Speakers use a range of devices, such as nouns and pronouns, to introduce referents and to indicate a shift between multiple referents. Sign languages also exploit different devices for signalling reference and referential shift. In established sign languages, the hands convey words and proforms, while the face, head, and body also contribute to the reference system, both mimetically and abstractly. Here we investigate how a system of referential shift emerges at different points in the development of young languages with varying socio-linguistic characteristics: Israeli Sign Language (large, heterogeneous, geographically dispersed population), Al-Sayyid Bedouin SL, and Kufr Qassem SL (smaller, homogeneous village/town settings). Early on, signers favor both lexical symbols and mimetic use of the body for shifting reference. Over time, more abstract structures with more simultaneous complexity increase. These factors interact with characteristics of the language community, suggesting a role for the amount and type of interaction in the emergence of reference in language.

说话者使用一系列设备（例如名词和代词）来介绍被指对象并指示多个被指对象之间的转换。手语还利用不同的设备来发信号通知参考和参考移位。在既定的手语中，手传达单词和形式，而面部，头部和身体也模拟和抽象地对参考系统做出贡献。在这里，我们研究了参照移位系统是如何在年轻人的发展中的不同点出现的具有不同社会语言特征的语言：以色列手语（大，异质，地理分散的人口），Al-Sayyid Bedouin SL和Kufr Qassem SL（较小的同质村庄/城镇）。早期，签名人既喜欢词汇符号，又喜欢模仿身体来转移参考。随着时间的流逝，具有更多同时复杂性的更多抽象结构会增加。这些因素与语言社区的特征相互作用，这暗示了在语言参考的出现中相互作用的数量和类型的作用。