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Speech Perception
Just like spoken languages, signed languages show systematic variation that reflects the signer’s age, place of origin, and whether the language they are signing is their native language or a second language. Here, Dr. Julie Hochgesang from Gallaudet University introduces some examples of such variation. In this video, you’ll also meet some impressive polyglots who know a number of different signed languages:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gli3akhYOSo
In the following lecture, researcher Carol Padden talks about accents in signed language that affect comprehensibility. She argues that just as some learners of a second spoken language may need a voice coach to help improve their comprehensibility in their second language, some ASL interpreters (who are hearing, and may not be native speakers of ASL) would benefit from coaches who are knowledgeable about which sources of variation make their signing hard to understand. (The lecture is in ASL, with an English transcript provided.)