The development of complex verb constructions in British Sign Language

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Sign Language Studies

Background:

• Understanding how children map events onto verb-argument structures is crucial for language acquisition theories.
• British Sign Language (BSL) presents unique challenges and insights due to its visual-gestural modality.
• Previous research has explored sentence complexity but detailed analysis of argument structure development in BSL is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the developmental trajectory of mapping events onto verb-argument structures in children acquiring BSL.
• To analyze the overgeneralization of argument structure related to perspective shifting in young BSL learners.
• To explore the influence of typological characteristics and modality on these developmental patterns.

Main Methods:

• Study involved 30 children acquiring BSL, aged 3;2 to 12;0.
• Data collected through comprehension measures and elicited sentence production tasks.
• Analysis focused on the use of double-verb constructions (AB verbs) and non-manual features.

Main Results:

• Children acquiring BSL overgeneralize argument structures related to perspective shifting.
• Children under 6;0 break down double-verb constructions, producing only patient perspective components.
• Full development of non-manual features and correct AB verb usage extends beyond age 9;0.

Conclusions:

• Overgeneralizations in BSL acquisition are influenced by typological features and modality.
• The conceptual-linguistic interface explains errors in AB verb usage and protracted development.
• Findings contribute to understanding the universal and modality-specific aspects of language acquisition.