Transcription of child sign language

Abstract

The study of child sign language has emerged from the growing interest in cross-linguistic comparisons of language development, stimulated greatly by the early work on American Sign Language (ASL) (e.g. Newport & Meier 1986). However the modality sign language is produced in has made comparisons with other languages difficult (including between different sign languages). This has been due in part to lack of an agreed normative transcription system because of the difficulty in representing child forms of fluid three-dimensional linguistic packages. Progress has also been hampered by the difficulty in storing transcribed sign data amenable to computer searching. Despite these early challenges, current research findings on child sign language acquisition are greatly contributing to the study of language acquisition (see Morgan & Woll, 2002). This paper outlines some issues in studying child sign language at the level of transcription. Recent advances and vistas for future work are presented.