Doctoral Dissertation Research: Documentation of a Peruvian home sign system

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

Throughout history, scholars have contemplated the origins of language. In 460 BCE, Herodotus reported that two children, isolated from language and raised in a cabin, began to speak Phrygian. His conclusion was that Phrygian must be the first human language. In modern linguistics, the idea of an innate Universal Grammar that is hardwired in the human brain has had a major impact on the field. If the Forbidden Experiment, as described by Herodotus, were performed now, what might we learn about the origins of language or about language universals? What structures would emerge as resilient properties of human communication that require little or no input? We cannot perform this experiment, but we can look to situations in which children are deprived of natural language. Deaf children with no access to spoken or signed language often develop 'home sign systems'. By documenting these systems we gain a unique perspective on processes of language development and language genesis. The subjects of this research are two adult home signers living in separate Máíjùnà villages in Peruvian Amazonia. RCM is 30 years old; ST is 65. Neither has ever been exposed to a conventional sign language. Nevertheless, these two men communicate with those around them through gestures and signs. This research project investigates the grammatical structures present in their home sign systems and how those systems compare to one another. The PIs explore the question of whether attitudes toward deafness and sign language have allowed more complex features to develop in these two home sign systems than in previously reported home sign systems. Primary research goals are to establish the level of conventionalization that has taken place within the home sign systems of RCM and ST, to identify any linguistic relationship between their two systems, and to probe the degree to which hearing community members adhere to their systems of communication.