![]() One could imagine how general knowledge of the universal structure of phonology (e.g., sonority) could influence sign language acquisition, however, regardless of the divergence between the two language modalities.Įvidence for amodal transfer between languages during L2 acquisition comes from studies that have demonstrated that learners of a sign language use knowledge of their first language co-speech gesture system ( Brentari, Nadolske, & Wolford, 2012 Chen Pichler, 2009 ) as well as other sources ( Chen Pichler & Koulidobrova, 2015 ) to aid in sign language acquisition. Most studies that examine transfer effects investigate two spoken languages. A distinction between the types of language modalities that bilinguals use is important to our understanding of how knowledge of one language can influence the acquisition of another. On the other hand, those learners whose first language is spoken but are acquiring a sign language are referred to as bimodal bilinguals. ![]() Learners whose first and second languages are both spoken are referred to as unimodal bilinguals. Many of the phenomena that have been documented to either facilitate or hinder second language acquisition are largely restricted to our knowledge of how two spoken languages interact within a bilingual system. However, there are many characteristics of the first language that can facilitate acquisition of a second language ( Gass & Selinker, 1992 ). Learning novel sounds ( Best & Tyler, 2007 ), word segmentation ( Field, 2003 ), and a myriad of other features ( Birdsong, 1992 ) can create many roadblocks along a learner’s acquisition path. Learning a new language late in adulthood can be a difficult experience. Together, results from Experiments 1 and 2 suggested that signs that contain high sonority movements are more easily processed, both perceptually and productively, and handshape markedness plays a differential role in perception and production. Similarly, signs with unmarked handshapes were produced more accurately than those with marked handshapes. Sign production accuracy rates revealed that high sonority signs were more accurate than low sonority signs. This effect was only present in familiar signs. Results from a key-release reaction time reproduction task showed that learners tended to produce high sonority signs much more quickly than low sonority signs, especially when the sign contained an unmarked handshape. In Experiment 2, learners produced these familiar signs in addition to novel signs, which differed based on sonority and markedness. Results from a sign-picture matching task revealed that high sonority signs were more accurately matched, especially when the sign contained a marked handshape. In Experiment 1, learners were taught sign-nonobject correspondences that varied in sign movement sonority and handshape markedness. The roles of visual sonority and handshape markedness in sign language acquisition and production were investigated.
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