Limited language experience in childhood is common among deaf individuals, which prior research has shown to lead to low levels of language processing. Although basic structures such as word order have been found to be resilient to conditions of sparse language input in early life, whether they are robust to conditions of extreme language delay is unknown. The sentence comprehension strategies of post-childhood, first-language (L1) learners of American Sign Language (ASL) with at least 9 years of language experience were investigated, in comparison to two control groups of learners with full access to language from birth (deaf native signers and hearing L2 learners who were native English speakers). The results of a sentence-to-picture matching experiment show that event knowledge overrides word order for post-childhood L1 learners, regardless of the animacy of the subject, while both deaf native signers and hearing L2 signers consistently rely on word order to comprehend sentences. Language inaccessibility throughout early childhood impedes the acquisition of even basic word order. Similar to the strategies used by very young children prior to the development of basic sentence structure, post-childhood L1 learners rely more on context and event knowledge to comprehend sentences. Language experience during childhood is critical to the development of basic sentence structure.

中文翻译：

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当事件知识在句子理解中凌驾于词序之上时：童年后学习第一语言

儿童时期有限的语言经验在聋人中很常见，先前的研究表明，这会导致语言处理水平低下。尽管已经发现诸如词序之类的基本结构在生命早期的稀疏语言输入条件下具有弹性，但它们是否对极端语言延迟条件具有鲁棒性尚不清楚。调查了具有至少 9 年语言经验的儿童后第一语言 (L1) 美国手语 (ASL) 学习者的句子理解策略，并与两个从出生就完全掌握语言的学习者对照组进行比较。失聪的母语手语者和以英语为母语的听力 L2 学习者）。句子到图片匹配实验的结果表明，事件知识优先于儿童后 L1 学习者的词序，无论主题的活跃程度如何，聋人的母语手语者和听力正常的二语手语者都始终依赖词序来理解句子。整个幼儿时期的语言不通障碍甚至阻碍了基本词序的获得。与幼儿在基本句子结构发展之前使用的策略类似，儿童后 L1 学习者更多地依赖上下文和事件知识来理解句子。童年时期的语言经验对于基本句子结构的发展至关重要。与幼儿在基本句子结构发展之前使用的策略类似，儿童后 L1 学习者更多地依赖上下文和事件知识来理解句子。童年时期的语言经验对于基本句子结构的发展至关重要。与幼儿在基本句子结构发展之前使用的策略类似，儿童后 L1 学习者更多地依赖上下文和事件知识来理解句子。童年时期的语言经验对于基本句子结构的发展至关重要。