Louise BONY

My Ph.D thesis focuses on the late acquisition of French Sign Language (LSF) in deaf children, concentrating on the expression of space. While existing research focuses mainly on deaf native signers, I wish to explore the productions of children from hearing families, representing the majority of deaf children. After the age of 5, these children often acquire a signed language as their first language, which influences their cognitive and linguistic development.

I focus specifically on the expression of voluntary movement in space, a skill unique to signed languages due to their visuo-gestural modality. Through a semiological approach, I will examine how late acquisition impacts linguistic mechanisms. My thesis includes an exploratory phase, the creation of a longitudinal video-corpus of deaf children, a comparative analysis with productions from native signing deaf peers and possibly a typological comparison with late Turkish Sign Language speakers.

My results will aim to enrich our understanding of late acquisition mechanisms and related markers. Through this thesis, I wish to emphasize the importance of early and equitable access to a signed language to promote the inclusion and linguistic development of deaf children from hearing families.