Operationalization and Measurement of Sign Language

We outline a number of fundamental issues in how sign language exposure and proficiency were operationalized and reported by Geers et al. Most importantly, the authors did not distinguish between those exposed to ASL versus English signing systems (eg, signing exact English, sign-supported English, baby sign) when classifying children. This is a fatal flaw because, in contrast to artificial English signing systems, natural sign languages such as ASL are legitimate languages (as long-affirmed by the Linguistic Society of America1), with all the cognitive benefits a natural language provides. The study is recklessly misleading because of this inappropriate conflation, … E-mail: nkc{at}bu.edu

我们概述了吉尔等人在如何实施和报告手语接触及熟练程度方面的一些基本问题。最重要的是，作者在对儿童进行分类时，没有区分接触美国手语（ASL）的儿童和接触英语手语系统（例如，精确英语手语、手语辅助英语、婴儿手语）的儿童。这是一个致命的缺陷，因为与人工的英语手语系统不同，像美国手语这样的自然手语是合法的语言（美国语言学会长期以来一直确认这一点），具有自然语言所提供的所有认知益处。由于这种不恰当的合并，这项研究具有严重的误导性…… 电子邮件：nkc{at}bu.edu