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<p>Ian,</p>
<p>My response would be that a deaf person who knows how to read and
write in an oral language DOES "know" that language, to a very
considerable extent. What you know when you know a language is an
abstract system of rules that underlies both speech and writing
but exists independently of both of these manifestations of
language. Granted, a deaf person who can read and write an oral
language will be missing out on more substantial aspects of the
language (most of the phonetics and phonology) than a hearing but
illiterate person. But still, a deaf person who can read and write
Indonesian cannot but know lots of the language, rather like a
contemporary hearing scholar of Ancient Sumerian. In contrast, a
deaf signer of ASL does not have his or her linguistic competence
anchored in any spoken language, such as English — sign languages
are not parasitic on or derivative from any spoken languages.
(Though there can be all kinds of contact between signed and
spoken languages, but that's a separate issue.)</p>
<p>David<br>
</p>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 02/01/2019 17:01, Joo Ian wrote:<br>
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Dear David,<br>
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Thank you for your insight. However, I would not agree that
learning spoken Indonesian is necessary for learning written
Indonesian - the deaf Indonesians are a clear counterexample, as
they never would have learned spoken Indonesian.<br>
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Regards,<br>
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Ian JOO (주이안)<br>
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<a href="http://ianjoo.academia.edu" moz-do-not-send="true">http://ianjoo.academia.edu</a><br>
<br>
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<b><font color="#000000">From:</font></b><font color="#000000">
Lingtyp <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:lingtyp-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org"><lingtyp-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org></a> on
behalf of David Gil <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de"><gil@shh.mpg.de></a></font><br>
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<font color="#000000"><b>Sent:</b></font><font color="#000000">
Wednesday, January 2, 2019 3:56:30 PM</font><br>
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<font color="#000000"><b>To:</b></font><font color="#000000">
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org">lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a></font><br>
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<font color="#000000"><b>Subject:</b></font><font
color="#000000"> Re: [Lingtyp] Is written language a separate
modality?</font>
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Dear all,<br>
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On 02/01/2019 10:19, Joo Ian wrote:<br>
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I would like to ask everyone if you agree on the idea that
written language is not simply a representation of spoken
language, but a distinct modality (similar to how sign and
spoken language are different modalities).
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I would say yes and no, but more no ...<br>
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It seems that there is a general consensus that a written
language is simply the “shadow” of a spoken language. But I am
not sure if this is exactly the case.
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You are right that this is not exactly the case. Case in
point: Social media in Indonesia (and presumably other places
as well) has innovated all kinds of conventions that are purely
orthographic: they have a life of their own, beyond the language
that they "come from". Emoticons are just one small aspect of
this. if you "just" know Indonesian, but are not familiar with
these conventions, you won't be able to follow a Facebook
conversation "in Indonesian".<br>
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But here's the rub: knowing Indonesian isn't a sufficient
condition for understanding such a Facebook conversation, but
it's most definitely a necessary condition. Such orthographic
systems are still derivative from the spoken language, the way a
ludling might be, or, for that matter, the way signed versions
of spoken languages, such as Signed English is.<br>
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But this is NOT the case for real sign languages. A sign
language such as ASL has nothing whatsoever to do with any
spoken language; you don't need to learn English to learn ASL,
and for the most part it won't help you that much to do so. So
the analogy between written language and sign language is of
only limited validity and is potentially misleading.<br>
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David<br>
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-- David Gil Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution Max
Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Kahlaische
Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany Email:
<a href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de" moz-do-not-send="true">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Office Phone (Germany): +49-3641686834 Mobile Phone (Indonesia):
+62-81281162816
<br>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Gil
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Office Phone (Germany): +49-3641686834
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81281162816
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