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Özyürek gets ERC Starting Grant
Jun 04, 2009
Deaf childrens' sign language
In this project Özyürek plans to investigate to what extent our language learning ability is specific to learning a spoken language, and to what extent it is a device general to communicating in any modality.
To do so, she will compare deaf children's sign language acquisition to language acquisition by hearing children in the domain of spatial expressions (e.g. 'the cup is on the table'). Unlike spoken languages, sign language expressions of space visually resemble what is described. Özyürek therefore thinks that deaf children would have an advantage in learning to describe space in the process of language development. The research will be conducted with deaf and hearing children in Turkey.
'The way in which deaf children learn sign language will provide a new window on the relations between body and language', says Özyürek. 'Receiving this grant is a clear signal that sign language research in Nijmegen is on the European map.'