Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
but ASL did not exist until the 1800s and I am sure the deaf people thought before then.
Yes, and it had to have been a pain relying only on the written word for every bit of communication. I think back then (in many cases) they were not as integrated into society as much as they are today. Life was probably pretty tough for many of them, especially if they weren't able to read and write.
Deaf children are very good at learning to lip-read, and can "understand" a parent saying a word pretty much as easily as if they can hear it. I would think a deaf person is harder to lie to, because they learn visual cues that to a hearing person, are masked by the auditory misrepresentation.
If animals do think, and I think they do, but they don't form a language in their own heads...they see a banana, yeah, its another banana, but do they know they know this? If they do, they are being held back by the lack of language, and the inability to formulate words rather than just sounds or grunts.
So we evolved to be able to talk. Speech must have been a huge leap forward with mankind. I am sure man was communicating in other ways before that with the hand gestures, expressions, etc., but when did man learn he could talk?
It would be interesting to ask a deaf person that question...I wonder if it can be attempted in sign language or if they read words...
They can read their deaf not blind
I had a class once where this boy asked the funniest question but he brought up a good point. The teacher was British and he asked the teacher if he thinks in a British accent. Teacher said no but then again he had been in America for quite a while.
Language did not suddenly strike humans like a bolt of lightning. It gradually evolved as a way of communicating what you were thinking. So thinking must have preceded language, and language was a construct that made thinking communicable.
As a parallel, think of mathematics as a form of language. Early humans were capable of distinguishing a lot of berries from a few berries, and were capable of dividing a handful of berries into several equal parts. They were "thinking" mathematical constructs, and only later did they devise a formal arithmetic language.
Wow yes.
Math was visual, they had no representative numbers, probably until the real need arose to deal in larger amounts than 4 wooly mammoths, that could be represented by stones or something.
I never thought of language, itself, as a construct, but you are right.
We communicate with ourselves, by our thoughts, so if we don't have words, we have to visualize the things or actions.
Maybe a monkey sees a snake in the tree, and senses fear based on a past sighting of another monkey being caught by the snake. But does he get a visual on the past experience?
Language is a an expression of compromised of thoughts. As such it is relative to personal experience, education, personality and emotion as well as being perceived in a literal or figurative way.
Writing is then transcribed language which again is full of 'transcription' errors.
Good luck talking to a collegue at work or your wife. Language is one of many ways to convey expression of thoughts. Can't tell if thoughts employ language unless someone hears you, 'thinking out loud'. Can a person who never had the ability to speak, think?? Probably.
Grunts, laughs, growls and facial expression work well enough.
Then there is lawyer speak...........
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
language gets in the way
