Monday, August 23, 2010

Signing and Talking

When someone moves their mouth while signing, is that a part of sign language or a part of English? A British study found that hands and mouths seem to be doing different things, suggesting that the lip movement isn't part of the sign. University College London researchers watched users of British Sign Language, all of whom grew up signing with deaf parents. The subjects seemed to be processing two languages at the same time. Details are in the journal Psychological Science.