Error, Anomaly, and Variation in the English of Deaf Individuals

This paper reports the results of an experiment designed to characterize recursive processes and their impact on constituent structure in-the English of deaf individuals. Data gathered in this investigation indicate that subordinate clause markers such as that, which, when, and because tend to function as coordinating conjunctions in the English of many deaf individuals. This finding supports Bochner's (1976) contention that many deaf individuals tend to perceive, produce, and learn syntactic structures by arranging lexical items in a linear-sequential fashion without regard to hierarchical order and without specifying relations of subordination and superordination.