Young children's acquisition of the location aspect of American Sign Language signs: Parental report findings

Abstract

The acquisition of the location aspect of American Sign Language signs was examined in 9 young children of deaf parents. In monthly home visits, the parents demonstrated on videotape how their children formed each newly-acquired sign in their lexicons; these videotaped records served as the basis for the present analyses. Sign locations, overall, were produced with relatively high accuracy: 83.5% were correct on average across the different signs in the children's early lexicons. Certain sign locations were found to be more easily or readily acquired than others. Highly contrasting locations (forehead, chin, on and in front of the trunk) were acquired first. Among the locations typically acquired later were those that involved complex handshapes, provided a small area for a point of contact, or required the active signing hand to cross the body's midline. The location aspect was interpreted as playing a central role in young children's early sign language acquisition.