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Learning an Embodied Visual Language: Four Imitation Strategies Available to Sign Learners

The parts of the body that are used to produce and perceive signed languages (the hands, face, and visual system) differ from those used to produce and perceive spoken languages (the vocal tract and auditory system). In this paper we address two factors that have important consequences for sign lang...

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Autores principales: Shield, Aaron, Meier, Richard P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5988899/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29899716
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00811
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author Shield, Aaron
Meier, Richard P.
author_facet Shield, Aaron
Meier, Richard P.
author_sort Shield, Aaron
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description The parts of the body that are used to produce and perceive signed languages (the hands, face, and visual system) differ from those used to produce and perceive spoken languages (the vocal tract and auditory system). In this paper we address two factors that have important consequences for sign language acquisition. First, there are three types of lexical signs: one-handed, two-handed symmetrical, and two-handed asymmetrical. Natural variation in hand dominance in the population leads to varied input to children learning sign. Children must learn that signs are not specified for the right or left hand but for dominant and non-dominant. Second, we posit that children have at least four imitation strategies available for imitating signs: anatomical (Activate the same muscles as the sign model), which could lead learners to inappropriately use their non-dominant hand; mirroring (Produce a mirror image of the modeled sign), which could lead learners to produce lateral movement reversal errors or to use the non-dominant hand; visual matching (Reproduce what you see from your perspective), which could lead learners to produce inward–outward movement and palm orientation reversals; and reversing (Reproduce what the sign model would see from his/her perspective). This last strategy is the only one that always yields correct phonological forms in signed languages. To test our hypotheses, we turn to evidence from typical and atypical hearing and deaf children as well as from typical adults; the data come from studies of both sign acquisition and gesture imitation. Specifically, we posit that all children initially use a visual matching strategy but typical children switch to a mirroring strategy sometime in the second year of life; typical adults tend to use a mirroring strategy in learning signs and imitating gestures. By contrast, children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) appear to use the visual matching strategy well into childhood or even adulthood. Finally, we present evidence that sign language exposure changes how adults imitate gestures, switching from a mirroring strategy to the correct reversal strategy. These four strategies for imitation do not exist in speech and as such constitute a unique problem for research in language acquisition.
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spelling pubmed-59888992018-06-13 Learning an Embodied Visual Language: Four Imitation Strategies Available to Sign Learners Shield, Aaron Meier, Richard P. Front Psychol Psychology The parts of the body that are used to produce and perceive signed languages (the hands, face, and visual system) differ from those used to produce and perceive spoken languages (the vocal tract and auditory system). In this paper we address two factors that have important consequences for sign language acquisition. First, there are three types of lexical signs: one-handed, two-handed symmetrical, and two-handed asymmetrical. Natural variation in hand dominance in the population leads to varied input to children learning sign. Children must learn that signs are not specified for the right or left hand but for dominant and non-dominant. Second, we posit that children have at least four imitation strategies available for imitating signs: anatomical (Activate the same muscles as the sign model), which could lead learners to inappropriately use their non-dominant hand; mirroring (Produce a mirror image of the modeled sign), which could lead learners to produce lateral movement reversal errors or to use the non-dominant hand; visual matching (Reproduce what you see from your perspective), which could lead learners to produce inward–outward movement and palm orientation reversals; and reversing (Reproduce what the sign model would see from his/her perspective). This last strategy is the only one that always yields correct phonological forms in signed languages. To test our hypotheses, we turn to evidence from typical and atypical hearing and deaf children as well as from typical adults; the data come from studies of both sign acquisition and gesture imitation. Specifically, we posit that all children initially use a visual matching strategy but typical children switch to a mirroring strategy sometime in the second year of life; typical adults tend to use a mirroring strategy in learning signs and imitating gestures. By contrast, children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) appear to use the visual matching strategy well into childhood or even adulthood. Finally, we present evidence that sign language exposure changes how adults imitate gestures, switching from a mirroring strategy to the correct reversal strategy. These four strategies for imitation do not exist in speech and as such constitute a unique problem for research in language acquisition. Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-05-30 /pmc/articles/PMC5988899/ /pubmed/29899716 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00811 Text en Copyright © 2018 Shield and Meier. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 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) and the copyright owner 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
Shield, Aaron
Meier, Richard P.
Learning an Embodied Visual Language: Four Imitation Strategies Available to Sign Learners
title Learning an Embodied Visual Language: Four Imitation Strategies Available to Sign Learners
title_full Learning an Embodied Visual Language: Four Imitation Strategies Available to Sign Learners
title_fullStr Learning an Embodied Visual Language: Four Imitation Strategies Available to Sign Learners
title_full_unstemmed Learning an Embodied Visual Language: Four Imitation Strategies Available to Sign Learners
title_short Learning an Embodied Visual Language: Four Imitation Strategies Available to Sign Learners
title_sort learning an embodied visual language: four imitation strategies available to sign learners
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5988899/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29899716
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00811
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