ABSTRACT
Recursion allows language users to express more than one proposition within a single sentence. Recursive rules are those that can be applied repeatedly. They transform simple sentences into complex sentences, give language its generative capacity, and thus are an essential component of all natural languages (Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002). With recursive devices, speakers and signers can produce an infinite number of sentences, all conforming to the grammar of their language. The question is whether the deaf children’s gesture systems contain recursion.
