Research activities





Funded research projects

2023 - 2027

This project aims at filling the gap in describing (French) Sign Language Syntax and its Acquisition (SiLSA). A first necessary step in this direction will be descriptive, as a lot is still unknown regarding French Sign Language (Langue des Signes Française, LSF)’s syntax, especially when it comes to complex sentences . Comprehension of complex sentences poses difficulties to typically developing hearing children aged 6/7 y.o. (Bowerman, 1979), and native deaf children as well (Reilly et al., 1990). But native deaf signers, exposed from birth to a sign language (SL), are a minority (5-10% only, Kushalnagar et al., 2010). Most deaf children receive linguistic exposure at a variety of ages, through institutions or associations. A delayed age of acquisition has consequences on their language proficiency that remain in adulthood, especially when facing complex sentences (Boudreault & Mayberry, 2006; Mayberry & Lock, 2003; Hauser et al., 2021; Aristodemo et al., 2021; Zorzi et al., 2021). Thus, we expect the acquisition path of complex structures to vary depending on whether the children are native, early (exposed before 6 y.o.) or late signers (exposed after 6 y.o.). To verify this, the second step of SiLSA aims at investigating LSF’s acquisition, across the variety of linguistic profiles that exists in deaf children.


For this project, we want to study in depth the issue of online processing of syntactic structures in French Sign Language (LSF). Sign language research has been at the heart of a growing literature in recent decades, but many gaps remain in grammatical descriptions of specific sign languages. Complete descriptions of most sign languages are not yet available, which has negative consequences not only for linguists but also for a whole range of professionals who need to rely on a complete description of the language, such as teachers, interpreters or clinicians. The study of sign language grammar is also very important for the deaf community itself, providing arguments and tools to defend its status.

Research contracts

Actual:

2019-2020

Publications

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

Conferences with selection committee

2022

2022

2020

2019

2018

2017

Dissemination activities

2020

2019

2018

Bursaries

2021

2020

2018

2017 

Conferences without selection committee

2022

2018

2017

2016

Peer review