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Sunday, May 07, 2006

Enquiring Minds Want to Know

Last night I was driving my daughter S. home to her flat, and we were looking at personalised number plates. KRE81V was easy enough to figure out, YTLFNT was harder until S. came up with "white elephant".
I have been wondering, can deaf people (those whose only "spoken" language is sign) work out the meaning of these number plates? It seems to me that they rely heavily on the sound associations of the letters and numbers used. Do deaf people have any concept of the sounds? And what about deaf poetry? I am envisaging a poetry where word selection depends not on the sounds of the words but on the beauty of the associated signs. It would be closely related to dance.
Can anyone enlighten me? Am I right, or way off the mark?

5 comments:

Style Me Organized said...

ok, wow. that's got me totally going around in circles. because i would have automatically assumed that they would figure it out same as us but now i don't honestly know! for a deaf person who never had hearing and don't know the sounds of letters but rather go entirely on their sign, how would they even make the association for plates like that. gee, i hope someone who really knows answers this question for you. i'll be back to see if they do ;)

here via michele.

honestyrain

Canadian Mark said...

That is a good question. I'm thinking shaddow puppets, though I'm probably further off the mark than you.

David Edward said...

i have no clue
thats what my x said

David Edward said...

here from Michele

Jean-Luc Picard said...

A good question. The answer might be different for someone who has lost their hearing than someone who has always been deaf. I notice that honestyrain has said something similar.

Michele has sent me here.