Wouter Damen will carry out his research at the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication (ACLC).

From movement to meaning: how children acquire the phonology of Dutch Sign Language

Lexical signs in sign languages are made up of smaller building blocks, like the handshape and location of the sign, but it remains largely unknown how deaf children acquire these during development. Using video recordings and image recognition software, the order in which children learn to produce these building blocks can for the first time be determined. Additionally, we will determine children’s perceptive development by testing how well they can discern differences in signs produced by others. This way, we will finally get a complete picture of how deaf children acquire the building blocks of sign language.

Supervisors: Roland Pfau and Beyza Sümer.

About the programme

The PhDs in the Humanities programme serves to boost the influx and advancement of young talent in the humanities. The programme is funded by the Deans’ Consultative Committee for Literature and the Humanities of the SSH Council and the NWO Social Sciences and Humanities domain. In total, EUR 5.4 million is disbursed for this funding round, including a 20% matching contribution from the institutions that submitted the awarded project proposals.

Following the recommendations of the assessment committee, the NWO Executive Board has selected the following projects.