What is sign language acquisition in children, and how does it relate to spoken language development?

What is sign language acquisition in children, and how does it relate to spoken language development?

• A. Signing children acquire language with similar milestones (babbling, single words, two-word phrases); underlying processes are similar but modality-specific
• B. Sign language develops completely differently from spoken language
• C. Sign language does not involve grammar
• D. Sign language and spoken language use entirely separate cognitive systems

Answer: (A)

Language development uses the same underlying linguistic machinery whether the input is spoken or signed. Children acquiring sign language go through stages that parallel spoken-language milestones: manual babbling, producing first signs, and then combining signs into two-sign utterances and longer sequences. The building blocks—phonology (in sign, the features are handshape, movement, location), morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics—are the same kind of system, just expressed through visual-gestural means. This is why the processes are similar but shaped by modality-specific aspects, not because the development is entirely different. Sign languages do have grammar and complex structure, and the brain generally uses overlapping cognitive resources for sign and speech rather than completely separate systems.

Language development uses the same underlying linguistic machinery whether the input is spoken or signed. Children acquiring sign language go through stages that parallel spoken-language milestones: manual babbling, producing first signs, and then combining signs into two-sign utterances and longer sequences. The building blocks—phonology (in sign, the features are handshape, movement, location), morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics—are the same kind of system, just expressed through visual-gestural means. This is why the processes are similar but shaped by modality-specific aspects, not because the development is entirely different. Sign languages do have grammar and complex structure, and the brain generally uses overlapping cognitive resources for sign and speech rather than completely separate systems.