deaf language Acquisition of Language by Deaf Children Education

Acquisition of Language by Deaf Children
Education


 
Acquisition of Language by Deaf Children, Is the process of acquiring language in deaf children analogous to hearing children? Sign languages ​​are not universal, Signal Stage, First Combination Stage, Multiple Stage
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Is the process of language acquisition in deaf children analogous to hearing children?

The process of language acquisition presented here is based on research carried out on deaf children, daughters of deaf parents, comparing with hearing children; but these children represent a minority near all deaf children.
Sign languages ​​are not universal, that is, each country has its own sign language, such as BSL (British Sign Language), ASL (American Sign Language) and LIBRAS (Brazilian Sign Language). Their linguistic systems are independent of oral languages, being abstracted from grammatical rules and classified as spatial-visual languages.
They are languages ​​that also have interest in the generative research since they correspond to a model of mind / brain language of the human being.

- Stage of a Sign

It starts around 12 months of the deaf child and goes until about 2 years. Studies show that the deaf child, the daughter of deaf parents, begins the stage of a signal at around 6 months while a child listener would begin oral language at around 12 months; but it is known that this initial gestural production is related to the babbling of children without hearing loss. The inflexible forms are the first to be presented, while the flexibles are used morphophonemically.

Deaf children under 2 years of age do not use the ASL indicative devices, meaning they do not use pronouns even when imitating their parents. At less than 1 year, they use the pointing device as well as a child who acquires the oral language, and this process disappears when the signal stage begins.

- Stage of the First Combinations

This stage arises around 2 years and the order used in the phrasal combinations is: SV, VO or later SVO, with a limitation with respect to lexical connections and phonologies, in addition to the fact that some verbs do not flex. Due to this deficiency, the deaf children use two strategies to mark the grammatical relations, they are: the incorporation of the indicators and the order of the words.

At this stage, the use of the pronominal form is begun, but in a still inconsistent form; there are errors in the pronominal indications, for example in the use of the pronoun "tu" instead of "I".
In researches, it was observed that pointing involves the pronominal system, the system of determiners and modifiers, where objects are named and referred only in situations of the immediate context, that is, they are present in the space where the non-listener is.

- Stage of Multiple Combinations

Around 2½ years to 3 years, the deaf child begins the process of derivational distinctions, vocabulary expansion, and pronominal formation to indicate people and objects that are not physically present in the space where it is found.

Supergeneralizations arise, which are inflections of verbs that can not be flexed through the Sign Language. The children use the verbs always directed, thinking that only they are part of the vocabulary.
At 4 years of age, sign language is still not correct, since they stop stacking referents and present difficulties in establishing associations between place and references, and from the age of 5 or 6, deaf children begin to to correct the errors presented in these associations.


 
In LIBRAS, from the age of 3 and a half, the use of agreement with present referents occurs. At 5 and 6 years, the use of null subject and object becomes common. But when it comes to absent referents in the dialogue, there is a need to define the referents more clearly.

- Acquisition of L2

L2 is the acquisition of a written language that represents the oral-auditory, while L1 is the representation through the sign language; just as hearing children usually acquire a foreign language as a second language, the deaf child learns his motherly language in a second language.

The process of L2 acquisition in deaf children does not occur naturally, and external issues also interfere in this process, such as the social environment, emotional environment, age, and even the strategies and learning styles used. L2 input to the deaf is basically visual, and interaction with Portuguese (in the case of most deaf Brazilian children) is very important for this input to be natural from written Portuguese. The output (expression) among deaf students is essential for the development of the expression of ideas that have a direct relationship with LIBRAS.

This process of acquisition / learning of L2 is not essential, but for greater interaction in society, the deaf initiate this process so that they can better relate to other citizens.

Bibliography
TABLES, Ronice Muller de. Acquisition of L2
TABLES, Ronice Muller de. Acquisition of Language by Deaf Children.

* Amanda Alves Martins is a graduate student of the Literature, Portuguese - Italian course and their respective Literatures, at the State University of Rio de Janeiro.