The Acquisition of American Sign Language Hand Configurations

Examination of American Sign Language - produced by a deaf child acquiring the language from deaf parents, and videotaped at age 13, 15, 18, and 21 months - shows conformity to many of the phonological rules operative for all languages. Active-hand configurations, i.e. dez handshapes, are learned in stages. A first-stage dez is substituted regularly for a dez of a later stage before second stage competence is reached. Rules specific to ASL dez substitution are posited.