Chapter 17
Motion expression in children’s acquisition of French Sign Language
Camille Schoder | Laboratoire Structures Formelles du Langage, Université de Paris 8 & CNRS
Maya Hickmann | Laboratoire Structures Formelles du Langage, CNRS & Université Paris 8
Much research has examined the development of motion expression, but little is known about this domain in sign language. This study examines how signers (Deaf children aged 5–10 and adults) of French Sign Language (LSF) described clips showing voluntary motion events with variable Paths and Manners. Using mainly iconic structures, children frequently expressed both Path and Manner early on. However, responses varied with the structures used and increased with age for some event types (downward motion, boundary crossing). In addition, serial constructions increased, typically expressing two perspectives (observer and character). Finally, young children did not always provide relevant locative information (particularly with crossing events) but these cases decreased. In conclusion, iconicity partially invites signers to combine motion components, notwithstanding variation in structure and developmental changes observed with some event types.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Space across languages
- 2.1Spoken languages
- 2.2Sign languages
- 2.3Motion expression in first language acquisition
- Spoken languages
- Sign languages
- 3.Methodology
- 3.1Participants
- 3.2Stimuli
- 3.3Procedure
- 3.4Coding
- 4.Background: Previous results in spoken English and French
- 5.Results in LSF
- 5.1Expressed information
- 5.2Structures used
- 6.Discussion
- 6.1Structure types and motion components
- 6.2Event types
- 6.3Development
- 7.Concluding remarks
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
-
References
-
Appendix
References (62)
References
Allen, S., Özyürek, A., Kita, S., Brown, A., Furman, R., Ishizuka, T. & Fujii, M. 2007. Language-specific and universal influences in children's syntactic packaging of Manner and Path: A comparison of English, Japanese, and Turkish. Cognition 102(1): 16–48. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Antinoro Pizzuto, E., Rossini, P., Sallandre, M. -A. & Wilkinson, E. 2008. Deixis, anaphora and Highly Iconic Structures: Cross-linguistic evidence on American (ASL), French (LSF) and Italian (LIS) Signed Languages. In Sign Languages: Spinning and Unraveling the Past, Present and Future [
Proceedings of TISLR 9], R.M. de Quadros (ed.), 475–495. Florianapolis, Brazil: Editora Arara Azul.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Barberà, G. 2014. Use and functions of spatial planes in Catalan Sign Language (LSC) discourse. Sign Language Studies 14(2): 147–174. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bowerman, M. & Choi, S. 2003. Space under construction: Language-specific categorization in first language acquisition. In Language in Mind: Advances in the Study of Language and Thought, D. Gentner & S. Goldin-Meadow (eds), 387–427. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Choi, S. & Bowerman, M. 1991. Learning to express motion events in English and Korean: The influence of language-specific lexicalization patterns. Cognition 41(1–3): 83–121. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Choi, S. & Hattrup, K. 2012. Relative contribution of cognition/perception and language on spatial categorization. Cognitive Science 36: 102–129. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Crasborn, O. & Sloetjes, H. 2008. Enhanced ELAN functionality for sign language corpora. In Proceedings of LREC 2008, Sixth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation, N. Calzolari, K. Choukri, B. Maegaard, J. Mariani, J. Odjik, S. Piperidis & D. Tapias (eds), 39–43. Paris: European Language Resources Association.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cuxac, C. 2000. La langue des signes Française: Les voies de l'iconicité [
Faits de Langues 15–16]. Paris: Ophrys.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cuxac, C. & Sallandre, M. -A. 2007. Iconicity and arbitrariness in French Sign Language: Highly Iconic Structures, degenerated iconicity and diagrammatic iconicity. In Verbal and Signed Languages: Comparing Structures, Constructs and Methodologies, E. Pizzuto, P. Pietrandrea & R. Simone (eds), 13–33. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
