Lessons to be Learned from Bimodal Bilingualism

This article presents a selective overview of topics related to the language experience of early bimodal bilinguals - individuals who are raised from an early age using two languages from two different modalities, typically spoken (or written) and signed. We show that deaf and hearing bimodal bilinguals may display patterns of bilingualism that are similar to unimodal bilinguals in some ways, such as the use of both languages in a single situation or even a single utterance. Nevertheless, there are also differences between bimodal and unimodal bilinguals, and differences among different subgroups of bimodal bilinguals, given large variation in relative access to the dominant and minority language(s) in their environment and their differential experiences in schooling and interactions with potential interlocutors. Moreover, we review studies discussing potential advantages of the sign modality and advantages of bilingualism in this population. We hope to highlight the importance of considering children’s overall language experience, including the age(s) at which they are exposed to each of their languages, the richness of their experiences with each of the languages, and the ways that the language-learning experience may contribute to the child’s linguistic and cognitive development

WHO chased the bird? Narrative cohesion in Nicaraguan signing

WHO chased the bird? Narrative cohesion in Nicaraguan signin

Visible Social Interactions Do Not Support the Development of False Belief Understanding in the Absence of Linguistic Input: Evidence from Deaf Adult Homesigners

Congenitally deaf individuals exhibit enhanced visuospatial abilities relative to normally hearing individuals. An early example is the increased sensitivity of deaf signers to stimuli in the visual periphery (Neville and Lawson, 1987a). While these enhancements are robust and extend across a number of visual and spatial skills, they seem not to extend to other domains which could potentially build on these enhancements. For example, congenitally deaf children, in the absence of adequate language exposure and acquisition, do not develop typical social cognition skills as measured by traditional Theory of Mind tasks. These delays/deficits occur despite their presumed lifetime use of visuo-perceptual abilities to infer the intentions and behaviors of others (e.g., Pyers and Senghas, 2009; O’Reilly et al., 2014). In a series of studies, we explore the limits on the plasticity of visually based socio-cognitive abilities, from perspective taking to Theory of Mind/False Belief, in rarely studied individuals: deaf adults who have not acquired a conventional language (Homesigners). We compared Homesigners’ performance to that of two other understudied groups in the same culture: Deaf signers of an emerging language (Cohort 1 of Nicaraguan Sign Language), and hearing speakers of Spanish with minimal schooling. We found that homesigners performed equivalently to both comparison groups with respect to several visual socio-cognitive abilities: Perspective Taking (Levels 1 and 2), adapted from Masangkay et al. (1974), and the False Photograph task, adapted from Leslie and Thaiss (1992). However, a lifetime of visuo-perceptual experiences (observing the behavior and interactions of others) did not support success on False Belief tasks, even when linguistic demands were minimized. Participants in the comparison groups outperformed the Homesigners, but did not universally pass the False Belief tasks. Our results suggest that while some of the social development achievements of young typically developing children may be dissociable from their linguistic experiences, language and/or educational experiences clearly scaffolds the transition into False Belief understanding. The lack of experience using a shared language cannot be overcome, even with the benefit of many years of observing others’ behaviors and the potential neural reorganization and visuospatial enhancements resulting from deafness

With a Little Help from My Friends: The Contributions of a Peer Language Network on the Conventionalization of Space in an Emerging Language

Individual children regularize inconsistent language input; many consider this the driving force for language change and emergence. Prior work on Nicaraguan Sign Language found that child learners, created morphological structures that had not existed previously. First-Cohort signers produced spatial modulations inconsistently, both within and across individuals. However, younger Second-Cohort signers who received this inconsistent input produced spatial modulations consistently, innovating morphological structure that had not previously existed in the grammar. Second-Cohort signers benefited from both older-to-younger language learning and peer-to-peer interactions, obscuring the contributions of each. This dissertation disentangles these factors by exploring a sociolinguistic context in which children receive inconsistent linguistic input and also lack linguistic peers: the hearing children of First-Cohort signers. Three studies investigated participants’ signed productions, interpretations of others’ productions, and non-linguistic encoding of spatial events. Results show that (1) individual children can regularize inconsistent input without the benefit of linguistic peers; however, (2) the unique sociocommunicative situation faced by Coda children drives them to regularize in unpredicted ways. They produced unrotated layouts more often than the First-Cohort, despite the strong preference of Second-Cohort signers for rotated layouts. Codas interpreted others’ spatial modulations flexibly, a potential consequence of the lack of a peer language network. These results resonate with findings regarding heritage language learners, whose lack of linguistic peers limits their acquisition of their parents’ native language. These findings have important implications for Deaf children in mainstreamed educational settings, whose sign language input comes primarily from non-fluent adult signers, and who rarely have signing linguistic peers

Theory of Mind Without a Language Model: Effects of Social Experience, Education and Language Exposure

Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities, i.e., the understanding that others’ internal states differ from one’s own, and that these states guide behavior, are multiply determined. ToM abilities underlie later social and pragmatic abilities, grossly affecting later life experiences, particularly for deaf children. However, previous studies have not clearly identified the effects of language, hearing status, or other exogenous factors, such as education or executive function abilities, on ToM development. To disentangle these, we studied three understudied populations in Nicaragua: Homesigners, who have not acquired a conventional language but have developed gestural communication systems; users of Nicaraguan Sign Language, an emerging language (NSL-Signers); and Unschooled Spanish Speakers (USS). Comparing these groups can help uncover the relative contributions to ToM of social experience (available to all groups), membership in a linguistic community (NSL-Signers and USS only), and education (only NSL-Signers). Using a minimally verbal ToM protocol in which participants experienced two types of False-Belief: Unexpected-Contents and Appearance/Reality; an Inhibitory-Control task; two perspective-taking tasks; and a memory span task, we found: 1) Language was related to success on False-Belief measures of ToM as well as to transformational memory span, while 2) Education was related to success on conflict-Inhibitory-Control tasks. Performance on non-transformational memory span tasks, non-conflict-Inhibitory-Control, and Perspective-Taking did not differ across groups, suggesting that those without education or language community nevertheless develop these cognitive abilities. The results suggest a complex interaction among language, inhibitory control executive function, and education for Theory of Mind Development, and highlight language as a necessary factor