18th ANNUAL EARLY HEARING DETECTION & INTERVENTION MEETING
March 3-5, 2019 • Chicago, IL
Contributions of Deaf Parent's Mouth Movements in Bimodal-Bilingual Language Acquisition
Infant-directed signing by Deaf parents with their Deaf and hearing (D/H) babies parallels infant-directed spoken language used by hearing parents with their hearing babies [1], in promoting the infant’s attention to language, fostering social interaction, and encouraging native language acquisition [1, 2, 3]. Previous research has shown that code-blends (also described as “mouthings”), or the combined use of spoken language on the mouth and sign language on the hands [4, 5], constitute as much as 66 to 91% of child-directed signing in British Sign Language (BSL) and the Sign Language of Quebec (LSQ) [6]. Spoken language on the mouth has been analyzed in adult ASL communication to show synchronous timing for bimodal-bilingual code blends [2], but no studies to date have reported a pattern in which spoken language on the mouth (code-blends or mouthings) is synchronized with signs followed by sequential ASL morphological markers mapped to the same word/sign/picture. Pettito et al. [7] proposed that “the presence of early language patterning” is crucial to language and emergent literacy development.
This retrospective investigation adds descriptive information about Deaf parents’ mouth movement patterns in their infant-directed signing. Empirical evidence of strong early language patterning was revealed in comparative documentation with (1) abundant English word mouthings, (2) ASL mouth morphemes, (3) English word mouthings or code-blends and sequential ASL morphemes, and (4) theatrical mouth movements in 10 parent-infant dyads. Preliminary results revealed a majority of ASL-English mouthings (92%), with a higher occurrence during shared readings than with toy play, and the addition of sequential ASL morphemes. Speech-language pathologists, early intervention specialists, and other linguistic researchers involved in infant language acquisition should benefit from these findings.
- At the conclusion of this presentation, learners will be able to compare infant-directed communication hearing and Deaf parents use with their babies.
- At the conclusion of this presentation, learners will be able to describe various functions of mouth movements and morphemes in infant-directed ASL.
- At the conclusion of this presentation, learners will be able to describe the prominence of bimodal-bilingual early intervention informed by naturalistic interactions of Deaf parents with their infants.
Poster:
18878_10717VeronicaCristiano.pdf
Presenter: Veronica Cristiano
Master's student and researcher in Gallaudet University's Speech Language Pathology Program.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
I am Karla Mesta a student in the MS-Speech Language Pathology program at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. I am from El Paso, TX a border city to Juarez, Mexico. My academic and professional interests involve examining the bilingual/bicultural experiences of the diverse populations SLPs serve with regards to language development.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Brenda Seal is a professor of Hearing, Speech and Language Sciences at Gallaudet University.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -