Since they communicate differently, what language do deaf people think in?
Btw, I’m the type who thinks with both words and images (some think just words or images) and in two languages. I just thought (with words lol) it’ll be interesting to know.
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Since they communicate differently, what language do deaf people think in?
Btw, I’m the type who thinks with both words and images (some think just words or images) and in two languages. I just thought (with words lol) it’ll be interesting to know.
It depends on the person. Just like you said, some people think with words and some with images – with images, you wouldn’t really need a language, no?
A deaf person who lost their hearing after being able to hear for many years may still think in words. Someone who has never heard since birth may think in sign language (they may even think while visualizing the signs or lipreading)
In terms of language, there are numerous versions of sign languages. In the French Sign Language family alone, there are: French Sign Language, Italian Sign Language, Quebec Sign Language, American Sign Language, Irish Sign Language, Russian Sign Language, Dutch Sign Language (NGT), Spanish Sign Language, Mexican Sign Language, Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS), Catalan Sign Language, Ukrainian Sign Language, Austrian Sign Language (along with its twin Hungarian Sign Language and its offspring Czech Sign Language), and that’s just one group.
So yeah, a deaf person who lives in France will probably think in the French Sign Language.
It’s like asking which language do monkeys think in?
of course, they think. How then do they know it’s time to flee to a tree when they see a tiger?
Their brains through the eyes see the carnivore and the brains tell it that is a danger and it should get away. Monkeys don’t talk, so they have no language to think in. There is a way the brain perceives and communicates. It is the same language we human beings replace with when we teach children what they should know as their mother tongue.
Good analogy! As Jason Dotson said in his comment, “The ability to speak has no relation with the cognitive functioning of the brain.”
What language do deaf people think in?
The ability to hear spoken words determines if somebody will think in words or pictures.
But is it possible for a person to have thoughts without language?
Research has shown that deaf people born totally deaf know no language, but they can think by images and signs.
The mode of thinking between deaf people and people with senses of hearing may vary, but one thing is true – they both think. Being deaf does not mean that the brain has also lost its cognitive functions. Deaf people will think through sign language like the rest of us because they have a language, and that’s why it is called language.
People born deaf means they have never heard the spoken speech, and therefore, it’s hard to say they can think like the rest of us who hears. Deaf people are more likely to think with visuals because that’s how they perceive and interact with the outside. They may think in terms of pictures or images signs as in their sign language or lip-reading.
In order to understand how deaf people think, it is crucial to understand how language affects our thoughts and understand what’s a thought anyway and how it is controlled. The thought may come in strings of words images, signs, or a combination of both.
There are people who think in words only, and there are those whose thoughts are dominated by images and words, and that’s how people think.
Hellen Keller once said that she was like a ship in thick fog without a compass. She said that she once had no will or intellect, had no power of thought, and knew no time.
The mode of communication may vary but one can put their views. Deaf people have their own Sign language and Deaf-blind people communicate via tactile sign language. The ability to speak has no relation with the cognitive functioning of the brain. Of course, language is important for thoughts but only the spoken language is the basis for it is not true. Sign language is also a real language. So, Deaf-blind can think and have their own views on any subject like all people.