Language: perspectives from another modality.

Abstract

Human languages have been forged in auditory-vocal channels throughout evolution. This paper examines the formal properties of a communication system that has developed in the absence of speech: the sign language of the deaf. The objective is to investigate to what extent the overall form and organization of language is determined by the articulatory and perceptual modality in which it has developed (its transmission system) and to what extent its form and organization represent more fundamental aspects of the human mind (intellect). Experimental and linguistic evidence is brought to bear on the analysis of the sign: studies of coding and processing of signs in memory; of slips of the hand; of historical change in signs over time; the heightened use of language in poetry and wit. American Sign Language differs dramatically from English and other spoken languages in the mechanisms by which its lexical units are modified. For the form of its morphological processes, the mode in which the language develops appears to make a crucial difference. Finally, the issue of cerebral specialization with respect to a visual-manual language is addressed.