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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies

Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: May 9, 2019

Productive reduplication in a fundamentally monosyllabic language.

Ronnie B Wilbur¹

¹Linguistics Program, Purdue University, 500 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.

Language Sciences (Oxford, England)

|January 5, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

American Sign Language (ASL) utilizes over a dozen reduplication types for lexical and morphological functions, despite its monosyllabic structure. This study explores the phonological features enabling these diverse ASL reduplication forms.

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Last Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies

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Published on: May 9, 2019

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Published on: July 13, 2019

Area of Science:

Linguistics
Phonology
Morphology

Background:

American Sign Language (ASL) exhibits extensive use of reduplication for lexical and morphological purposes.
The language's fundamentally monosyllabic structure presents a unique case for studying complex reduplication patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how American Sign Language (ASL) achieves numerous reduplication types.
To identify the phonological features and feature geometry underlying ASL reduplication.
To explore the relationship between reduplication, event structure, and aspectual modifications.

Main Methods:

Analysis of phonological features in ASL.
Examination of feature geometry in sign language.
Correlation of reduplication patterns with predicate event structure and aspectual modifications.

Main Results:

ASL employs at least eight distinct linguistic functions for its reduplication types.
Phonological features facilitate the productive construction of reduplicated forms in ASL.
Reduplication in ASL is intrinsically linked to predicate event structure and aspectual changes.

Conclusions:

The study elucidates the phonological mechanisms enabling complex reduplication in a monosyllabic sign language.
Findings contribute to understanding the interplay of phonology, morphology, and semantics in American Sign Language.
The feature geometry proposed offers a framework for analyzing ASL reduplication.