Abstract This study aims to examine the role of early signing input on the robust reliance on ASL basic word order by deaf adult ASL signers who are exposed to different types of signing (ASL versus signing systems, SS) by early childhood. We used a sentence-picture matching task involving transitive ASL sentences in subject–verb–object order with consistent or conflicting animacy cues. All signers with early ASL input (12 native signers, 12 non-native signers with early ASL) showed robust reliance on ASL word order and good bilingual skills, while 37.5% (6/16) non-native signers with early exposure to SS showed a weak representation of ASL basic word order along with lower bilingual proficiency. These results suggest that the critical period effects for syntactic development are not limited to severe deprivation but can also manifest when early language is insufficient. Early, rich, and consistent language input during early childhood is required for syntactic development.

This study investigated whether student interpreters encode and recall words differently in signed and spoken languages. Participants viewed and then recalled word lists, half of which were related through specific encoding strategies (i.e., experimental lists), and half of which lacked the availability of those strategies (i.e., control lists). Total words recalled and the temporal recall order were compared across experimental and control lists. Student interpreters utilised different strategies to remember words in English and American Sign Language (ASL), suggesting that student interpreters do not default to first-language (English) spoken strategies when encoding second-language (ASL) signed lists. However, the total number of recalled words was lower in ASL than in English despite students’ use of encoding strategies in ASL that have been shown to be adaptive to signed languages. These findings underscore the need to provide memory training to student interpreters in order to improve recall ability as part of interpreter education.

Background and Objectives: Sign Language is a visual language that uses hand shapes, facial expression gestures, and body language for communication. Linguistic studies have shown that Sign Languages, like spoken languages, are natural and meet the communication needs of their speakers. Sign Language is not a single language that can be universal, nor every country has a Sign Language equivalent to its own spoken language. There are many Sign Languages ​​in the world including the American, English, Japanese, Italian, Turkish, and Persian Sign Language. The Persian Sign Language is the natural language of the deaf in Iran. The ability to communicate effectively is an important step in establishing relationships and participation for the deaf in the community. Lack of support from the hearing community leads deaf people to isolation and other social problems. In order to overcome the obstacles that exist between hearing and hearing impaired people, a translator system is needed to translate messages into the Sign Language in accordance with their spoken language. A Sign Language translation system can be used by the deaf, the family and friends of such people, the blind-deaf people, the people who have lost their ability to speak due to some factors, the professors and teachers, the medical staff and also people who are interested in learning this language. This article, by providing an automatic translator system for translating from the Persian Language into the Persian Sign