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Article

The Seeds of the Noun–Verb Distinction in the Manual Modality: Improvisation and Interaction in the Emergence of Grammatical Categories

by
Yasamin Motamedi
1,*,
Kathryn Montemurro
2,
Natasha Abner
3,
Molly Flaherty
4,
Simon Kirby
1 and
Susan Goldin-Meadow
5
1
Centre for Language Evolution, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AD, UK
2
Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
3
Department of Linguistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
4
Department of Psychology, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035, USA
5
Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Languages 2022, 7(2), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7020095
Submission received: 1 October 2021 / Revised: 15 March 2022 / Accepted: 22 March 2022 / Published: 11 April 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Emergence of Sign Languages)
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Abstract

The noun–verb distinction has long been considered a fundamental property of human language, and has been found in some form even in the earliest stages of language emergence, including homesign and the early generations of emerging sign languages. We present two experimental studies that use silent gesture to investigate how noun–verb distinctions develop in the manual modality through two key processes: (i) improvising using novel signals by individuals, and (ii) using those signals in the interaction between communicators. We operationalise communicative interaction in two ways: a setting in which members of the dyad were in separate booths and were given a comprehension test after each stimulus vs. a more naturalistic face-to-face conversation without comprehension checks. There were few differences between the two conditions, highlighting the robustness of the paradigm. Our findings from both experiments reflect patterns found in naturally emerging sign languages. Some formal distinctions arise in the earliest stages of improvisation and do not require interaction to develop. However, the full range of formal distinctions between nouns and verbs found in naturally emerging language did not appear with either improvisation or interaction, suggesting that transmitting the language to a new generation of learners might be necessary for these properties to emerge.
Keywords: silent gesture; interaction; improvisation; grammatical categories; sign language emergence; iconicity silent gesture; interaction; improvisation; grammatical categories; sign language emergence; iconicity

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MDPI and ACS Style

Motamedi, Y.; Montemurro, K.; Abner, N.; Flaherty, M.; Kirby, S.; Goldin-Meadow, S. The Seeds of the Noun–Verb Distinction in the Manual Modality: Improvisation and Interaction in the Emergence of Grammatical Categories. Languages 2022, 7, 95. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7020095

AMA Style

Motamedi Y, Montemurro K, Abner N, Flaherty M, Kirby S, Goldin-Meadow S. The Seeds of the Noun–Verb Distinction in the Manual Modality: Improvisation and Interaction in the Emergence of Grammatical Categories. Languages. 2022; 7(2):95. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7020095

Chicago/Turabian Style

Motamedi, Yasamin, Kathryn Montemurro, Natasha Abner, Molly Flaherty, Simon Kirby, and Susan Goldin-Meadow. 2022. "The Seeds of the Noun–Verb Distinction in the Manual Modality: Improvisation and Interaction in the Emergence of Grammatical Categories" Languages 7, no. 2: 95. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7020095

APA Style

Motamedi, Y., Montemurro, K., Abner, N., Flaherty, M., Kirby, S., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2022). The Seeds of the Noun–Verb Distinction in the Manual Modality: Improvisation and Interaction in the Emergence of Grammatical Categories. Languages, 7(2), 95. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7020095

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