Doctoral Dissertation Research: Late First Language Acquisition Effects on Phonological Processing in Sign Language

博士论文研究：晚期第一语言习得对手语语音处理的影响

• 批准号: 2335956
• 负责人: Rachel Mayberry
• 金额: $ 1.89万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-03-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2335956&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Late; First

Late first language acquisition is rare for hearing individuals who have automatic access to spoken languages used around them, but it occurs frequently for deaf individuals who are unable to hear any spoken languages and who are not exposed to a sign language as a first language until after early childhood. These late first language deaf signers can experience dramatic effects on all aspects of life including language outcomes. While much of the previous research on this topic has looked at language outcomes at the sentence level, this project aims to better understand the effects of late first language acquisition by looking below the sentence and word levels at how signers process the smallest pieces of language that make up signs/words. This work is necessary for a more complete understanding of the effects of late first language acquisition and better insight into how the human brain processes language more broadly. Practically, this work helps those who work with deaf individuals, like speech language pathologists and educators, to better understand how late first language signers process the linguistic pieces that make up language. In this dissertation, participants are deaf signers who acquired a sign language at a variety of ages, from early in childhood to late in adolescence. Study 1 investigates how the signers produce the smallest pieces of the sign language (manual forms like handshape, movement, and location) through sign repetition and error analysis. Study 2 investigates how the signers perceive the manual forms of sign language through similarity judgments. Study 3 investigates how the signers identify and process the manual forms of sign language through form monitoring and using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Together, these studies provide insight into how late first language signers compared to early first language signers produce, perceive, and process the smallest pieces of sign language, providing a systematic look at the effects of late first language acquisition at the sub-word level.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

对于那些自动访问周围使用的口语的个人而言，初次语言的后期获取很少见，但是对于那些无法听到任何口头语言并且直到童年后才能将手语作为一种语言的聋哑人经常出现。这些晚期的母语聋人签名者可以对生活的各个方面（包括语言结果）产生巨大影响。尽管以前关于该主题的研究中的许多研究都研究了句子级别的语言结果，但该项目旨在通过在句子和单词级别上查看签名者如何处理构成符号/单词的最小语言来更好地理解母语后期语言的效果。这项工作对于更完整地了解晚期语言获取的影响以及更好地了解人类大脑如何更广泛地处理语言的影响是必要的。实际上，这项工作可以帮助与聋哑人一起工作的人，例如语言病理学家和教育者，以更好地了解母语签名者如何处理构成语言的语言作品。在本文中，参与者是聋人签名者，他们以各个时代的年龄到青春期的早期获得了一条手语。研究1研究签名者如何通过签名重复和错误分析如何生产手语（手动形式）（例如握手，移动和位置）的最小部分。研究2调查了签名者如何通过相似性判断来感知手册的手册形式。研究3调查了签名者如何通过形式监控和使用磁脑摄影（MEG）来识别和处理手语的手动形式。这些研究共同洞悉了与早期语言签名者相比的晚期签名者的制作，感知和处理最小的手语的方式，从而系统地了解了第一个语言在次字级别上的后期语言获取的效果。该奖项反映了NSF的法规任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识优点和广泛的criter criter criter criter criter criter criteria criteria crietia criteria criteria criteria criteria criteria crititia criteria criteria crititia crietia criteria criteria criteria均值得一提。