This case study provides a first exploratory study on the early Flemish Sign Language acquisition of a deaf infant from the
perspective of Halliday’s Systemic Functional Theory. It highlights some remarkable aspects of sign language acquisition with
respect to interpersonal interaction between the child and its mother. The free play interactions of the Deaf mother and her
moderately deaf daughter were recorded when the child was 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months old. These interactions were annotated in
ELAN and transcribed in view of the analysis adapting Systemic Functional Linguistics. The analysis indicates that the early sign
language development of the child chronologically correlates with Halliday’s descriptions of the universal functions of language.
The infant’s first lexical signs appeared at 12 months. The child produced one-sign utterances (12 months and older), one-sign
utterances along with a pointing sign (18 months and older) and two-sign utterances (24 months). The mother integrated attentional
strategies to redirect the child’s attention. She also adopted techniques that are appropriate for child-directed signing, i.e.
questions, recasts and expansions.
Article outline
1.Background
2.Research questions
3.Methodology
3.1Participants’ profiles
3.2Data collection
3.2.1Setting
3.2.2Instruments
3.3Analysis
3.4Ethics committee
4.Results
4.1The face-to-face interactions
4.1.1Attentional strategies
4.1.2Pointing behaviour
4.1.3Lexical level: The child’s manual and mouth activities
4.1.4Lexical level: The mother’s manual and mouth activities
4.1.5Child-directed signing
4.2Developmental path
4.2.1Six months
4.2.2Nine months
4.2.3Twelve months
4.2.4Eighteen months
4.2.5Twenty-four months
5.Discussion
5.1The face-to-face interactions
5.1.1Attentional strategies
5.1.2Pointing behaviour
5.1.3Lexical level: The child’s manual and mouth activities
5.1.4Lexical level: The mother’s manual and mouth activities
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