CLS July EYE GAZE IN TURNTAKING IN SIGN LANGUAGE INTERACTION Anne Baker & Beppie van den Bogaerde

CLS July Visual attention in sign languages Signers focus on each other’s faces when signing in signing space. Manual signs are seen. Children have to learn to divide their attention between sign language and environment.

CLS July Strategies in turntaking Adults wait for eye contact before signing (Harris 1987, van den Bogaerde 2000, Loots & Devisé 2003) In Child Directed Signing adults shift the signing space into visual field of child Waving or tapping used to attract attention or sometimes to signal desire to take turn

CLS July Strategies in turntaking (2) Collaborative floor (simultaneous signing) occurs easily in adult sign language interaction (Coates & Sutton-Spence 2001) Overlap in adult-adult signing: for feedback for feedback using repetition for clarification

CLS July Research Questions In early mother-child interaction: Is visual attention to signing established at the beginning of utterances? How much overlap is found? What is the function of overlap? Are there differences between deaf and hearing children?

CLS July Method one deaf child one hearing child (brothers) at ages 2;0, 3;0 and 6;0 in interaction with same deaf mother Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) and Dutch are used, plus combinations Five minutes of interaction analyzed per session Units of analysis: turns, utterances and signs

CLS July Contribution of child Percentage of turns produced by the child in dyad 2;03;06;0 Deaf-deaf Deaf-hearing Jonas (H) is more active at age 2;0 than Mark (D) Probably related to Jonas’ general language level (further in spoken Dutch than Mark in NGT) Results: general measures

CLS July MLU in signs Average number of signs per utterance 2;03;06;0 Mother M Mark (D) Mother J Jonas(H) Mother mostly ahead of child in MLU as expected Both children increase their MLU Jonas has a slower start in signs – only 36% of utterances contain a sign at 2;0, but 78% at 6;0 Results: general measures

CLS July How often is the beginning of the utterance seen by addressee (%)? 2;03;06;0 Deaf-deaf (Mark) seen by mother seen by child Deaf-hearing (Jonas) seen by mother seen by child Jonas sees 80% of signs; Mark 99% R Results

CLS July Percentage of overlapping utterances in dyad 2;03;06;0 Deaf-deaf Deaf-hearing Increase in overlap in both dyads Deaf-deaf dyad far more overlap – collaborative floor Deaf-deaf dyad - long chains of overlaps; not in Deaf-hearing Results

CLS July Percentage of child interruptions and simultaneous starts 2;03;06;0 Child Interruptions Mark (D) Jonas (H) Simultaneous starts Deaf-deaf Deaf-hearing Results

CLS July Functions of overlap Mother uses all functions at all ages Mark Jonas Feedback> after 2;0 few Repetitionfew few Clarificationsmall increase none Othermost most Results

CLS July Mark with his mother (6;0)

CLS July Jonas with his mother (6;0)

CLS July Conclusions Visual attention at start of turn - mother at 2;0 waits for attention - deaf child learns to check for signing - hearing child looks when mother speaks Amount of overlap increases with age - Deaf-deaf dyad: high percentage of overlap - Deaf-hearing dyad: increase as Jonas signs more

CLS July Conclusions (2) Child Interruptions - Mark slight increase between 2;0 and 6;0, learning collaborative floor - Jonas overlaps with speech at 2;0, learns not to by 3;0 and sign overlap at 6;0 Simultaneous start - Mark more active at 3;0 resulting in more - Jonas increases slightly

CLS July Conclusions (3) Functions - most overlap for children ‘real’ interruption - Mark is learning functions of overlap (feedback and clarification) Deaf-deaf dyad moving towards collaborative floor Deaf-hearing dyad functions more as hearing, voice used by mother to gain attention/turn Fine-tuning in deaf-hearing dyad more complex due to mother’s deafness

CLS July References Bogaerde, B. van den 2000 Input and interaction in deaf families, UvA. Utrecht: Lot (wwwlot.let.uu.nl) Bogaerde, B. v.d. & A. Baker 2002 Are deaf young children bilingual? In G.Morgan & B.Woll, Directions in sign language research, Amsterdam: Benjamins Coates J & R. Sutton-Spence 2001 Turn-taking patterns in Deaf conversation. Journal of Sociolinguistics 5/4, Harris M.J. et al Communication between deaf mothers and their deaf infants. Proceedings of CLS. In P.Griffith et al. (eds) Univ. of York Loots, G. & I. Devisé (2003) The use of visual-tactile communication strategies by deaf and hearing mothers of deaf children. JDSDE 8,

CLS July CONTACT Sign linguistics / ACLC University of Amsterdam Spuistraat VT Amsterdam The Netherlands Bachelor/master NGT Faculty of Education Hogeschool Utrecht Archimedeslaan BA Utrecht The Netherlands

CLS July Amount of overlap 2;0 M J 3;0 M J 6;0 M J Total no.utt. + overlap Overlap by mother Overlap by child Sim.start of overlap