Sign Production

Abstract

Sign languages provide crucial insights into what aspects of language production are affected by the motor systems used for production (the hands vs. the vocal tract) and by the perceptual systems engaged for comprehension (vision vs. audition). The discovery that sign languages have phonological structure (traditionally defined as the sound patterns of language) indicates important parallels between signing and speaking that constitute universal properties of language production. Psycholinguistic evidence that phonological assembly occurs during sign production includes slips of the hand, tip-of-the-fingers states, and form-based priming. Nonetheless, there are key differences between signing and speaking that illuminate how biology impacts language production: the use of multiple independent articulators, the impact of iconicity, the role of visual vs. auditory feedback, and the unique ability to code-blend (produce a word and a sign at the same time). Overall, the study of sign language production provides unique insights into factors that impact the language production system.