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Article published In:
Sign Language & Linguistics
Vol. 25:2 (2022) ► pp.205–234

Learning to introduce referents in narration is resilient to the effects of late sign language exposure

ORCID logo | Atatürk University
| University of Amsterdam

The present study investigates the effects of late sign language exposure on narrative development in Turkish Sign Language (TİD) by focusing on the introductions of main characters and the linguistic strategies used in these introductions. We study these domains by comparing narrations produced by native and late signers in TİD. The results of our study reveal that late sign language exposure does not hinder the acquisition of linguistic devices to introduce main characters in narrations. Thus, their acquisition seems to be resilient to the effects of late language exposure. Our study further suggests that a two-year exposure to sign language facilitates the acquisition of these skills in signing children even in the case of late language exposure, thus providing further support for the importance of sign language exposure to develop linguistic skills for signing children.

Keywords: late sign language exposure, narrative development, native signers, late signers, main character introduction, linguistic strategies, Turkish sign language
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Narrating events in sign languages
    • 1.2Narrative development in sign languages
      • 1.2.1Narrative development in the case of early sign language exposure
      • 1.2.2Narrative development in the case of late sign language exposure
  • 2.The present study
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Material and procedure
    • 2.3Data coding
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Introducing main characters: Frequency
    • 3.2Introducing main characters: Linguistic devices
      • 3.2.1Qualitative findings
      • 3.2.2Quantitative findings
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Acquisition of referent introduction in sign language is resilient to the effects of late language exposure
    • 4.2Constructed action as a referent introduction devices in signing children’s narratives
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 11 November 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.21004.gur
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