Effects and Non-Effects of Late Language Exposure on Spatial Language Development: Evidence from Deaf Adults and Children

Dilay Z Karadöller,Beyza Sümer,Aslı Özyürek

doi:10.1080/15475441.2020.1823846

Abstract

ABSTRACT Late exposure to the first language, as in the case of deaf children with hearing parents, hinders the production of linguistic expressions, even in adulthood. Less is known about the development of language soon after language exposure and if late exposure hinders all domains of language in children and adults. We compared late signing adults and children (MAge = 8;5) 2 years after exposure to sign language, to their age-matched native signing peers in expressions of two types of locative relations that are acquired in certain cognitive-developmental order: view-independent (IN-ON-UNDER) and view-dependent (LEFT-RIGHT). Late signing children and adults differed from native signers in their use of linguistic devices for view-dependent relations but not for view-independent relations. These effects were also modulated by the morphological complexity. Hindering effects of late language exposure on the development of language in children and adults are not absolute but are modulated by cognitive and linguistic complexity.

Highlights

Late exposure to the first language, as in the case of deaf children with hearing parents, hinders the production of linguistic expressions, even in adulthood
We focus our investigation on the effects of late sign language exposure on the acquisition of two categorically distinct spatial relations that are acquired in a certain order due to cognitive development: a) spatial expressions that are not dependent on the viewpoint of the viewer and b) expressions that are dependent on the viewpoint of the viewer
In the present study, we investigate the developmental patterns of locative relations in late signing children after 2 years of exposure compared to age-matched native signing children as well as late signing adults compared to their native signing peers in the final attainment

Summary

Introduction

Late exposure to the first language, as in the case of deaf children with hearing parents, hinders the production of linguistic expressions, even in adulthood. In order to see whether and how such deaf children and adults’ acquisition of two types of locative expressions are influenced by late language exposure, we compare their expressions to age-matched native signers who have been exposed to sign language from birth onwards by their caregivers. This comparison relies on the data we analyzed in our previous work on the development of spatial language patterns by native signing children and adults using TİD (see Sümer, 2015; Sümer & Özyürek, 2020). Using these terms to refer to the spatial relation between objects appears late (Benton, 1959; Harris, 1972; Piaget, 1928/1972; see Sümer, 2015 for Turkish)

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Conclusion