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Phonological reduplication in sign language: Rules rule
Productivity—the hallmark of linguistic competence—is typically attributed to algebraic rules that support broad generalizations. Past research on spoken language has documented such generalizations in both adults and infants. But whether algebraic rules form part of the linguistic competence of sig...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4050968/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24959158 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00560 |
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author | Berent, Iris Dupuis, Amanda Brentari, Diane |
author_facet | Berent, Iris Dupuis, Amanda Brentari, Diane |
author_sort | Berent, Iris |
collection | PubMed |
description | Productivity—the hallmark of linguistic competence—is typically attributed to algebraic rules that support broad generalizations. Past research on spoken language has documented such generalizations in both adults and infants. But whether algebraic rules form part of the linguistic competence of signers remains unknown. To address this question, here we gauge the generalization afforded by American Sign Language (ASL). As a case study, we examine reduplication (X→XX)—a rule that, inter alia, generates ASL nouns from verbs. If signers encode this rule, then they should freely extend it to novel syllables, including ones with features that are unattested in ASL. And since reduplicated disyllables are preferred in ASL, such a rule should favor novel reduplicated signs. Novel reduplicated signs should thus be preferred to nonreduplicative controls (in rating), and consequently, such stimuli should also be harder to classify as nonsigns (in the lexical decision task). The results of four experiments support this prediction. These findings suggest that the phonological knowledge of signers includes powerful algebraic rules. The convergence between these conclusions and previous evidence for phonological rules in spoken language suggests that the architecture of the phonological mind is partly amodal. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4050968 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-40509682014-06-23 Phonological reduplication in sign language: Rules rule Berent, Iris Dupuis, Amanda Brentari, Diane Front Psychol Psychology Productivity—the hallmark of linguistic competence—is typically attributed to algebraic rules that support broad generalizations. Past research on spoken language has documented such generalizations in both adults and infants. But whether algebraic rules form part of the linguistic competence of signers remains unknown. To address this question, here we gauge the generalization afforded by American Sign Language (ASL). As a case study, we examine reduplication (X→XX)—a rule that, inter alia, generates ASL nouns from verbs. If signers encode this rule, then they should freely extend it to novel syllables, including ones with features that are unattested in ASL. And since reduplicated disyllables are preferred in ASL, such a rule should favor novel reduplicated signs. Novel reduplicated signs should thus be preferred to nonreduplicative controls (in rating), and consequently, such stimuli should also be harder to classify as nonsigns (in the lexical decision task). The results of four experiments support this prediction. These findings suggest that the phonological knowledge of signers includes powerful algebraic rules. The convergence between these conclusions and previous evidence for phonological rules in spoken language suggests that the architecture of the phonological mind is partly amodal. Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-06-10 /pmc/articles/PMC4050968/ /pubmed/24959158 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00560 Text en Copyright © 2014 Berent, Dupuis and Brentari. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychology Berent, Iris Dupuis, Amanda Brentari, Diane Phonological reduplication in sign language: Rules rule |
title | Phonological reduplication in sign language: Rules rule |
title_full | Phonological reduplication in sign language: Rules rule |
title_fullStr | Phonological reduplication in sign language: Rules rule |
title_full_unstemmed | Phonological reduplication in sign language: Rules rule |
title_short | Phonological reduplication in sign language: Rules rule |
title_sort | phonological reduplication in sign language: rules rule |
topic | Psychology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4050968/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24959158 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00560 |
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