De Beuzeville, L. 2004. The acquisition of classifier signs in Auslan by deaf children from deaf families: A preliminary analysis. Deaf Worlds 20: 120–140.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dudis, P. 2004. Body partitioning and real-space blends. Cognitive Linguistics 15: 223–38. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Emmorey, K. (ed.). 2003. Perspectives on Classifier Constructions in Sign Languages. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Engberg-Pedersen, E. 2003. From pointing to reference and predication: Pointing signs, eyegaze, and head and body orientation in Danish Sign Language. In Pointing. Where Language, Culture and Cognition Meet, S. Kita (ed.), 269–292. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Friedman, L. A. (ed.). 1977. On the Other Hand. New Perspectives on American Sign Language. New York NY: Academic Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fusellier-Souza, I. 2006. Emergence and development of Signed Languages: From diachronic ontogenesis to diachronic phylogenesis. Sign Language Studies 7(1): 30–56. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Garcia, B. & Sallandre, M. -A. 2014. Reference resolution in French Sign Language. In Crosslinguistic Studies on Noun Phrase Structure and Reference [Syntax and Semantics 39], P. Cabredo Hofherr & A. Zribi-Hertz (eds), 316–364. Leiden: Brill.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gennari, S. P., Sloman, S. A., Malt, B. C. & Fitch, W. T. 2002. Motion events in language and cognition. Cognition 83: 49–79. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goldin-Meadow, S. 2003. The Resilience of Language. New York NY: Psychology Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Harr, A. -K. 2012. Language-specific Factors in First Language Acquisition: The Expression of Motion Events in French and German [Studies on Language Acquisition 48]. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickmann, M. 2003. Children's Discourse: Person, Space and Time across Languages. Cambridge: CUP.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickmann, M. & Hendriks, H. 2010. Typological constraints on the acquisition of spatial language. Cognitive Linguistics 21(2): 189–215. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickmann, M., Hendriks, H. & Champaud, C. 2009. Typological constraints on motion in French and English child language. In Crosslinguistic Approaches to the Psychology of Language: Research in the Tradition of Dan Isaac Slobin, J. Guo, E. Lieven, N. Budwig, S. Ervin-Tripp, K. Nakamura & S. Ozcaliskan (eds), 209–224. New York NY: Taylor Francis.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickmann, M., Taranne, P. & Bonnet, P. 2009. Motion in first language acquisition: Manner and path in French and in English. Journal of Child Language 36(4): 705–741. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ji, Y., Hendriks, H. & Hickmann, M. 2011. Children’s expression of voluntary motion events in English and Chinese. Journal of Foreign Languages 34(4): 2–20.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Klima, E. & Bellugi, U. (eds). 1979. The Signs of Language. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kosslyn, S. M. 1980. Image and Mind. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Metzger, M. 1995. Constructed dialogue and constructed action in American Sign Language. In Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities, Sign, Ceil Lucas (ed.), 255–71. Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Morgan, G., Herman, R., Barriere, I. & Woll, B. 2008. The onset and mastery of spatial language in children acquiring British Sign Language. Cognitive Development 23: 1–19. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Özyürek, A., Furman, R. & Goldin-Meadow, S. 2014. On the way to language: Event segmentation in homesign and gesture. Journal of Child Language 42(1): 64–94. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Papafragou, A. & Selimis, S. 2010. Event categorisation and language: A cross-linguistic study of motion. Language and Cognitive Processes 25: 224–260. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Perniss, P. 2008. Space and iconicity in German Sign Language (DGS). Sign Language & Linguistics 11(1): 123–129.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Perniss, P. & Özyürek, A. 2008. Representations of action, motion, and location in sign space: A comparison of German (DGS) and Turkish (TID) Sign Language narratives. In Signs of the Time: Selected Papers from TISLR 8, J. Quer (ed.), 353–377. Hamburg: Signum Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pizzuto, E. 2007. Deixis, anaphora and person reference in signed languages. In Verbal and Signed Languages: Comparing Structures, Constructs and Methodologies, E. Pizzuto, P. Pietrandrea & R. Simone (eds), 275–308. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pizzuto, E., Pietrandrea, P. & Simone R. (eds). 2007. Verbal and Signed Languages. Comparing Structures, Constructs and Methodologies. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Risler, A. 2013. Expression du déplacement dans les langues signées: Comment parler d'espace dans une langue spatiale. Faits de Langue 42 : 217–244.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Russo, T. 2004. Iconicity and productivity in sign language discourse: An analysis of three LIS discourse registers. Sign Language Studies 4(2): 164–197. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sallandre, M. -A. 2007. Simultaneity in French Sign Language discourse. In Simultaneity in Signed Languages: Form and Function [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 281], M. Vermeerbergen, L. Leeson & O. Crasborn (eds), 103–125. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sallandre, M. -A. & L’Huillier, M. -T. 2011. Corpus CREAGEST, LSF enfantine (ANR). <[URL]>
