The implications for research practice are that subjective frequency ratings from random samples of highly experienced deaf signers can provide a reasonable measures of lexical control in sign language experiments. These results suggest that the distributions of subjective lexical frequencies are consistent across signers with varying AoLE.

However, RT was highly correlated with mean frequency rating. Nor did AoLE show significant effects on response time for making the ratings. Mean subjective frequency ratings for individual signs did not vary in relation to age of sign language exposure (AoLE), chronological age, or length of ASL experience. Subjective frequency estimates were made on a scale ranging from 1 = rarely see the sign to 7 = always see the sign. Participants were 59 deaf signers who first began to acquire ASL at ages ranging from birth to 14 years with a minimum of 10 years experience. Given the importance of lexical frequency for psycholinguistic research, and the lack of comprehensive frequency data for sign languages, we collected subjective estimates of lexical frequency for 432 signs in American Sign Language.

How to sign won in sign language