The Signs of a Savant

Language Against the Odds

By: Gary Morgan, Neil Smith, Ianthi Tsimpli, Bencie Woll

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Paperback | 1 December 2010

At a Glance

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232 Pages

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22.86 x 15.24 x 1.25

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Every once in a while nature gives us insight into the human condition by providing us with a unique case whose special properties illuminate the species as a whole.

Christopher is such an example. Despite disabilities which mean that everyday tasks are burdensome chores, Christopher is a linguistic wonder who can read, write, speak, understand and translate more than twenty languages. On some tests he shows a severely low IQ, hinting at in-educability, yet his English language ability indicates an IQ in excess of 120 (a level more than sufficient to enter university). Christopher is a savant, someone with an island of startling talent in a sea of inability.

This book documents his learning of British Sign Language, casting light on the modularity of cognition, the modality neutrality of the language faculty, the structure of memory, the grammar of signed language and the nature of the human mind.

About the Author

Neil Smith is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at University College London.

Ianthi Tsimpli is Professor of Psycholinguistics at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Gary Morgan is Professor of Psychology at City University, London.

Bencie Woll is Director of the Centre for Deafness Cognition and Language at University College London.

Industry Reviews

'This fascinating case study of a linguistic savant offers important insights into how developmental disorders may affect acquisition of sign.' Richard P. Meier, University of Texas, Austin 'This penetrating study of a unique mind provides rich and original insight into cognitive architecture and sign and spoken language.' Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 'This is a book for anyone interested in languages or the mind more generally. It was fortunate that the authors had contact with C. over such a long period of time so that they could share with us this detailed picture of an extremely interesting case of a language savant. Moreover, it is engagingly written, even as it is packed with detailed information. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in memory, atypical learners, sign language, or cognition.' Linguist List

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Language & Linguistics Linguistics Sign Languages Psychology Cognition & Cognitive Psychology

Figures	p. x
Tables	p. xii
Preface	p. xiii
Introducing Christopher	p. 1
Personal background	p. 1
Psychological profile	p. 2
Medical background	p. 4
Autism and perspective	p. 5
Apraxia and the visuo-spatial	p. 6
Theoretical background	p. 8
Memory	p. 8
Modularity and modality	p. 18
The language faculty	p. 21
Principles and parameters	p. 22
Morphology as an interface	p. 24
Theory of mind	p. 25
False belief and the language faculty	p. 25
Theory of intelligence and the executive	p. 27
Central coherence	p. 29
Relevance, and Christopher's pragmatic ability	p. 32
Linguistic processing problems	p. 34
LIA versus L2A	p. 36
Christopher's English	p. 36
Christopher's 'second' languages: lexicon-syntax asymmetry	p. 37
Inhibition and weak central coherence	p. 38
Summary and predictions	p. 40
British Sign Language: An overview	p. 43
Introduction	p. 43
Sign languages as natural languages	p. 44
Sign space	p. 47
Phonology: the lexicon	p. 49
Modality effects	p. 53
Iconicity in the sign lexicon	p. 55
A preliminary model	p. 58
Morpho-syntax	p. 62
Word-order and topicalisation	p. 62
Negation, questions and facial action	p. 65
Negation	p. 65
Questions	p. 67
Subject-object agreement	p. 68
Classifiers and topographic space	p. 70
Classifiers in spoken languages	p. 70
Classifiers in signed languages	p. 71
Parallels between classifiers in spoken and signed languages	p. 74
Cross-modality effects: space, gesture and iconicity	p. 75
Conclusions	p. 75
The programme	p. 77
Preliminaries	p. 77
Methodology of data presentation and analysis	p. 77
Iconicity	p. 78
The curriculum and other interactions	p. 79
Christopher and the comparator group	p. 80
Rationale for the selection of BSL phenomena	p. 81
Specific predictions about BSL learning in the two groups	p. 82
The results	p. 84
Introduction	p. 84
Overview of Christopher's BSL learning	p. 84
Non-verbal communication, gesture and iconicity	p. 86
Lexical development	p. 92
Morpho-syntax	p. 96
Word-order	p. 96
The face: negation and questions	p. 99
Negation	p. 99
Questions	p. 109
Sign space and verb agreement	p. 115
Classifiers	p. 122
Further tests	p. 130
Summary and conclusions	p. 137
Christopher in the wider context	p. 140
Introduction: dissociations revisited	p. 140
Aphasic signers	p. 140
Background: unimpaired signers	p. 140
Signers with stroke	p. 141
Sign versus gesture: Charles	p. 142
Robert	p. 143
Autistic signers	p. 145
Heather	p. 146
Bilingual twins with Down Syndrome	p. 149
Daniel Tammet	p. 151
Conclusions	p. 152
Modality and the mind	p. 153
Introduction	p. 153
Modality effects	p. 153
Articulation	p. 153
Simultaneity (the non-concatenative nature of BSL)	p. 155
Iconicity	p. 156
Orthography	p. 156
Deixis in English and BSL: apraxia revisited	p. 157
Space, syntax and pragmatics	p. 159
Classifiers revisited	p. 160
Facial action, intonation and morpho-phonology	p. 161
A model of the mind	p. 162
The framework	p. 163
Exemplification	p. 177
Conclusions	p. 182
Neuropsychology and linguistic talent	p. 182
Modularity, modality and mind	p. 182
Appendices
Stroop tests	p. 185
List of example signs used in vocabulary tests in comprehension and production	p. 190
Notes	p. 191
References	p. 197
Index	p. 214
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

The Signs of a Savant

Language Against the Odds

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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