Sallandre, M. -A. & L’Huillier, M. -T. 2015. Acquisition of perspectives and transfers in French Sign Language (poster). International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition 7, Amsterdam.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sallandre, M. -A., Di Renzo, A. & Gavrilescu, R. 2016. Various types of personal transfers (constructed actions) in seven sign languages (poster). Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research Conference 8, Melbourne.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schembri, A. 2003. Rethinking “classifiers” in signed languages. In Perspectives on Classifier Constructions in Sign Languages, K. Emmorey (ed.), 3–34. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schoder, C. 2014. Contraintes typologiques dans l’expression du mouvement en acquisition L1 de la Langue des Signes Française (LSF). The Gesture-Sign Interface in Language Acquisition Workshop, Paris.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schoder, C. 2017. Contraintes typologiques sur l’acquisition du langage spatial : l’expression du mouvement par l’enfant sourd en langue des signes française et par l’enfant entendant francophone. PhD dissertation, University of Paris 8.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Senghas, A., Kita, S. & Özyürek A. 2004. Children creating core properties of language: Evidence from an emerging sign language in Nicaragua. Science 305: 1779–1782. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Slobin, D. I. 2004. The many ways to search for a frog: Linguistic typology and the expression of motion events. In Relating Events in Narrative, Vol. 2: Typological and Contextual Perspectives, S. Strömqvist & L. Verhoeven (eds), 219–257. Mahwah,NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Slobin, D. I. & Hoiting, N. 1994. Reference to movement in spoken and signed languages: typological considerations. Proceedings of the 20th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 487–505. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Slobin, D. I., Hoiting, N., Kuntze, K., Lindert, R., Weinberg, A., Pyers, J., Anthony, M., Biederman, Y. & Thumann, H. 2003. A cognitive/functional perspective on the acquisition of “classifiers.” In Perspectives on Classifier Constructions in Sign Languages, K. Emmorey (ed.), 271–296. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Smith, S. D., Cormier, K. A. 2014. In or out? Spatial scale and enactment in narratives of native and nonnative signing deaf children acquiring British Sign Language. Sign Language Studies 14(3): 275–301. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sümer, B. 2015. Acquisition of Spatial Language by Signing and Speaking Children: A Comparison of Turkish Sign Language (TID) and Turkish. PhD dissertation, Radboud University Nijmegen.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Supalla, T. 1990. Serial verbs of motion in ASL. In Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research [Linguistics 1], S. D. Fischer & P. Siple (eds), 127–152. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Talmy, L. 2000. Toward a Cognitive Semantics, Vols 1 & 2. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Talmy, L. 2003. The representation of spatial structure in spoken and signed language. In Perspectives on Classifier Constructions in Sign Language, K. Emmorey (ed.), 169–195. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Talmy, L. 2009. Main verb properties and equipollent framing. In Crosslinguistic Approaches to the Psychology of Language: Research in the Tradition of Dan Isaac Slobin, J. Guo, E. Lieven, N. Budwig, S. Ervin-Tripp, K. Nakamura & S. Ozcaliskan (eds), 307–330. New York NY: Taylor Francis.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Vermeerbergen, M. 2006. Past and current trends in sign language research. Language & Communication 26(2): 168–192. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zheng, M. & Goldin-Meadow, S. 2002. Thought before language: How deaf and hearing children express motion events across cultures. Cognition 85: 145–175. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Sallandre, Marie-Anne & Brigitte Garcia
Sümer, Beyza & Aslı Özyürek
2022.
Cross-modal investigation of event component omissions in language development: a comparison of signing and speaking children.
Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 37:8
► pp. 1023 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.