Linguistics Colloquium: Neta Haluts

Neta Haluts, Tel Aviv University

Title: Signs for similar working memory mechanisms: the pattern of errors made by an ISL signer with Phonological Output Buffer impairment

Abstract:

In spoken languages, individuals with Phonological Output Buffer (POB) impairments make phonological errors (i.e., substitutions, omissions, and insertions of phonemes) in production, repetition, and reading aloud of morphologically simple words and nonwords, whereas they make whole-unit errors (i.e., substitutions, omissions, and insertions of whole-units from the same category) in morphological affixes, function words, and number words (e.g., substituting a function word with another function word, a morphological affix with another morphological affix etc., Cohen et al., 1997; Delazer & Bartha, 2001; Dotan & Friedmann, 2015; Gvion & Friedmann, 2012; Marangolo et al., 2005), a phenomenon called STEPS – Stimulus Type Effect on Phonological and Semantic errors (Dotan & Friedmann, 2015). This pattern of errors is explained by the building blocks hypothesis, according to which these word categories, that are used as building blocks in construction of larger structures (e.g., morphological affixes as building blocks of words, function words as building blocks of sentences, and number words as building blocks of multidigit numbers) are stored as pre-assembled phonological units in dedicated mini-stores within the POB.

In this study we aimed to identify for the first time deaf signers with impaired POB and examine their pattern of errors, focusing on unique morphological structures in sign languages – such as classifier constructions, morphological facial expressions, agreement verbs, and numeral incorporation, as well as function signs and number signs.

We assessed the phonological working memory (pWM) abilities of 30 deaf native signers of Israeli Sign Language (ISL) using serial-recall and recognition tests, and identified a participant with impaired POB – Zoe. Just like hearing speakers with POB impairments, Zoe made phonological errors (substitutions of the handshape, location, and movement parameters) in morphologically simple signs and in bases of morphologically complex signs, but whole-unit errors in number signs, function signs, and morphological affixes.

These findings show that similar impairments to pWM mechanisms can be found in sign-language users and in speakers of spoken languages, and suggest that similar pWM mechanisms are responsible for both sign language and spoken language processing, despite the different modality.

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