Language, Cognition, and the Brain: Insights

Once signed languages are recognized as natural human languages, a world of exploration opens up. Signed languages provide a powerful tool for investigating the nature of human language and language processing, the relation between cognition and language, and the neural organization of language. The value of sign languages lies in their modality. Specifically, for perception, signed languages depend upon high-level vision and motion processing systems, and for production, they require the integration of motor systems involving the hands and face. These facts raise many questions: What impact does this different biological base have for grammatical systems? For online language processing? For the acquisition of language? How does it affect nonlinguistic cognitive structures and processing? Are the same neural systems involved? These are some of the questions that this book aims at addressing. The answers provide insight into what constrains grammatical form, language processing, linguistic working memory, and hemispheric specialization for language. The study of signed languages allows researchers to address questions about the nature of linguistic and cognitive systems that otherwise could not be easily addressed.

Preface	p. xi
Notation Conventions	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Documenting the Birth of a Language: The Nicaraguan Sign Language Project	p. 4
The American Deaf Community and Sociolinguistic Context	p. 7
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 11
The Structure of American Sign Language: Linguistic Universals and Modality Effects	p. 13
The Structure of Signs: Morphology and the Lexicon	p. 14
The Phonology of a Soundless Language	p. 23
Syntax: The Structure of Sentences	p. 43
Discourse and Language Use	p. 63
Conclusions and Implications	p. 69
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 70
The Confluence of Language and Space	p. 73
Classifier Constructions	p. 73
Talking About Space With Space	p. 91
Nonlocative Functions of Signing Space	p. 104
Conclusion	p. 114
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 115
Psycholinguistic Studies of Sign Perception, Online Processing, and Production	p. 117
Sign Perception and Visual Processing	p. 117
Lexical Access and Sign Recognition	p. 125
Lexical Representations and Organization	p. 129
Online Comprehension of Signed Utterances: Psycholinguistic Studies of Coreference	p. 136
Some Issues in Sign Language Production	p. 146
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 168
Sign Language Acquisition	p. 169
Early Development	p. 170
What Does That "Mistake" Mean? Acquisition of Syntax and Morphology	p. 181
Later Development	p. 190
Conclusions and Implications	p. 203
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 204
The Critical Period Hypothesis and the Effects of Late Language Acquisition	p. 205
When Language Input Is Absent or Inconsistent: The Contribution of the Child	p. 206
The Effects of Age of Acquisition on Grammatical Knowledge and Language Processing	p. 211
Delayed First Language Acquisition Differs From Second Language Acquisition	p. 216
The Cognitive Effects of Delayed First Language Acquisition	p. 219
The Effects of Late Acquisition on the Neural Organization of Language	p. 222
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 225
Memory for Sign Language: Implications for the Structure of Working Memory	p. 227
Early Evidence for Sign-Based Working Memory	p. 228
Evidence for a Visuospatial Phonological Loop	p. 230
Working Memory Capacity: Effects on Memory Span for Sign and Speech	p. 233
Effects of the Visuospatial Modality on Sign-Based Working Memory	p. 234
A Modality Effect for Sign Language? Implications for Models of Working Memory	p. 238
The Architecture of Working Memory for Sign Language: Summary and Conclusions	p. 240
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 241
The Impact of Sign Language Use on Visuospatial Cognition	p. 243
Motion Processing	p. 244
Face Processing	p. 251
Mental Imagery	p. 258
Domains Unaffected by Sign Language Use	p. 267
Implications: Does Language Affect Cognition?	p. 268
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 270
Sign Language and the Brain	p. 271
What Determines the Left-Hemispheric Specialization for Language?	p. 271
Within Hemisphere Organization of Sign Language	p. 286
The Role of the Right Hemisphere in Language Processes	p. 296
The Role of Subcortical Structures in Sign Language	p. 309
Conclusions and Implications	p. 312
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 314
Epilogue	p. 315
Handshapes in American Sign Language	p. 319
Linguistic Distinctions Among Communication Forms in Nicaragua	p. 321
References	p. 323
Author Index	p. 363
Subject Index	p. 375
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Language, Cognition, and the Brain: Insights From Sign Language Research

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