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Science 17 September 2004:
Vol. 305. no. 5691, pp. 1779 - 1782
DOI: 10.1126/science.1100199
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Reports

Children Creating Core Properties of Language: Evidence from an Emerging Sign Language in Nicaragua

Ann Senghas,1* Sotaro Kita,2 Asli Özyürek3,4,5

A new sign language has been created by deaf Nicaraguans over the past 25 years, providing an opportunity to observe the inception of universal hallmarks of language. We found that in their initial creation of the language, children analyzed complex events into basic elements and sequenced these elements into hierarchically structured expressions according to principles not observed in gestures accompanying speech in the surrounding language. Successive cohorts of learners extended this procedure, transforming Nicaraguan signing from its early gestural form into a linguistic system. We propose that this early segmentation and recombination reflect mechanisms with which children learn, and thereby perpetuate, language. Thus, children naturally possess learning abilities capable of giving language its fundamental structure.

1 Department of Psychology, Barnard College of Columbia University, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, USA.
2 Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, 8 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TN, UK.
3 F. C. Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen University, Adelbertusplein 1, 6525 EK Nijmegen, Netherlands.
4 Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, Netherlands.
5 Department of Psychology, Koç University, Rumeli Feneri Yolu, 34450, Sariyer, Istanbul, Turkey.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: annie{at}alum.mit.edu

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