Space Oddities: The Acquisition of Agreement Verbs by L2 Learners of Sign Language of the Netherlands

Eveline Boers–Visker,Roland Pfau

doi:10.1111/modl.12676

Abstract

AbstractThis article reports the results of the first longitudinal study that systematically investigates the acquisition of verb agreement by hearing learners of a sign language. During a 2‐year period, 14 novel learners of Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) with a spoken language background performed an elicitation task 15 times. Seven deaf native signers and NGT teachers performed the same task to serve as a benchmark group. The results obtained show that for some learners, the verb agreement system of NGT was difficult to master, despite numerous examples in the input. As compared to the benchmark group, learners tended to omit agreement markers on verbs that could be modified, did not always correctly use established locations associated with discourse referents, and made characteristic errors with respect to properties that are important in the expression of agreement (movement and orientation). The outcomes of the study are of value to practitioners in the field, as they are informative with regard to the nature of the learning process during the first stages of learning a sign language.

Highlights

We analyzed the data obtained from three L1 signers and four teachers, to which we will refer as the benchmark group
This is in sharp contrast with the benchmark group, who produced an unmodified verb from the class of agreement verbs in less than 1% (4/462) of the responses
Given (a) that for any spoken L1–sign L2 pair, the same limitations regarding the possibility of L1 transfer will apply, (b) that most mature sign languages are known to behave very much alike when it comes to the spatial modification of verbs (Meier, 2012), and assuming (c) that the gestural repertoire available to the sign language learner will be quite similar, we assume that the patterns we described will characterize, at least to some extent, the acquisition process of other sign languages that are acquired as L2s

Summary

Introduction

This article reports the results of the first longitudinal study that systematically investigates the acquisition of verb agreement by hearing learners of a sign language. The visual–spatial modality allows the signer to make use of resources that are not available in spoken languages, for instance, to use the space in front of the body (the ‘signing space’) to encode grammatical relations. This rule-governed use of signing space is new to M2L2 learners and might be difficult to master, given the absence of similar (rule-governed) elements in the L1 of the learner. The gloss ix:3a refers to pointing sign targeting a locus in space; 3ahelp involves a movement path from that locus toward the signer; 1help3a shows the reversed movement

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion