A Cross‐Sectional Test of Sign Creation by Children in the Gesture and Vocal Modalities

• DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13587
• Publication Date: 2021-05-12T12:10:35Z
• Authors: Casey J. Lister; Tiarn Burtenshaw; Bradley Walker; Jeneva L. Ohan; Nicolas Fay
• Keywords: Modalities; Manual communication; Modality (human–computer interaction); American Sign Language; Naturalistic observation

Naturalistic studies show that children can create language‐like communication systems in the absence of conventional language. However, experimental evidence is mixed. We address this discrepancy using an paradigm simulates naturalistic sign creation. Specifically, we tested if a sample 6‐ to 12‐year‐old (52 girls and 56 boys drawn from urban, predominantly white population Western Australia) comprehend novel gestural vocal signs. Experiment 1 children’s ability 2 Results signs, more successful gesture modality, older outperform younger children.