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Sign Language & Linguistics
Vol. 20:1 (2017) ► pp.1–26

Describing spatial layouts as an L2M2 signed language learner

| NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
| NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

This study explores the L2M2 acquisition of Norwegian Sign Language by hearing adults, with a focus on the production and use of depicting signs. A group of students and their instructors were asked to respond to prompt questions about directions and locations in Norwegian Sign Language, and their responses were then compared. An examination of the students’ depicting signs shows that they struggled more with the phonological parameters orientation and movement, rather than with handshape. In addition, they used fewer depicting signs than their instructors, and instead relied more on lexical signs. Finally, students were found to struggle with the coordination of depicting signs within the signing space and in relation to their own bodies. It is hoped that the findings from this study can be used to inform future research as well as curricula development and pedagogy.

Keywords: depicting signs, classifier predicates, Norwegian Sign Language, L2 acquisition, M2 acquisition
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.L2M2 signed language acquisition and depicting signs
    • 2.1L2M2 acquisition of lexical signs
    • 2.2Depicting signs
    • 2.3L2M2 acquisition of depicting signs
    • 2.4Summary of research as impetus for the current study
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Data elicitation and collection
    • 3.3Annotation
  • 4.Depicting signs across the instructor and student data
    • 4.1General findings
      • 4.1.1Difficulty answering the questions and general indeterminacy in the student data
      • 4.1.2Distribution of sign types and depicting sign subtypes for both groups
    • 4.2Non-target phonology in the students’ depicting signs
    • 4.3Depicting signs vs. alternatives
    • 4.4The coordination of signs in the signing space and in relation to each other
      • 4.4.1Placing signs in the signing space
      • 4.4.2Coordinating and positioning the hands in relation to each other
  • 5.Learning to make sense with depicting signs during L2M2 acquisition
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 6 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.20.1.01fer
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