L’acquisizione dell’abilità di creare catene referenziali in LIS da parte di bambini sordi segnanti: uno studio
abstract
This research aims to study the acquisition of the ability of deaf native signing children to create referential chains in Italian Sign Language (LIS) by comparing them with signing adults. Within the group of children, the most chosen strategies to introduce, maintain, and refer back to previously mentioned referents in a story are: lexical signs, classifiers, personal pronouns, and role-shift. Even if children show almost the same patterns of choices as adults, role-shift produced along with classifiers and the ability to clearly refer back to a referent seem not to be fully mastered by these children yet.
Keywords: Deaf signing children • Referential chains • Italian Sign Language • Reference tracking • Referential links