image: Symmetrical (high-fiving) and reciprocal (punching) sentences show distinct linguistic forms in an emergent sign language. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Ann Senghas.
A study of 27 deaf volunteers from Nicaragua, including four volunteers who developed home-sign systems and 23 volunteers who were among the first to develop Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL), a newly emergent language, finds that NSL signs distinguished between collective symmetrical actions, such as a shared kiss, and reciprocal actions, such as kissing each other's hands; the finding suggests that distinctions of symmetrical actions are fundamental to human conception of language and are present even in isolated instances of language generation.
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Article #18-19872: "The emergence of the formal category "symmetry" in a new sign language," by Lila R. Gleitman, Ann Senghas, Molly Flaherty, Marie Coppola, and Susan Goldin-Meadow.
MEDIA CONTACT: Lila R. Gleitman, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; tel: 215-898-0360; e-mail: <gleitman@psych.upenn.edu>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences