnath
Keyword(s):  
Trinidad And Tobago ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Deaf Education ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Deaf Parents ◽  
Wh Questions

Signing in Trinidad and Tobago is characterised by variation and multilingualism arising out of deaf education. Two varieties are named for the purposes of this paper: Trinidad and Tobago Sign Language (TTSL) which is an indigenous variety, and Trinidad and Tobago American Sign Language (TTASL) which can be considered a product of contact between TTSL and American Sign Language (TTASL). This paper describes variation in the domain of wh-questions as they are used by three different kinds of consultants: two deaf people who grew up with and without deaf parents and relatives respectively, and a hearing person with deaf parents. Eighteen unique wh-words, one non-manual form and four positions of the wh-word were elicited. These grammatical properties when viewed alongside the backgrounds of the language consultants reveal variation between TTSL and TTASL. Terminological variation in what “TTSL” refers to was also found. This variation is linked to the language background of signers, and shows that the named varieties created by linguists out of convenience do not necessarily reflect the perceptions of all members of a community.

Signs of intelligence in cross-fostered chimpanzees

1985 ◽  
Vol 308 (1135) ◽  
pp. 159-176 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Cross Fostering ◽  
Infant Chimpanzees

In cross-fostering, the young of one species are reared by adults of another, as in the classical ethological studies of imprinting and song-learning. In our laboratory, infant chimpanzees were reared under human conditions that included two-way communication in American Sign Language (A.S.L.), the gestural language of the deaf in North America. A large body of evidence from five chimpanzees demonstrated stage by stage replication of basic aspects of the acquisition of speech and signs by hearing and deaf children. Here we review evidence that, under double-blind conditions: (i) the chimpanzees communicated information in A.S.L. to human observers; (ii) independent human observers agreed in their identification of the chimpanzee signs, (iii) the chimpanzees could use the signs to refer to natural language categories: DOG for any dog, FLOWER for any flower, SHOE for any shoe.

Spatial and temporal dynamics of lexico-semantic processing in American Sign Language

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Leonard ◽  
N. Ferjan Ramirez ◽  
C. Torres ◽  
M. Hatrak ◽  
R. Mayberry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Dynamics

Patient Health Questionnaire-9--American Sign Language Version

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Pertz ◽  
Missy Plegue ◽  
Kathleen Diehl ◽  
Philip Zazove ◽  
Michael McKee
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Patient Health Questionnaire ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
Language Version ◽  
Patient Health
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