Effects of phonology and meaning on processing Chinese Sign Language sentences

The investigation on sentence processing has been the focus of language psychologists. The factors that affect sentence processing continue to be explored. However, Chinese Sign Language (CSL), which is a natural language for the deaf community, has not been analyzed on whether similar processing mechanisms underlie the procession of sentences of the spoken language. We examined the electrophysiological correlates of online sentence processing to clarify the role of phonology and meaning in CSL sentences. Electroencephalogram was recorded while 18 native signers observed the CSL sentences for comprehension. The subjects were presented with sentences in which semantic expectancy and phonological form were systematically manipulated to create four types of violations. These four conditions of interest were contrasted to a baseline sentence with a preferred semantic ending. We observed evidence that the phonetic and semantic related signs shared similar time course and effect direction verified that the semantic and phonological properties access already existed in the CSL sentence comprehension and generated a similar online processing cost.