Knowledge of Language Transfers From Speech to Sign: Evidence From Doubling

Abstract

Does knowledge of language transfer across language modalities? For example, can speakers who have had no sign language experience spontaneously project grammatical principles of English to American Sign Language (ASL) signs? To address this question, here, we explore a grammatical illusion. Using spoken language, we first show that a single word with doubling (e.g., trafraf) can elicit conflicting linguistic responses, depending on the level of linguistic analysis (phonology vs. morphology). We next show that speakers with no command of a sign language extend these same principles to novel ASL signs. Remarkably, the morphological analysis of ASL signs depends on the morphology of participants' spoken language. Speakers of Malayalam (a language with rich reduplicative morphology) prefer XX signs when doubling signals morphological plurality, whereas no such preference is seen in speakers of Mandarin (a language with no productive plural morphology). Our conclusions open up the possibility that some linguistic principles are amodal and abstract.

Is Phonology Embodied? Evidence from Mechanical Stimulation

“…For example, in one line of research, we found that speakers with no command of a sign language spontaneously project the phonological and morphological principles from their spoken language to dynamic linguistic signs. Critically, responses to linguistic signs varied systematically, depending on the structure of speakers’ spoken language (e.g., Berent et al, 2016 , 2021 ; Berent, Bat-El, et al, 2020 ). As such, these results suggest that the knowledge that participants invoked must have been at least partly disembodied and abstract.…”

“…Other arguments for abstraction are presented by the convergence of phonological principles across sensory modality—spoken and manual (e.g., Andan et al, 2018 ; Brentari, 2011 ; Sandler & Lillo-Martin, 2006 ). And indeed, speakers who are ASL-naive demonstrably project grammatical principles from their spoken language to ASL signs (e.g., Berent et al, 2016 , 2021 ; Berent, Bat-El, et al, 2020 ). Such results suggest that some phonological principles are independent of language modality.…”