School of Humanities, University of Brighton, UK.
Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, USA.
Dev Sci. 2018 Mar;21(2). doi: 10.1111/desc.12551. Epub 2017 Mar 12.
Most research on the mechanisms underlying referential mapping has assumed that learning occurs in ostensive contexts, where label and referent co-occur, and that form and meaning are linked by arbitrary convention alone. In the present study, we focus on iconicity in language, that is, resemblance relationships between form and meaning, and on non-ostensive contexts, where label and referent do not co-occur. We approach the question of language learning from the perspective of the language input. Specifically, we look at child-directed language (CDL) in British Sign Language (BSL), a language rich in iconicity due to the affordances of the visual modality. We ask whether child-directed signing exploits iconicity in the language by highlighting the similarity mapping between form and referent. We find that CDL modifications occur more often with iconic signs than with non-iconic signs. Crucially, for iconic signs, modifications are more frequent in non-ostensive contexts than in ostensive contexts. Furthermore, we find that pointing dominates in ostensive contexts, and suggest that caregivers adjust the semiotic resources recruited in CDL to context. These findings offer first evidence for a role of iconicity in the language input and suggest that iconicity may be involved in referential mapping and language learning, particularly in non-ostensive contexts.
大多数关于指称映射机制的研究都假设学习发生在明示语境中，在这种语境中，标签和所指同时出现，形式和意义仅通过任意的约定联系在一起。在本研究中，我们关注语言中的象似性，即形式和意义之间的相似关系，以及非明示语境，在这种语境中，标签和所指不同时出现。我们从语言输入的角度来探讨语言学习的问题。具体来说，我们研究了英国手语（BSL）中的儿童导向语言（CDL），由于视觉模态的作用，这种语言具有丰富的象似性。我们想知道儿童导向的手语是否通过突出形式和所指之间的相似映射来利用语言中的象似性。我们发现，与非象似性手语相比，象似性手语的修改更为频繁。至关重要的是，对于象似性手语，非明示语境中的修改比明示语境中更为频繁。此外，我们发现，在明示语境中，指向占主导地位，这表明照顾者会根据语境调整儿童导向语言中使用的符号资源。这些发现为语言输入中象似性的作用提供了第一个证据，并表明象似性可能参与指称映射和语言学习，特别是在非明示语境中。
