Presentation Video
Introduction
I am Julie Hochgesang, a linguist. I am an assistant professor in the Linguistics Department at Gallaudet University. One of my specializations includes language documentation, which is concerned with going out to the community where language is actually used. While documenting a language, the linguist interacts with the community itself and documents their language in a way that reflects the concerns of that community while honoring the needs of the linguist who analyzes the language from a linguistic perspective.
This is a review of a video documentary, “Life Without Words”, created in 2013. This documentary takes place in Nicaragua and is about three deaf people who live there. These three deaf people are considered to have “no language.” This movie hit close to home for me since I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya, East Africa where there are some striking similarities to the story told in this documentary.
Language is Everywhere
Language is everywhere. Everyone can acquire language. And almost everyone does. For a person to grow up with “no language”, it is an extraordinary situation. One that is not typical for any child. When a person has “no language”, the consequences are enormous. The lack of language affects the quality of life for the person itself and the people around that person. It is likely that the person will be hindered in their understanding of the world.
Critical Period of Language Acquisition
The critical period of language acquisition holds that language must be acquired by a certain age. The precise age range varies among linguists. Some hold that a child must acquire language by the age of four and others by seven. But most linguists agree there is a critical period in which language must be acquired. For now let’s say that period ends around age 7. If a child has not acquired language by that age (and that means being around accessible input all day everyday), fluency will not happen. Here I use fluency in the sense that a person knows vocabulary and is able to appropriately use these vocabulary items (words/signs) in larger units (phrases and sentences). The fluent speaker is able to express sentences, questions and other complex structures for communication. If a person is not fluent in a language, then there will be serious problems in structure and vocabulary retention and thus effective communication.
The documentary, “Life Without Words”, shows what happens if a child does not acquire language before the critical period ends. Of the three deaf people featured in the documentary, two of them are said to be born deaf and the other lost his hearing from an accident at an unknown age. All three deaf people as children were not able to access the spoken language input around them and, furthermore, apparently none of the adults around these children signed. As a result of this lack of accessible language input, these deaf people were not able to acquire language (spoken or signed) during the critical period of language acquisition. Now these deaf people as adults (at the time of the documentary, 28 years old, 20 and 14 respectively) will not be able to master language, even if signed, for communication with those around them.
Children who are not around “normal” language input all day every day will not have the chance to develop their word list and be able to put them together into ideas that can be used to explain how they feel, get what they want, or connect with other people. But even if the language input is not accessible, usually children will develop some kind of communication system if the people around them are willing to engage. It looks like all three of the deaf people featured in the documentary have developed some home signs. For example, we see a bit of that interaction with the deaf people and their father. Maria, the oldest of the three, shows some use of gestures like “no” and “stop”.
So there appears to be some evidence of a rudimentary home sign system. But we do not see much of this home sign in the documentary. It may be difficult to capture that kind of information on camera because they, the three deaf people, are not used to being filmed. You can see how they seem a bit shy in front of the camera. It may be that they do not understand why they are being filmed. Were the people producing the documentary able to explain the reason for the cameras following them around? Whatever the underlying reason, we the viewers are not able to witness much use of home signs in the documentary. Regardless, to return to my earlier point, children who are not around “normal” language input will often develop some kind of communication system, although they are not languages. And this is somewhat evident in the documentary.
Words are both Signed and Spoken
In this documentary called “Life Without Words”, it appears that “words” are spoken. That is not entirely accurate. Since the 1950’s, we (linguists, scientists, educators and others) have known that language can be produced in two primary modes: signed and spoken. So are words just spoken? No, when watching this documentary, it is important to recognize that words are both signed and spoken.
During one part of the documentary, there is a deaf woman named Tomasa who comes to interact with the three deaf people considered to have “no language”. When Tomasa introduces herself, she says, “I can’t speak. I can’t hear. But I can write.” This struck me as odd because the documentary is about what happens when there is no language. Again, she says, “I can’t speak. I can’t hear. But I can write.” Why are those the first things she mentions? Again, it seems to go back to thinking about language as only being spoken (and in this case, written). But as said earlier, language can be signed as well. I wonder why Tomasa did not introduce herself as a person who could sign.
Teaching Language
Tomasa, the deaf woman who comes teach language, clearly knows her own language. She seems to be a fluent user but of course I cannot be entirely sure since I do not know her language, which I assume to be Nicaraguan Sign Language. But my first impression from her signing (her ability to produce words and sentences) is that she is a fluent speaker. But it is not clear what her background is for teaching language. The reason why I started thinking about this is because when Tomasa came to visit the three deaf people with “no language”, she kept focusing on teaching words alone. Note the use of the flashcards. Trouble is, that is not how language is used. We do not use words that are not connected to one another. We need those words (either signed or spoken) to be combined together into sentences and ideas. It is evident we the viewers are not able to see all of Tomasa’s lessons and will not be able to discern her background in language teaching from the documentary. But still that the focus of her teaching method was on single words alone puzzled me.
One Point of View
The point of a documentary is to capture elements of lives, people, places, and situations. But there is a person behind that camera - A person who decides where to point and when to turn the camera on and off. The cover of the DVD said this documentary was sure to ignite debate and it is likely that it will. That is the point of a documentary, to highlight some important issue. Still, it is the view of one person. In this documentary, that view seems to support the point that “having no language makes life hard to live”. The point is further driven by the moment in the documentary when the father says “my children, they are not complete.”
No Words Needed
This documentary, “Life Without Words”, is a beautiful movie. Beautifully shot and edited. I loved the domestic moments. Washing dishes. Washing clothes. Carrying wood. Cooking. Peeling vegetables. The amazing light. Inside the mud home. All of those moments helped make this a beautiful movie. And it tries to be honest. In the beginning, the father cries. Hand over eyes. Then we see the son is upset too. Funny, no words are needed there. Whether signed or spoken.