Common Errors by Young Children Acquiring a Sign Language

[@aslized]

From Adam Stone - Some have asked whether the author meant "symmetry" instead of "sympathy." Great question! The term "sympathy" is correct and is often used by linguists to describe symmetry in one or more parameters of a sign. Meier (2006) discusses instances of sympathy in young children's signing (see p. 216-217).

[@danaarazi]

Thank you Adam this was fantastically done. Taking complex linguistic concepts and expressing them so clearly is a rare and wonderful skill.

[@chriswixtrom6514]

Outstanding presentation! Thanks for making it! Note to KZbin viewers: Some videos (including this one) provide on-screen access to the transcript. Click the three dots below the KZbin video, then Show transcript.

[@mccreadyk]

I needed the captions file separately. So here it is if anyone else needs it: WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:06.612 --> 00:00:11.248 Hello! So you're pretty excited about your child learning sign language. 00:00:11.248 --> 00:00:14.920 They're learning new words and signs every day and you're pretty excited about that. 00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:20.811 But you may have noticed that their signs often look funny or wrong. 00:00:20.811 --> 00:00:24.121 And so you're wondering, why are they making these mistakes? 00:00:24.121 --> 00:00:28.952 Did you know that all children, whether they're learning signed language or spoken language 00:00:28.952 --> 00:00:33.857 will often make mistakes. That's a normal part of the language acquisition process. 00:00:34.467 --> 00:00:41.969 This video will explain three kinds of errors that children often make when learning sign language. 00:00:41.969 --> 00:00:44.878 Those errors are very common to all children (learning sign language). 00:00:45.578 --> 00:00:47.578 Also, often when children are learning sign language 00:00:48.764 --> 00:00:51.526 they'll learn one specific skill for sign language and get better at it 00:00:51.526 --> 00:00:55.828 but then they get worse at it and you may start to worry 00:00:55.828 --> 00:00:58.915 And then they get better at it. That often happens and is normal, too. 00:00:59.481 --> 00:01:01.481 The three types we'll discuss today are 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.694 handshape markedness 00:01:09.254 --> 00:01:11.701 sympathy 00:01:12.562 --> 00:01:15.671 and proximalization. 00:01:15.671 --> 00:01:17.082 I'll expand on each one of these now. 00:01:17.705 --> 00:01:22.908 First, handshape markedness. What's that? 00:01:24.015 --> 00:01:26.985 If we think about how all signs have handshapes, 00:01:26.985 --> 00:01:30.685 for example, the sign for HORSE uses the H (or U) handshape. 00:01:30.782 --> 00:01:32.901 And the sign for PLAY uses the Y handshape. 00:01:32.901 --> 00:01:35.383 And the sign for PARENTS uses the 5 handshape. 00:01:35.383 --> 00:01:39.601 But not all handshapes are the same. 00:01:39.601 --> 00:01:42.870 Some handshapes are more difficult to make than others. 00:01:42.872 --> 00:01:48.008 For example, the handshapes K, R, X, and 7 are somewhat more hard 00:01:48.008 --> 00:01:51.048 or what we call "more marked" than other, easier handshapes 00:01:51.048 --> 00:01:57.100 like 5, B, L, C, and O, those are easier handshapes to make. 00:01:57.105 --> 00:02:01.280 Research has shown that children who learn sign language 00:02:01.282 --> 00:02:04.560 tend to pick up the easier, less marked handshapes first 00:02:04.561 --> 00:02:08.226 They will pick up those first and later, when they get older, 00:02:08.226 --> 00:02:12.310 and have better control of their hands and fingers, they will pick up 00:02:12.312 --> 00:02:17.070 those harder, more marked handshapes like 7, R, K. 00:02:18.074 --> 00:02:22.390 So children will often take a sign that requires a more marked handshape 00:02:22.793 --> 00:02:25.798 for example, the sign for PLAY, they will replace the more marked handshape 00:02:25.798 --> 00:02:29.090 with an easier, less marked handshape 00:02:29.092 --> 00:02:32.540 so the sign for PLAY will now use a 5 handshape instead of a Y handshape. 00:02:33.112 --> 00:02:35.710 Or the sign for COW (with a Y handshape) now uses the A handshape 00:02:35.710 --> 00:02:38.610 And TELEPHONE (again, with a Y handshape) changes to the A handshape. 00:02:38.918 --> 00:02:41.615 And YELLOW changes to the 5 handshape. 00:02:41.615 --> 00:02:48.050 Those are just a few examples of how children substitute less marked handshapes for signs with more marked handshapes. 00:02:48.054 --> 00:02:51.520 And that's pretty normal for children who are learning sign language. 00:02:52.344 --> 00:02:56.760 Done with the first, now let's discuss sympathy. 00:02:57.671 --> 00:03:00.390 Sympathy means when both hands use the same handshape. 00:03:01.393 --> 00:03:05.180 You know how several signs use two hands? 00:03:05.181 --> 00:03:07.770 But sometimes those two hands use different handshapes, 00:03:07.772 --> 00:03:10.980 for example, the sign for COOKIE uses two different handshapes 00:03:10.985 --> 00:03:12.980 the 5 and claw handshapes, and those are different. 00:03:13.362 --> 00:03:16.490 Children may find these type of signs hard 00:03:16.494 --> 00:03:19.400 because they have to think about making two different handshapes at the same time. 00:03:19.403 --> 00:03:21.599 So they'll just change the sign so the handshapes are the same. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:24.029 Like, COOKIE would use two claw handshapes 00:03:24.029 --> 00:03:25.638 Or FALL, which, again, uses two different handshapes (V and 5) 00:03:25.638 --> 00:03:28.910 children may find this hard, so they change the sign to use two V handshapes 00:03:28.914 --> 00:03:30.980 and so here both handshapes become the same. 00:03:30.982 --> 00:03:33.850 They find it easier to sign this way, and then when they get older 00:03:33.852 --> 00:03:39.540 and better at signing, they'll learn how they can make two different handshapes. 00:03:40.307 --> 00:03:44.990 And now the third, proximalization. 00:03:44.994 --> 00:03:46.930 This is the sign for proximalization. 00:03:47.927 --> 00:03:54.158 All signs use movement in the joints, maybe at the wrist or at the fingers 00:03:54.158 --> 00:03:57.440 and that, we'll focus on those joints here. 00:03:57.442 --> 00:04:02.747 Children who are still learning how to use their hands, arms, and joints 00:04:02.747 --> 00:04:08.880 will often use a different, easier, bigger joint 00:04:08.885 --> 00:04:11.070 maybe moving from the wrist to the elbow, or from the elbow to the shoulder. 00:04:11.070 --> 00:04:14.950 For example, the HORSE sign uses the knuckle joints here. 00:04:15.272 --> 00:04:19.960 Children may find that joint a little hard to use, so they'll use the wrist joint instead. 00:04:19.963 --> 00:04:22.833 Or the FISH sign, which uses the wrist joint, 00:04:22.833 --> 00:04:25.880 will now use the elbow joint like this. 00:04:25.880 --> 00:04:30.940 So they use an easier, more proximal joint closer to the body. 00:04:30.942 --> 00:04:34.680 That's also pretty common in children who are learning sign language. 00:04:35.611 --> 00:04:40.619 I've just discussed three common errors children make when acquiring sign language 00:04:40.619 --> 00:04:43.300 but there's more out there. 00:04:43.656 --> 00:04:49.406 The point here is, children often make systematic, predictable errors 00:04:49.406 --> 00:04:53.620 and that is just a normal part of language acquisition. 00:04:54.216 --> 00:04:57.980 There's more that I could list! So if you're worried about your child 00:04:57.985 --> 00:05:00.389 don't worry if they make those errors. The important thing here to do 00:05:00.389 --> 00:05:04.690 to provide a good sign language model--sign often to your child and they will pick it up. 00:05:04.690 --> 00:05:08.460 As they grow, and develop improved control of their hands and arms 00:05:08.460 --> 00:05:12.100 their signing will become closer to adult-like signing.

