Relative clause structure, relative clause perception, and the change from SOV to SVO

Order of the major constituents in sign languages: implications for all language

A survey of reports of sign order from 42 sign languages leads to a handful of generalizations. Two accounts emerge, one amodal and the other modal. We argue that universal pressures are at work with respect to some generalizations, but that pressure from the visual modality is at work with respect to others. Together, these pressures conspire to make all sign languages order their major constituents SOV or SVO. This study leads us to the conclusion that the order of S with regard to verb phrase (VP) may be driven by sensorimotor system concerns that feed universal grammar.

Strategies in comprehension of relative clauses by parkinsonian patients

Twenty patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and twenty normal control subjects (NC) matched on age, sex, education and socio-economic status (SES) were tested for comprehension of four types of relative clauses with complex thematic roles (syntax) and no semantic and pragmatic constraints (reversible) in a sentence-picture matching task. The results show a clear language impairment for PD patients compared to NC. Additional evidence from testing school children in grade 1 (G1) and grade 6 (G6) indicates that G1 children perform similar to PD patients and G6 children perform as high as NC. The overall picture of the findings suggests: (1) PD patients process sentences with complex thematic roles and semantic reversibility on a heuristic and not on an algorithmic basis, a type of behavior assumed to be associated with frontal lobe dysfunction; (2) PD patients display some patterns of language behavior similar to those observed in aphasics. Similarities in language behavior between PD patients and G1 children are discussed with regard to the "regression hypothesis" (Jacobson, 1968).