The current study investigated the mechanism of language switching in unbalanced visual unimodal bilinguals as well as balanced and unbalanced bimodal bilinguals during a picture naming task. All three groups exhibited significant switch costs across two languages, with symmetrical switch cost in balanced bimodal bilinguals and asymmetrical switch…

Language is proposed to have developed atop the human analog of the macaque mirror neuron system for action perception and production [Arbib M.A. 2005. From monkey-like action recognition to human language: An evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics (with commentaries and author's response). "Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28", 105-167; Arbib…

Reviews methodologies of sign language studies with chimpanzees and compares major findings of those studies with studies of human children. Considers relevance of input conditions for language acquisition, evidence used to demonstrate linguistic achievements, and application of rigorous testing procedures in developmental psycholinguistics.…

Linguistic descriptions of sign languages are important to the recognition of their linguistic status. These languages are an essential part of the cultural heritage of the communities that create and use them and vital in the education of deaf children. They are also the reference point in language acquisition studies. Ours is exploratory…

Four keynote papers, presented at an international conference on sign language research, discussed general linguistic issues of sign language, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and language acquisition. (CB)

Compares the effectiveness of a visual only approach (mouthing and signing) with a simultaneous visual and auditory approach (signing and speaking) in teaching autistic-like children to communicate. Results suggest the simultaneous approach may be superior. In addition, receptive abilities precede expressive. Implications of therapeutic…

Reviews research on sign language as an instrument of communication and on the psychological validity of sign language. Examines the production of sign language as compared to oral language, perception in sign language, and studies on the role of memory in sign language. (AM)

Psycholinguistic and neurological examination of the use of duality of patterning as a primary criterion for determining if a system is a (signed or spoken) language revealed the existence of duality in processes that facilitate language acquisition. (27 references) (Author/CB)

Explores the operational and conceptual meanings of the iconicity of manual signs and sign languages. Empirical studies related to the operational definition of iconicity in American Sign Language are described, and implications of parallels between iconicity and "stimulus meaningfulness" are discussed in relation to the scientific…

This 24-item annotated bibliography is intended to facilitate introduction to the field of sign language studies. It lists selected published works in English in which sign language is viewed from several different aspects, including: theoretical studies (nos. 1, 5, 6, 19, 20 and 21); works relating Sign to other visual communication systems (nos.…

A framework which considers speech and language as separate entities in a symbiotic relationship is presented, and basic questions are raised concerning how speech and language function together and what their reciprocal effects are. Based on the notion that speech and language are independent, various examples of speech without language and of…

Compares the production of speech and sign: the approaches used in research, the cognitive processes involved, and the output timing mechanism. (AM)

The results of a word recognition study are compared to those of a sign recognition study in order to determine which aspects of lexical access are comparable in speech and sign, and which are specific to each of the two language modalities. The "gating paradigm" was used in both studies. (Author/AMH)

The research resumes presented here comprise the responses received by the Stanford Child Language Project to a general request for reports on research in progress. These reports include all those distributed at the Child Language Research Forum in March 1972 and a small number received later. The resumes cover a wide range of topics and present,…

The research resumes presented here comprise the responses received by the Stanford Child Language Project to a general request for reports on research in progress. These reports include all those distributed at the Child Language Research Forum in April 1973. The resumes cover a wide range of topics and present, in order, the following…