Le développement de la langue des signes Américaine

Abstract

Investigations into the development of sign language have shown us that humans learn visual languages in a similar manner as spoken languages. We now know that children babble in sign language, make phonological errors, omit morphology in their earliest sentences, which all have parallels in spoken language acquisition. Equally interesting are aspects of sign language that would seem to be transparent and therefore, learned with ease, but are only acquired over long periods of time. Aspects of sign language grammar that appear on the face are developed later than grammar on the hands. Elements of grammar that are highly iconic have a surprisingly long time-table of development indicating that transparency does not lead to effortless acquisition. In all, sign language development provides us with a different perspective on how the brain manages to learn language regardless of modality. This article provides a broad overview of this development. © P.U.F.