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Enactive processing of the syntax of sign language

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Abstract

It is unfashionable to suggest that enactive processes - including some that involve the mirror neuron system - might contribute to the comprehension of sign language. The present essay formulates and defends a version of that unfashionable suggestion, as it applies to certain forms of syntactic processing. There is evidence that has been thought to weigh against any such suggestion, coming from neuroimaging experiments and from the study of Deaf aphasics. In both cases it is shown to be unpersuasive.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UBC Department of Philosophy, 1866 Main Mall, E370, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1, Canada

    Christopher Mole

  2. Centre for Translation and Interpreting Studies in Scotland, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK

    Graham H. Turner

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  1. Christopher Mole
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  2. Graham H. Turner
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Correspondence to Christopher Mole.

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Mole, C., Turner, G.H. Enactive processing of the syntax of sign language. Phenom Cogn Sci 18, 317–332 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-017-9546-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-017-9546-7

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