A) American Sign Language (ASL) and other languages

Signs and gestures were probably the initial form of communication among primitive men during hunting and dangerous situations, as well as in creative manifestations as found in the Lascaux and Altamira caves. In regard to deaf people the first one that attempted systematization was Abbé

l’Eppé, a French priest who created a "methodological signing" on behalf of the French deaf-mute. In the early 19 century Rev. TH. Gallaudet brought the system in the United States that initially was not wholeheartedly welcome since the emphasis was on "oralism". Eventually ASL took hold, inasmuch children below the age of 6 have to learn a language, any language before their linguistic capabilities becomes rigid and ASL seems to be ideally suited. Activists in the deaf community believe English should be a "second language". Linguists has found the ASL is a real living language that has evolved and is able to all kind of literary creativity, puns, poems, grammar except it lacks a written form. ASL is more than a pantomime, there are very subtle forms of communication only understood by another deaf person or a truly skilled hearing individual. Its syntax is spatial, and consists in signs and gestures in front of the "speaker", also facial expressions, eye brow movement, lips pursing, and the like. Bellugi believes this translates to an "unprecedented opportunity to observe how the brain is organized to generate and understand language". Signed language is not related to sounds but to highly visible movements of arms, face and hands.

Furthermore deaf children from deaf parents start to sign in a "baby babble" about the same time that hearing children start to use non-sense syllables. The deaf think and dream in signs. They believe English is linear, while ASL lets you see everything at the same time. ASL has the same grammatical principles than any other country deaf’s signing language but gestures are different and they don’t understand each other. Bellugi remarks that a deaf Chinese proficient with Chinese sign language, who later on comes to the USA and learns ASL, is able to do it but, carries an accent in his signing.

Neville,HJ, Cofery SA, Lawson DL found that early acquisition of ASL include an increase role of the right hemisphere and for the parietal cortex, and this occurs in both hearing and deaf native signers. An increase role of the posterior temporal and occipital area occurs in the deaf native signers and thus may be attributable to auditory deprivation. The same authors using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 4T observed all groups hearing and deaf processing their native language, English or ASL, displayed strong and repeated activation within classical areas of the left hemisphere. Deaf subjects reading English did not display activation in these regions. Therefore early acquisition of a natural language is important in the expression of a strong bias for these areas to mediate language, regardless of the form of language. Furthermore native signers hearing or deaf showed extensive activation of homologous areas within the right hemisphere, indicating that specific processing requirements of the language in part determine the organization of the language systems of the brain.

b) Silbo (Whistle- Speech and Drum-Talk):

Critchley Mac Donald has speculated about the nature of other non-verbal languages such as Silbo found mainly in the Island of Gomera in the Canary Island, where the islander of Guanche origin can communicate with each other with an elaborate aural system with a range of up to 5 miles. El "silbador" is able to forward the melodic components of the spoke Spanish in a whistle form. Eventually it has become a "second language" in which some people have a remarkable fluidity, are able to recognize friends and even to crack jokes. A recent TV program brought two distant persons asking help from the other, explaining what happened, and what measures they would take. He also hypothesizes that the tonal component of the Drum-Talk, as it has been used by some African tribes with specific bitonal languages, allows them to use drums with high and low pitch. They confront the risk of ambiguity, and for that reason the signaller resorts to various qualifying and explanatory phrases. Some of the terms are rather archaic i.e. in the Kele drum-language. However neither when MacDonald wrote his article, nor in our recent review in the MEDLINE, we were able to find documentation on impairment of the communication capabilities of silbo or drum-talk performs with lateralized brain damage.

