中文摘要：

通过3个实验，考察了聋大学生的词汇习得年龄效应。实验1采用汉字命名任务和图片命名任务，被试使用手语命名，发现在图片命名中存在着词汇习得年龄效应，在汉字命名中未出现此效应。实验2和实验3分别采用汉字词语义分类任务和图片语义分类任务，要求被试做生命物和非生命物的判断，发现在两个语义分类任务中均出现了词汇习得年龄效应。整个研究表明，在控制了语音因素之后，语义因素在聋生的词汇习得年龄效应产生中具有重要的作用，从而支持了语义假设。

英文摘要：

Age of Acquisition （AoA） refers to the age at which a word is first learnt, which is an important variable that has recently drawn considerable attention as a determinant of lexical processing. A large number of studies have found that words acquired earlier in life are processed more efficiently than words acquired late in life. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the origin of the AoA effects. One of these hypotheses is the Semantic Hypothesis, which assumes that at least parts of the AoA effect originate from the semantic system. According to this hypothesis, the order of acquisition has a lasting effect on the time needed to activate the meanings of words. It was supported in some semantic tasks （Van Loon-Vervoorn, 1985, 1989）. Another hypothesis is the Phonological Completeness Hypothesis, which assumes that AoA effects arise at the level of phonological representation. The phonology of early-acquired words is stored wholly and completely, but as a child＇s vocabulary increases, the phonology is assumed to be represented in a more fragmented form. Although it could explain some AoA effects in word naming （Brown ＆ Watson, 1987）, it failed to doso in a phonological segment experiment （Monaghan ＆ Ellis, 2002）. In present study, three experiments were conducted to examine the locus of the age of acquisition effects in the processing of Chinese words and Sign words of deaf college students, with the focus on testing the Semantic Hypothesis of AoA effects. In Experiment 1, the deaf students were required to use sign language to name characters and pictures. The stimuli were 44 single characters and 44 pictures obtained from the Snodgrass and Vanderwart （1980）. The 44 characters were 22 early-acquired and 22 late-acquired characters respectively. The aim was to compare the AoA effects between deaf students＇ performance in picture and character naming tasks. To reduce the influence of the phonological output on the deaf in the picture naming task of Experiment 1, semantic cla