Abstract
In two experiments, sign-naive subjects acquired the meanings for manual signs of American Sign Language by learning to respond with the English word equivalents when signs were presented. The results showed that when the signs on a to-be-learned list were related to each other in handshape configuration (cheremically similar), they were more difficult to acquire than when semantically similar. Whether the similar signs were grouped together during presentation or were separated by other dissimilar signs had no effect on the number of signs correctly acquired. These results were the same for the identical signs learned in the cheremically or semantically similar contexts as for the fists as a whole. The results have implications for teaching sign language to hearing adults.
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Brown, R.Why are signed languages easier to learn than spoken languages? Paper presented at the National Symposium of Sign Language Research & Teaching, Chicago, May 1977.
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Experiment 1 was conducted when the first author held a postdoctoral fellowship at Gallaudet College. Computer services were provided by the Computer Science Center of the University of Maryland.
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Mills, C.B., Weldon, L.J. Effects of semantic and cheremic context on acquisition of manual signs. Memory & Cognition 11, 93–100 (1983). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197666
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197666