C) Usher’s Syndrome

Usher’s Syndrome has been defined as a congenital nerve deafness that later on developed blindness secondary to retinitis pigments (autosomal recessive inheritance). A recent article by Konradsson reports that children with profound hearing deficit, and absent vestibular function, have an incidence of about 6 % retinitis pigmentosa with concomitant progressive loss of vision. Patients with the variety of Usher’s type 1 (USH-1) are in risk to loose their learned ability to use sign language. They believe that early examinations of vestibular function in infants are essential to use cochlear implant allowing for aural reception at an early age, therefore avoiding the "ultimate double handicap" of deafness and blindness.

However the most sensitive presentation of their predicament was the one presented in a TV series by Oliver Sacks. He follows the vicissitudes of a large community of about 800 Acadian deaf-mutes of French-Canadian origin with a great deal of family inbreeding. Because all were born deaf they are very proficient in ASL and have successfully adapted to their hearing deficit. Gradually, many of them start to develop a retinitis with progressive vision deficit. It is characterized by inability to stand glare, tunnel vision that simultaneously restricts their "syntactic space" from expressive hands gesture to a few inches in size. Initially they start to develop a touch sign language, by following the movements of the wrists of the other signer, eventually holding hands and transmitting information in a new kind of code. When asked if they wish to recuperate hearing, they all strongly dismiss it "We were born deaf, ASL is our tongue" but, all would wish to recuperate sight.

d) Paralysis, Mutism with Exceptional Forms of Communication:

Two cases are impressive for what has been called, by one of the Time magazine literary critics as a "Triumph of the Spirit", Jean-Dominique Bauby at age 43 was the chief editor of the French Magazine Elle, when he experienced a devastating unusual stroke of the brain stem, and as a consequence a "locked-in syndrome". It rendered him totally unable to move to speak, and he had no other means of communication except blinking his left eye to a friend’s secretary. They developed a special alphabet based in the most frequently found letters in French. He describes, in exquisite and poignant detail the daily inconveniences he had to cope with, such as having the TV too loud, or a fly walking in his nose and not to be able to do anything about it. Also delves with his "diving bell" meaning his corporeal trap. The butterfly is his very much alive imagination and memories, "You can wander in space and time, set out for Tierra del Fuego, or King Midas’s court", relates vivid fantasies of cooking or going to best restaurants, including smells. He was able to keep an intense though silent relationship with his children, friends and people who wrote him, until he died two days after his book was published.

Another similar case in highly creative people is described by Gironella in his visit to the family of the Italian writer Giovanni Papini. In his last years he became progressively weaker, almost blind, and could barely express himself except with some guttural sounds. His granddaughter Anna, was able to translate them and write down essays, letters and the like. She was able to decipher his grunts and noises and made of it an understandable sequence of beautiful phrases. A somewhat similar relationship did develop between Stephen Hawking and one of his disciples in Cambridge, who was able to translate his unintelligible sounds into written formulas, witticisms and the like. Recently Professor Hawking using a computer, has been able to articulate his thoughts in an understandable way. Papini, however eventually did not have the strength to emit his growls, so, with his granddaughter, was able to develop a signal, a change in the rhythm of his breath, to point out a letter pronounced in alphabetic order. The day before his death he was able to compose meaningful prose for his last book "El Juicio Universal".

Exercise1. Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Первыми средствами коммуникации были знаки и жесты.

2. Лингвисты считают, что Американский Язык Жестов достаточно развит для того, чтобы быть пригодным для создания на нем литературных произведений.

3. Глухие думают и видят сны на языке жестов, и считают, что английский язык слишком прямолинейный, в то время как их язык позволяет передать все и сразу.

4. Человек, владеющий языком Сильбо, может передать мелодическую компоненту испанского языка с помощью свиста.

5. Люди, потерявшие способность говорить, иногда способны продолжать творческую деятельность и вносить вклад в литературу потерянного для них языка, используя язык жестов, иногда изобретаемый ими самими и их помощниками.

Pre-reading task:

a) How do you think where codes and ciphers are used?

b) Have you ever tried to ‘break’ any code or cipher?

c) Have you seen the film ‘Enigma’ or read something about Enigma code?