[@ettinakitten5047]

This seems similar to the articulation errors that speaking children make. For example they replace a hard to articulate sound with an easier one (eg Ses for Seth) or change sounds to be similar to other sounds in the word (eg lellow for yellow). Those seem similar to the markedness and sympathy errors.

[@andreamdwa]

Awesome! This was really interesting and well presented. Thank you for sharing!

[@ASLInterpreterSHansen]

HI! Love it! Thanks for posting! Would love to see rest of the list of examples of common acquisition errors made by children using sign language. Curious...;o)

[@SaraBingham]

Such a great video! Thank you - I'll be sharing it with all our Instructors and parents.

[@ACCeanderso]

Thank you for sharing this research!

[@Smaugg69]

Thank for posting this video, It's top-notch and I love it! Have you made any research that analyzes the mistakes that adults make when learning how to sign for the first time? My impression is that adults face completely different challenges when learning a sign language. It would be interesting to gain some insight into that, and how it compares to the children's case you describe.

[@aslized]

Hello! Please see research by Andrew Bottoms at aslized.org/m2l2

[@Smaugg69]

ASLized! Fabulous! Thank you.

[@meren007nz]

Should you try and correct the child or just continue modelling correct signs?

[@intrinsicchaos]

If the child's older, like maybe 5 years old, a "teaching moment" may be appropriate...younger children probably wouldn't take heed!