Psycholinguistic Studies of Sign Language

Signed languages present a natural opportunity to explore what aspects of language processing are universal and what aspects are affected by the particular characteristics of audition versus vision or by the specific constraints on manual versus vocal articulation. In this project, we use a variety of psycholinguistic methods to address the following questions:

• Can models of speech production be applied to sign production?
• How do signers monitor their language output to catch signing mistakes?
• Does iconicity (the resemblance between a sign and its meaning) have an impact on language comprehension or production?
• How is sign language phonology represented and accessed in the mental lexicon (our mental “dictionary”)?
• How does speech perception differ from sign perception?
• Do signers and speakers refer to space in the same way?
• How do signers gesture?

Funding

This research is supported by the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01 DC101977) and by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD13249).

Recent Publications

• Sevcikova Sehyr, Z., Nicodemus, B., Petrich, J., & Emmorey, K. (2018). Referring strategies in American Sign Language and English: The role of modality in creating reference to non-namable shapes. Applied Psycholinguistics.

• Emmorey, K. (2017). How to distinguish gesture from sign: New technology is not the answer. Commentary on “Gesture, sign, and language: The coming of age of sign language and gesture studies” S. Goldin-Meadow & D. Brentari, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40.

• Emmorey, K., Giezen, M., Petrich, J.A.F., Spurgeon, E., & O’Grady Farnady, L. (2017). The relation between working memory and language comprehension for signers vs. speakers. Acta Psychologica, 177, 69-77. Click to request PDF

• Keane, J., Sevcikova Sehyr, Z., Emmorey, K., & Brentari, D. (2017). A theory-driven model of handshape similarity. Phonology, 34, 221-241. Click to request PDF

• Emmorey, K. (2016). Consequences of the Now-or-Never bottleneck for signed vs. spoken languages. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39, e70.  Click to request PDF

• Sevcikova Sehyr, Z., Petrich, J., & Emmorey, K. (2016). Fingerspelled and printed words are recoded into a speech-based code in short-term memory. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. 

• Pyers, J.E., Perniss, P., & Emmorey, K. (2015). Viewpoint in the visual-spatial modality: The coordination of spatial perspective in sign languages. Spatial Cognition and Computation, 15(3), 1–28.

• Emmorey, K. (2014). Iconicity as structure-mapping. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 20130301.

• Secora, K., & Emmorey, K. (2014). The Action-Sentence Compatibility effect in ASL: The role of semantics vs. perception. Language and Cognition. ,7(2), 305-318. 

• Baus, C., Carreiras, M., & Emmorey, K. (2013). When does iconicity in sign language matter? Language and Cognitive Processes, 28(3), 261-71.

• Thompson, R., Emmorey, K., Kluender, R., & Langdon, C. (2013). The eyes don’t point: Understanding language universals through person marking in American Sign Language. Lingua, 137, 219-229. Click to request PDF

• Udoff, J. (2012). Mouthings in American Sign Language: Biomechanical and Representational Foundations. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). San Diego State University, San Diego.  Click to request PDF

• Pyers, J., Shusterman, A., Senghas, A., Spelke, E., & Emmorey, K. (2010). Spatial language supports spatial cognition: Evidence from learners of an emerging sign language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(27), 12116-12120. 

• Bosworth, R., & Emmorey, K. (2010). Effects of iconicity and semantic relatedness on lexical access in American Sign Language. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36(6), 1573-1581.

• Emmorey, K., Bosworth, R., & Kraljic, T. (2009). Visual feedback and self-monitoring of sign language. Journal of Memory and Language, 61, 398-411.

older publications>>

 

 Recent Presentations

 

• Emmorey, K., Sevcikova Sehyr, Z., & Petrich, J. (2017). Fingerspelled words are re-coded into a speech-based form in short term memory. Linguistic Society of America Meeting, January, Austin, TX.

• Schaller, F., Emmorey, K., Lee, B., & O’Grady Farnady, C. (2016). Iconic priming and metaphoric mapping in deaf signers of American Sign Language. Poster presented at the Perception Metaphor Workshop, October, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

• Emmorey, K., Sevcikova Sehyr, Z., Midgley, K., & Holcomb, P. (2016). Neurophysiological correlates of frequency, concreteness, and iconicity in American Sign Language. Poster presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, April, New York, New York.

• Sevcikova Sehyr, Z., Midgley, K., Behrmann, M., Emmorey, K., Holcomb, P., & Plaut, D. (2016). Lateralization of the N170 for word and face processing in deaf ASL signers. Poster presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, April, New York, New York.

• Emmorey, K., Midgley, K., & Holcomb, P. (2016). Neurophysiological correlates of lexical access in American Sign Language. Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research 12, January, Melbourne, Australia.

• Secora, K., Emmorey, K., Pyers, J., & Perniss, P. (2015). Perspective-taking in manually-produced spatial descriptions and the role of inhibitory control. Paper presented at the 37^th Annual Conference of the German Linguistic Society, March, Leipzig, Germany.

• Weber, J., Emmorey, K., & Sevicikova Sehyr, Z. (2015).  Investigating lexical frequency in American Sign Language. San Diego State University Student Research Symposium, March, San Diego, California.  (pdf)

• Udoff, J., & Emmorey, K. (2014). Coordination between the hands and mouth: A kinematic experiment in ASL. Paper presented at the International Society for Gesture Studies conference, July, San Diego, California.

• Sevcikova Sehyr, Z. & Emmorey, K. (2014). Gesture serves the speaker more than the listener in descriptions of ineffable shapes. Paper presented at the International Society for Gesture Studies conference, July, San Diego, California.

• Emmorey, K., Petrich, J., O’Grady, L, Bassett, A., & Spurgeon, E. (2013). The relation between linguistic and spatial working memory capacity in sign language processing. Poster presented at the Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research 11 conference, London, England. (pdf)

• Petrich, J., Nicodemus, B., & O’Grady, L. (2013). Spatial language in dialogue: The role of modality in creating shape-based referring expressions. Poster presented at the Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research 11 conference, London, England. (pdf)

older presentations>>