Deaf Learners' Lexical Acquisition of English Verbs and Their Component Properties

Rochester Institute Of Tech, Rochester NY

Investigators

Abstract

A verb plays a central role in establishing the form and meaning of a sentence because every verb, along with its meaning, has properties that determine what other structures can occur with it in a sentence and how the whole sentence functions in communicating events. For example, specific properties of the English verbs 'sink' and 'build' determine the acceptability of the sentences "The enemy sank the ship" and "The enemy built the ship," as well as the acceptability of "The ship sank" but the unacceptability of "The ship built." Hearing native speakers naturally acquire the requisite lexical knowledge of English verbs that determines the admissible forms and functions of sentences. However, acquisition of spoken-language knowledge under exceptional circumstances, as with deaf persons, can be compromised because deaf learners have (variably) restricted auditory access to input from the spoken language. Under these circumstances, lower levels of proficiency in the spoken language often result, with potentially serious negative consequences for educational and career success. To gain a deeper understanding of deaf learners' lexical acquisition of English verbs, this research project undertakes a comprehensive investigation of deaf college students' knowledge of isolatable lexical properties of verbs using sentence acceptability rating scale tasks. It examines deaf learners' verb knowledge as it pertains to transitivity and intransitivity, verb-determined sentence structure, the semantic roles of verbs' subjects and objects, meaning classes of verbs, and the roles verbs play in communicating events such as actions, activities, and accomplishments. Deaf learners' English verb knowledge within and across these lexical domains is compared to the verb knowledge of their hearing college-level peers and hearing second-language learners of English, whose English acquisition exhibits many parallels with deaf learners' acquisition. The findings of this research will also establish an empirical basis on which to develop more effective methods for teaching English to deaf students.