Back to Search

Sign advantage: Both children and adults’ spatial expressions in sign are more informative than those in speech and gestures combined

Title	Sign advantage: Both children and adults’ spatial expressions in sign are more informative than those in speech and gestures combined
Author	Karadoller, D. Z., Sümer, B., Ünal, Ercenur, Ozyurek, A.
Publication Date:	2022-12
Publication Place	- Cambridge University Press
Subject	Sign language, Co-speech gesture, Spatial language, Iconicity, Development
Type	Periodical
Language	English
Digital	Yes
Manuscript	No
Library:	Özyeğin University
Library Asset ID	0305-0009
Record ID	2a6a264e-9262-4cf3-bd75-6f0f29a54680
Library Location	Psychology
Date	2022-12
Sample Text	Expressing Left-Right relations is challenging for speaking-children. Yet, this challenge was absent for signing-children, possibly due to iconicity in the visual-spatial modality of expression. We investigate whether there is also a modality advantage when speaking-children's co-speech gestures are considered. Eight-year-old child and adult hearing monolingual Turkish speakers and deaf signers of Turkish-Sign-Language described pictures of objects in various spatial relations. Descriptions were coded for informativeness in speech, sign, and speech-gesture combinations for encoding Left-Right relations. The use of co-speech gestures increased the informativeness of speakers' spatial expressions compared to speech-only. This pattern was more prominent for children than adults. However, signing-adults and children were more informative than child and adult speakers even when co-speech gestures were considered. Thus, both speaking- and signing-children benefit from iconic expressions in visual modality. Finally, in each modality, children were less informative than adults, pointing to the challenge of this spatial domain in development.
DOI	10.1017/S0305000922000642

View in source Özyeğin University Özyeğin University - Historical works, archives, and periodicals search engine

Özyeğin University

Sign advantage: Both children and adults’ spatial expressions in sign are more informative than those in speech and gestures combined

Author Karadoller, D. Z., Sümer, B., Ünal, Ercenur, Ozyurek, A.

Publication Date 2022-12

Publication Place - Cambridge University Press

Subject Sign language, Co-speech gesture, Spatial language, Iconicity, Development

Type Periodical

Language English

Digital Yes

Manuscript No

Library Özyeğin University

Library Asset ID 0305-0009

Record ID 2a6a264e-9262-4cf3-bd75-6f0f29a54680

Library Location Psychology

Date 2022-12

Sample Text Expressing Left-Right relations is challenging for speaking-children. Yet, this challenge was absent for signing-children, possibly due to iconicity in the visual-spatial modality of expression. We investigate whether there is also a modality advantage when speaking-children's co-speech gestures are considered. Eight-year-old child and adult hearing monolingual Turkish speakers and deaf signers of Turkish-Sign-Language described pictures of objects in various spatial relations. Descriptions were coded for informativeness in speech, sign, and speech-gesture combinations for encoding Left-Right relations. The use of co-speech gestures increased the informativeness of speakers' spatial expressions compared to speech-only. This pattern was more prominent for children than adults. However, signing-adults and children were more informative than child and adult speakers even when co-speech gestures were considered. Thus, both speaking- and signing-children benefit from iconic expressions in visual modality. Finally, in each modality, children were less informative than adults, pointing to the challenge of this spatial domain in development.

DOI 10.1017/S0305000922000642