Argument ordering in simple sentences is affected by age of first language acquisition: Evidence from late first language signers of ASL.
Rachel Miles, Marla Hatrak, Deniz İlkbaşaran and 1 others
PMID 39512089WHAT IT FOUND
Deaf adults who learned ASL after age nine produced inconsistent word order when describing events with two people.
Native signers followed strict grammatical rules. This suggests a critical period for learning basic sentence structure ends in early childhood, affecting how we set expectations for language acquisition in late-exposed deaf individuals.
Key findings
01Late first language signers showed significant variation in argument ordering for transitive events, failing to converge on the native signers' consistent subject-verb-object pattern.
02Native signers consistently matched the syntactic structure modeled in the task, while late learners matched only 31.8% of the time despite repeated exposure.
03Late learners often used idiosyncratic orders or split events into multiple clauses, patterns similar to those seen in emerging sign languages and homesign systems.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small (11 LL1, 17 native). Stimuli were unevenly distributed across event types (9 reversible vs 3 irreversible transitive events). Animacy was not controlled across conditions; all actors were animate, but patients/themes varied. The study did not assess the participants' prior homesign systems, so it is unclear if the observed patterns were retained from early gesture or newly developed. Groups were not matched for age or other variables, only for language exposure history.
Declared interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that late learners cannot communicate or understand meaning. The study shows they struggle with abstract grammatical ordering rules, not necessarily with conveying intent. Their idiosyncratic patterns may be effective within their own communication systems, even if they do not match standard ASL grammar.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →