Emergent Morphology in Child Homesign: Evidence from Number Language.

ABSTRACT: Human languages, signed and spoken, can be characterized by the structural patterns they use to associate communicative forms with meanings. One such pattern is paradigmatic morphology, where complex words are built from the systematic use and re-use of sub-lexical units. Here, we provide evidence of emergent paradigmatic morphology akin to number inflection in a communication system developed without input from a conventional language, homesign. We study the communication systems of four deaf child homesigners (mean age 8;02). Although these idiosyncratic systems vary from one another, we nevertheless find that all four children use handshape and movement devices productively to express cardinal and non-cardinal number information, and that their number express

SUBMITTER: Abner N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9122328 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature