Sisäkorvaistutetta käyttävien lasten viittomakielen ja puhutun kielen omaksuminen
Acquisition of a signed and a spoken language in children using a cochlear implant

Summary/Abstract: This research deals with bilingual development in Finnish Sign Language (FinSL) and Finnish in six deaf children using cochlear implant. These children were born to hearing parents who started to learn and use sign language with their children after the deafness was recognized. The language data (FinSL and Finnish) was collected in 2005 and in 2006 by videotaping the interaction between the child and a deaf adult native signer, and between the child and a hearing adult native speaker of Finnish. The ages of the children at the beginning of the research varied from 2;9 to 7;6. Background information was received by interviewing parents. The topics analysed in both languages were vocabulary, the length of utterances, inflection of verbals and nominals, articulation, comprehension of adult’s speech/signing, and interaction. In one-year period the development of spoken Finnish has been positive for every child. Four of them showed considerable improvement in Finnish considering the ability to discuss in Finnish, length of utterances, grammatical development, and articulation. Two children have made some progress. Sign language skills have improved in three children and their interaction in sign language was smoother than earlier. They used longer expressions and more spatial grammatical means in their expressions. Three of the children did not show much improvement. The children have more input in Finnish during the day than in sign language. In addition, several matters influence the development of each language.

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