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Signed languages and language change: Response to Law, Power, and Quinto-Pozos

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2026

Claire Bowern
Claire Bowern*
Affiliation:
Yale University
*
37 Hillhouse Ave, New Haven, CT 06511, [claire.bowern@yale.edu]
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Abstract

In response to Law et al.’s (2025) target article on signed language change, I discuss two aspects of regularity in sound change: the role of phonemes and the contribution of iconicity. Drawing on work on sound change in spoken languages, I set out some arguments for why linguistics needs to take proper account of signed language change, in order to better understand language dynamics in general. I further argue that signed ~ spoken language dichotomies or arguments from exceptionalism are unlikely to be as helpful as robust hypothesis testing.

Keywords

signed languagesphonologyuniformitarianismacquisitioniconicity

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Type
Perspectives
Information
Language , Volume 101 , Issue 3 , September 2025 , pp. e250 - e260
Copyright
Copyright © 2025 Linguistic Society of America

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