Development of creative language devices in signed and oral production

The development of linguistic and cognitive flexibility was examined by evaluating nonliteral language use by 20 deaf and 20 hearing children aged 7;11 to 15;0 years. Each subject was videotaped telling stories on two experimenter-supplied themes. Deaf subjects' stories were translated and transcripts for both samples were scored for gesture, pantomime, linguistic modifications, and inventions as well as novel and frozen trope. Results indicated deaf children produced just as much figurative language in sign language as their matched hearing age-mates did in English. Deaf subjects exceeded their hearing peers in other types of creative productions. They also evidenced a "literal period" in language development, comparable to hearing children but delayed approximately 4 years. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding both language and cognitive flexibilities of deaf children.