It is possible for a language to emerge with no direct linguistic history or outside linguistic influence. Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) arose about 70 years ago in a small, insular community with a high incidence of profound prelingual neurosensory deafness. In ABSL, we have been able to identify the beginnings of phonology, morphology, syntax, and prosody. The linguistic elements we find in ABSL are not exclusively holistic, nor are they all compositional, but a combination of both. We do not, however, find in ABSL certain features that have been posited as essential even for a proto-language. ABSL has a highly regular syntax as well as word-internal compounding, also highly regular but quite distinct from syntax in its patterns. ABSL, however, has no discernable word-internal structure of the kind observed in more mature sign languages: no spatially organized morphology and no evident duality of phonological patterning.
2026. Deconstructing notions of morphological ‘complexity’: Lessons from creoles and sign languages. Journal of Linguistics 62:1 ► pp. 177 ff.
Miles, Rachel, Marla Hatrak, Deniz İlkbaşaran & Rachel Mayberry
2026. Argument ordering in simple sentences is affected by age of first language acquisition: Evidence from late first language signers of ASL. Journal of Child Language 53:1 ► pp. 20 ff.
Matende, Tawanda & Crous Hlungwani
2025. Toward a Theory for Understanding Morphosyntactic Structures in Sign Language: A Proposal of the Integrative Cognitive Functional Theory. Journal of Asian and African Studies
Pleyer, Michael, Marcus Perlman, Gary Lupyan, Koen de Reus & Limor Raviv
2025. The ‘design features’ of language revisited. Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Mayberry, Rachel I., Marla Hatrak, Deniz Ilbasaran, Qi Cheng, Yaqian Huang & Matt L. Hall
2024. Impoverished language in early childhood affects the development of complex sentence structure. Developmental Science 27:1
Lutzenberger, Hannah, Katie Mudd, Rose Stamp & Adam Charles Schembri
2023. The social structure of signing communities and lexical variation: A cross-linguistic comparison of three unrelated sign languages. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 8:1
Dachkovsky, Svetlana
2022. Emergence of a subordinate construction in a sign language: Intonation ploughs the field for morphosyntax. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 7:1
Haviland, John B.
2022. How and When to Sign “Hey!” Socialization into Grammar in Z, a 1st Generation Family Sign Language from Mexico. Languages 7:2 ► pp. 80 ff.
Horton, Laura
2022. Lexical overlap in young sign languages from Guatemala. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 7:1
Tkachman, Oksana
2022. Conflation of spatial reference frames in deaf community sign languages. Linguistics Vanguard 8:s1 ► pp. 139 ff.
2016. Roland Pfau, Markus Steinbach & Annika Herrmann (eds.), A matter of complexity: Subordination in sign languages. (Sign Language and Deaf Communities 6.) Boston, MA/Berlin & Preston: De Gruyter Mouton & Ishara Press, 2016. Pp. xiii+262.. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 39:3 ► pp. 311 ff.
Lepic, Ryan, Carl Börstell, Gal Belsitzman & Wendy Sandler
2016. A Gradualist Scenario for Language Evolution: Precise Linguistic Reconstruction of Early Human (and Neandertal) Grammars. Frontiers in Psychology 7
2014. The emergence of embedded structure: insights from Kafr Qasem Sign Language. Frontiers in Psychology 5
Tallerman, Maggie
2014. No syntax saltation in language evolution. Language Sciences 46 ► pp. 207 ff.
Tamariz, Mónica
2014. Experiments and Simulations Can Inform Evolutionary Theories of the Cultural Evolution of Language. In The Evolution of Social Communication in Primates [Interdisciplinary Evolution Research, 1], ► pp. 249 ff.
Hall, Matthew L., Rachel I. Mayberry & Victor S. Ferreira
2013. Cognitive constraints on constituent order: Evidence from elicited pantomime. Cognition 129:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Galantucci, Bruno, Simon Garrod & Gareth Roberts
2012. Experimental Semiotics. Language and Linguistics Compass 6:8 ► pp. 477 ff.
Gutiérrez, Eva, Oliver Müller, Cristina Baus & Manuel Carreiras
2012. Electrophysiological evidence for phonological priming in Spanish Sign Language lexical access. Neuropsychologia 50:7 ► pp. 1335 ff.
Tange, Hanne
2012. Organising language at the international university: three principles of linguistic organisation. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 33:3 ► pp. 287 ff.
Fitch, W. Tecumseh
2011. Unity and diversity in human language. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366:1563 ► pp. 376 ff.
Alexiadou, Artemis
2010. 9 On the Morphosyntax of (Anti) Causative Verbs. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 177 ff.
Boneh, Nora & Edit Doron
2010. 16 Modal and Temporal Aspects of Habituality. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 338 ff.
Borer, Hagit
2010. 15 Locales. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 309 ff.
Erteschik‐Shir, Nomi & Tova Rapoport
2010. 4 Contact and Other Results. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 59 ff.
Everaert, Martin
2010. 5 The Lexical Encoding of Idioms. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 76 ff.
Folia, Vasiliki, Julia Uddén, Meinou De Vries, Christian Forkstam & Karl Magnus Petersson
2010. Artificial Language Learning in Adults and Children. Language Learning 60:s2 ► pp. 188 ff.
Goldberg, Adele E.
2010. 3 Verbs, Constructions, and Semantic Frames. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 39 ff.
Horrocks, Geoffrey & Melita Stavrou
2010. 14 Morphological Aspect and the Function and Distribution of Cognate Objects Across Languages. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 284 ff.
Horvath, Julia & Tal Siloni
2010. 8 Lexicon versus Syntax. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 153 ff.
Landau, Idan
2010. 10 Saturated Adjectives, Reified Properties. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 204 ff.
Landman, Fred & Susan Rothstein
2010. 11 Incremental Homogeneity in the Semantics of Aspectualfor‐Phrases. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 229 ff.
Meir, Irit
2010. 6 The Emergence of Argument Structure in Two New Sign Languages. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 101 ff.
Mittwoch, Anita
2010. 12 Event Measurement and Containment. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 252 ff.
Piñón, Christopher
2010. 13 Draw. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 267 ff.
Malka Rappaport Hovav, Edit Doron & Ivy Sichel
2010. 1 Introduction. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 1 ff.
Malka Rappaport Hovav, Edit Doron & Ivy Sichel
2010. Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure,
Rappaport Hovav, Malka & Beth Levin
2010. 2 Reflections on Manner/Result Complementarity. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 21 ff.
Ritter, Elizabeth & Sara Thomas Rosen
2010. 7 Animacy in Blackfoot. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. 124 ff.
Corballis, Michael C.
2009. The Evolution of Language. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1156:1 ► pp. 19 ff.
Corballis, Michael C.
2017. The evolution of language: Sharing our mental lives. Journal of Neurolinguistics 43 ► pp. 120 ff.
Corballis, Michael C.
2018. Precursors to Language. Topoi 37:2 ► pp. 297 ff.
Rayman, Jennifer
2009. Why doesn't everyone here speak Sign Language? Questions of language policy, ideology and economics. Current Issues in Language Planning 10:3 ► pp. 338 ff.
Aronoff, Mark, Irit Meir, Carol Padden & Wendy Sandler
2008. Language is shaped by the body. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 31:5 ► pp. 509 ff.
[no author supplied]
2010. General Preface. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. xi ff.
[no author supplied]
2010. Copyright Page. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. iv ff.
[no author supplied]
2010. Notes on Contributors. In Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure, ► pp. xiii ff.
[no author supplied]
2011. References. In The Handbook of Phonological Theory, ► pp. 779 ff.
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