Once Is Not Enough: Standards of Well-Formedness in Manual Communication Created over Three Different Timespans

Abstract

In these studies, the As compare (1) a conventional sign language used by a community of signers and passed down from generation to generation with (2) gestures invented by a deaf child over a period of years and (3) gestures invented by nonsigning hearing individuals on the spot. Thus, they compare communication in the manual modality created over three different timespans - historical, ontogenic and microgenetic - focusing on the extent to which the gestures become codified and adhere to internal standards in each of these timespans. Their findings suggest that an individual can introduce standards of well-formedness into a self-generated gesture system, but that gradual development over a period of time is necessary for such standards to be constructed