In sign languages, spatial relationships such as in, on, and under can be communicated with two main types of signs: analogical and lexical. Studying an emerging sign language, such as Lengua de Señas Nicaragüense (LSN), allows us to see the development of spatial language across time by comparing language produced by different cohorts. First cohort signers are the earliest users of LSN and their language reflects the early forms of LSN while later cohorts’ language reflects more recent changes to LSN. This study compared the spatial language of first (n=13), second (n=13), and third (n=12) cohort users of LSN to determine what linguistic forms used to communicate spatial relations emerged first. We hypothesized that analogical signs would appear more often in first-cohort signers as they are more specific and languages tend to conventionalize to general forms over time. We elicited spatial language from participants using a shielded communication task. The relationship between the type of spatial relation, in, on, or under, and the type of sign used (lexical, analogical) was also explored. Our study was able to capture the emergence of spatial language and a pattern that reflects language change from more specific to more categorical forms.
