ERIC Number: EJ1267056
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Oct
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1081-4159
EISSN: N/A
Comparing Semantic Fluency in American Sign Language and English
Sehyr, Zed Sevcikova; Giezen, Marcel R.; Emmorey, Karen
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, v23 n4 p399-407 Oct 2018
This study investigated the impact of language modality and age of acquisition on semantic fluency in American Sign Language (ASL) and English. Experiment 1 compared semantic fluency performance (e.g., name as many animals as possible in 1 min) for deaf native and early ASL signers and hearing monolingual English speakers. The results showed similar fluency scores in both modalities when fingerspelled responses were included for ASL. Experiment 2 compared ASL and English fluency scores in hearing native and late ASL-English bilinguals. Semantic fluency scores were higher in English (the dominant language) than ASL (the non-dominant language), regardless of age of ASL acquisition. Fingerspelling was relatively common in all groups of signers and was used primarily for low-frequency items. We conclude that semantic fluency is sensitive to language dominance and that performance can be compared across the spoken and signed modality, but fingerspelled responses should be included in ASL fluency scores.
Descriptors: American Sign Language, English, Language Fluency, Semantics, Deafness, Finger Spelling, Bilingualism, Age Differences, Language Usage, Language Dominance
Oxford University Press. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, UK. Tel: +44-1865-353907; Fax: +44-1865-353485; e-mail: jnls.cust.serv@oxfordjournals.org; Web site: http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (DHHS)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: HD047736