LINGUISTICS FOR DEAFNESS AND HEARING IMPAIRMENTS

The course is included among the main learning activities of the Master Degree in Language Sciences which allow the student the acquire the methodological tools provided by the most recent linguistic theories useful to analyse and describe the linguistic difficulties found in populations with hearing loss.
The main objective of this course is develop the ability to analyse the linguistic competence of different populations of hearing impaired people (orally trained cochlear-implanted children, individuals using conventional hearing aids, and adolescent and adult LIS signers) in Italian and across different languages, by investigating the use of different linguistic and syntactic properties following recent generative theories.

1. Knowledge and understanding
The student knows the difficulties that hearing impaired individuals experience in oral language acquisition.
The student knows the clinical and personal variables that may influence oral language acquisition in hearing impaired individuals.
The student knows and understands the linguistic theories that account for some linguistic phenomena observed in typical language acquisition and in language acquisition in hearing impaired individuals.
The student understands how linguistic thories may be useful in order to enhnce the level of linguistic competence in hearing impaired individuals.
The student is introduced to some standardized and non-standardized linguistic tools used for assessing the linguistic competence in typical and atypical language acquisition (deafness).

2. Applying knowledge and understanding
The student knows how to use the linguistic terminology and the tools of analysis of formal linguistics to describe the language difficulties of hearing impaired individuals.
The student is able to apply the acquired knowledge during the course to collect new linguistic data and to develop strategies to enhance the level of linguistic competence in populations of hearing impaired individuals.

3. Making judgements
The student is able to formulate and argue hypotheses on the basis of the knowledge acquired during the course.
The student is able to critically analyze new data on production and comprehension collected from hearing impaired individuals.

4. Communication:
The student is able to present the hypotheses and the linguistic phenomena discussed during the course using the correct linguistic terminology.
The student is able to interact with the peers and the professor in a critical and respectful way.

5. Learning skills
The student is able to look for and read the both the references mentioned in the course program and new references necessary to study some phenomena concerning the linguistic competence of hearing impaired individuals.
The student is able to develop critical thinking.

Knowledge of general linguistics and syntactic theory. Students with no background in generative grammar are recommended to read the following textbooks:
C. Donati, La sintassi. Regole e Strutture, Il Mulino, 2008;
A. Cardinaletti, Esercizi di sintassi, Carocci, 2009;

This course offers an overview of the linguistic difficulties associated to hearing impairment and aims at analysing in detail the linguistic competence of different populations of hearing-impaired individuals (orally trained and LIS users) in Italian and across different languages (cochlear-implanted children, individuals using conventional hearing aids, adolescent and adult LIS signers). We will then focus on the acquisition of complex syntaxt, and in particiular on the comprehension and production of relative clauses, wh-questions, topicalized sentences, left-dislocated sentences, use of clitic pronouns. Students will be also familiarised with some standardized tests used in clinical practice to assess general lexical and morphosyntactic abilities (Peabody Test, TCGB).

Bertone C., Volpato F. (2009). Oral language and sign language: possible approaches for deaf people’s language development. Cadernos de Saúde, 2. 51-62.

Cardinaletti A. (2022). Accessibilità ai contenuti: strategie di comunicazione accessibile e di semplificazione linguistica in ambito culturale, in Franca Orletti (a cura di), Comunicare il patrimonio culturale. Accessibilità comunicativa, tecnologie e sostenibilità, Milano, FrancoAngeli, pp. 137-150

Caselli, M. C., Maragna, S, Pagliari Rampelli, L, Volterra, V. (2006). Linguaggio e Sordità. Firenze: La Nuova Italia (chapters: 3-4).

D’Ortenzio S., Montino S., Martini A., Trevisi P., Volpato F. (2020), A syntactically based treatment of relative clauses: Three case studies of Italian children with cochlear implants, in Vicenç Torrens (Ed.), Typical and impaired processing in Morphosyntax. Amsterdam, John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Friedmann, N., Szterman, R. (2006). Syntactic movement in orally-trained children with hearing impairment. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 11: 56-75.

Friedmann, N., Szterman, R. (2011). The Comprehension and Production of Wh-Questions in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 16: 212-235.

Friedmann, N., & Haddad-Hanna, M. (2014). The comprehension of sentences derived by syntactic movement in Palestinian Arabic-speaking children with hearing impairment. Applied psycholinguistics,35, 473-513.

Volpato, F. (2019). Relative clauses, phi features, and memory skills. Edizioni Ca' Foscari.

Volpato, F. (2012). The comprehension of relative clauses by hearing and hearing-impaired, cochlear-implanted children: the role of marked number features. In S. Ferré, P. Prévost, L. Tuller, and R. Zebib (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the Romance Turn IV Workshop on the Acquisition of Romance Languages.

Volpato, F., Vernice, M. (2014). The production of relative clauses by Italian cochlear-implanted and hearing children. Lingua 139, 39-67.

Other materials may be provided during classes.

The examination consists in a written exam lasting lasting 2 hours and 30 minutes. It consists in answering 10 open questions on the topics and linguistic issues discussed during the course using the correct linguistic terms (the factors that may influence the linguistic competence of individuals with hearing impairment; the problematic structures, pointing out how linguistic theories may account for the linguistic phenomena observed in individuals with hearing impairment; the way in which the linguistic theory may enhance the linguistic competence of deaf individuals).
In addition, students are presented with a short text. They have to identify the linguistic aspects that are problematic for hearing impaired people and to propose a modified version of the text to make it accessible for this population.

Face-to-face lessons and materials available in the Moodle platform

Italian

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development