written language as first language?

[Michael Everson]

Ar 23:15 -0800 2000-08-08, scríobh Nancy Frishberg:

>I would not be surprised to find many people with CP or similar
>disorders for whom Blissymbolics is their first (and primary)
>symbolic expression. Is it also their first (and primary) linguistic
>input method?

I am not sure what you mean by "input method" which to me means things like
keyboards or headswitches.

>Or are these hearing people who have been exposed to spoken language
>extensively before finding an appropriate expressive mode?

I imagine that most of them are hearing. Certainly even very young children
presented with Blissymbolics receive it alongside spoken language. In this
regard it's quite interesting. Bliss has its own grammar and syntax, which
differs from other languages (though it's similar enough to English, SVO
and all that), but in practice of course Blissymbols and spoken language
are used at the same time. So in a way Blissymbols in practice functions
midway between something like ASL and Signed English or Polish Sign
Language and Signed Polish. But users of Blissymbols from different
countries can communicate with it even if they do not understand the spoken
languages of each others' countries. But for some people it is their only
expressive language.

>And do we believe that Blissymbolics is a language?

Very definitely yes. It is extensible, flexible, and can be used to say
anything. A great many other AAC solutions fall way short of these criteria
(even though they may be attached to clever speech output devices which
make them _seem_ more robust than they are.

Michael Everson  **  Everson Gunn Teoranta  **   http://www.egt.ie
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