The signed mental lexicon: Effects of phonological neighborhood density, iconicity, and childhood language experience

Caselli, Naomi; Emmorey, Karen; Cohen-Goldberg, Ariel M.

doi:10.1016/j.jml.2021.104282

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Based on evidence from spoken languages and interactive models of lexical processing (Baus, Costa, & Carreiras, 2008a;Vitevitch, 2002), we predicted that the coactivation of neighbor signs would facilitate lexical retrieval. In addition, Caselli et al (2021) found inhibitory effects of PND on sign comprehension, indicating that phonologically similar signs compete during recognition. Our negative results for sign production are partially congruent with a recent large-scale study of spoken English naming of over 2000 photographs.…”

Section: Phonological Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…However, these studies did not examine the effects of phonological density defined as the number of signs that share all but one phonological feature or parameter. Recently, Caselli et al (2021) investigated the effects of PND on ASL sign recognition using a lexical decision task and taking advantage of the ASL-LEX database, which provides measures of PND for ASL signs, defined in a manner that is parallel to spoken languages Sehyr et al, 2021). Similar to results from spoken languages (e.g., Andrews, 1989;Lim, 2016), Caselli et al (2021) found that ASL signs with high PND were recognized more slowly than those with low PND, and this effect was strongest for low-frequency signs.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, Caselli et al (2021) investigated the effects of PND on ASL sign recognition using a lexical decision task and taking advantage of the ASL-LEX database, which provides measures of PND for ASL signs, defined in a manner that is parallel to spoken languages Sehyr et al, 2021). Similar to results from spoken languages (e.g., Andrews, 1989;Lim, 2016), Caselli et al (2021) found that ASL signs with high PND were recognized more slowly than those with low PND, and this effect was strongest for low-frequency signs. Thus, for comprehension, phonologically similar words or signs compete for recognition and slow response times.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The effects of multiple linguistic variables on picture naming in American Sign Language

Sehyr

Emmorey

2021

Behav Res

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Picture-naming tasks provide critical data for theories of lexical representation and retrieval and have been performed successfully in sign languages. However, the specific influences of lexical or phonological factors and stimulus properties on sign retrieval are poorly understood. To examine lexical retrieval in American Sign Language (ASL), we conducted a timed picture-naming study using 524 pictures (272 objects and 251 actions). We also compared ASL naming with previous data for spoken English for a subset of 425 pictures. Deaf ASL signers named object pictures faster and more consistently than action pictures, as previously reported for English speakers. Lexical frequency, iconicity, better name agreement, and lower phonological complexity each facilitated naming reaction times (RT)s. RTs were also faster for pictures named with shorter signs (measured by average response duration). Target name agreement was higher for pictures with more iconic and shorter ASL names. The visual complexity of pictures slowed RTs and decreased target name agreement. RTs and target name agreement were correlated for ASL and English, but agreement was lower for ASL, possibly due to the English bias of the pictures. RTs were faster for ASL, which we attributed to a smaller lexicon. Overall, the results suggest that models of lexical retrieval developed for spoken languages can be adopted for signed languages, with the exception that iconicity should be included as a factor. The open-source picture-naming data set for ASL serves as an important, first-of-its-kind resource for researchers, educators, or clinicians for a variety of research, instructional, or assessment purposes.

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Section: Phonological Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of multiple linguistic variables on picture naming in American Sign Language

Sehyr

Emmorey

2021

Behav Res

Self Cite

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“…Based on evidence from spoken languages and interactive models of lexical processing (Baus, Costa, et al, 2008;Vitevitch, 2002), we predicted that the coactivation of neighbor signs would facilitate lexical retrieval. In addition, Caselli et al (2021) found inhibitory effects of PND on sign comprehension, indicating that phonologically similar signs compete during recognition. Our negative results for sign production are partially congruent with a recent large-scale study of spoken English naming of over 2,000 photographs.…”

Section: Phonological Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…However, these studies did not examine the effects of phonological density defined as the number of signs that share all but one phonological feature or parameter. Recently, Caselli, Emmorey, and Cohen-Goldberg (2021) investigated the effects of phonological neighborhood density (PND) on ASL sign recognition using a lexical decision task and taking advantage of the ASL-LEX database which provides measures of PND for ASL signs, defined in a manner that is parallel to spoken languages Sehyr et al, 2021). Similar to results from spoken languages (e.g., Andrews, 1989;Lim, 2016), Caselli et al (2021) found that ASL signs with high PND were recognized more slowly than those with low PND, and this effect was strongest for low-frequency signs.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of multiple linguistic variables on picture naming in American Sign Language

Sehyr¹,

Emmorey²

2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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Picture naming tasks provide critical data for theories of lexical representation and retrieval and have been performed successfully in sign languages. However, the specific influences of lexical or phonological factors and stimulus properties on sign retrieval are poorly understood. To examine lexical retrieval in American Sign Language (ASL), we conducted a timed picture naming study using 524 pictures (272 objects and 251 actions). We also compared ASL naming with previous data for spoken English for a subset of 425 pictures. Deaf ASL signers named object pictures faster and more consistently than action pictures, as previously reported for English speakers. Lexical frequency, iconicity, better name agreement, and lower phonological complexity each facilitated naming RTs. RTs were also faster for pictures named with shorter signs (measured by average response duration). Target name agreement was higher for pictures with more iconic and shorter ASL names. The visual complexity of pictures slowed RTs and decreased target name agreement. RTs and target name agreement were correlated for ASL and English, but agreement was lower for ASL, possibly due to the English bias of the pictures. RTs were faster for ASL, which we attributed to a smaller lexicon. Overall, the results suggest that models of lexical retrieval developed for spoken languages can be adopted for signed languages, with the exception that iconicity should be included as a factor. The open-source picture naming dataset for ASL serves as an important, first-of-its-kind resource for researchers, educators, or clinicians for a variety of research, instructional, or assessment purposes.

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Sign language and the brain

Emmorey

2025

Encyclopedia of the Human Brain

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The signed mental lexicon: Effects of phonological neighborhood density, iconicity, and childhood language experience

Cited by 18 publications

References 60 publications

The effects of multiple linguistic variables on picture naming in American Sign Language

The effects of multiple linguistic variables on picture naming in American Sign Language

The effects of multiple linguistic variables on picture naming in American Sign Language

Sign language and the brain

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