Read "Finding the Beauty"
Feb. 13th, 2014 04:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThanks to a donation by Anthony & Shirley Barrette, my Torn World poem "Finding the Beauty" is now visible to the public.
A young Marai explores her role as a domestic.
Marai has appeared in a number of stories. She is deaf and works as a raiser. This poem tells how she discovered a vocation where her handicap works as an advantage.
A young Marai explores her role as a domestic.
Marai has appeared in a number of stories. She is deaf and works as a raiser. This poem tells how she discovered a vocation where her handicap works as an advantage.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-14 01:24 am (UTC)Are there many deaf people in Marai's community? I ask because a single deaf person does not have a language.* It takes a community, and some continuity across generations, for a sign language to grow from homesign gestures. And the ease with which several people understand her signing, and sign to her, suggests a sign language, and therefore at least a small deaf community. In isolated areas, these can develop because of a founder effect: some of the early dwellers there carry a gene that makes deafness more likely. The best known example is probably Martha's Vineyard Sign Language
The snow-fever episode couldn't* have happened in infancy: her speechreading makes it evident that she knew the spoken language before losing her hearing. In the technical terminology, she's post-lingually deaf.
* in our world
** and not just as a geek :-)
Okay...
Date: 2014-02-14 01:43 am (UTC)Yay!
>> Are there many deaf people in Marai's community? <<
Not a lot, but some. Hearing loss is one known effect that can come from snow-fever. Accidents and congenital defects also occur, and some people lose their hearing with age.
>> I ask because a single deaf person does not have a language.* It takes a community, and some continuity across generations, for a sign language to grow from homesign gestures. <<
This is more homesign than a fully developed sign language. However, it's instinctive for humans to use language, so deaf people often use gestures to communicate if they cannot speak. Then if other people around them support that, it is used as a language, and it works tolerably well -- although usually not as well as a complete sign language. The Northerners are very tight-knit and do not exclude handicapped members; they try very hard to find ways for everyone to interact and contribute.
>> And the ease with which several people understand her signing, and sign to her, suggests a sign language, and therefore at least a small deaf community. <<
The Northerners do have an established sign language, which is used by rangers to communicate across long distances. It's more a subset language than a whole one, but it gives people the idea of communicating with gestures. The people who are most fluent with Marai are her own age-mates, along with her raisers; and later, children she has raised. Outside of that, it's a lot harder for her to communicate.
>> In isolated areas, these can develop because of a founder effect: some of the early dwellers there carry a gene that makes deafness more likely. The best known example is probably Martha's Vineyard Sign Language <<
It's not congenital.
>> The snow-fever episode couldn't* have happened in infancy: her speechreading makes it evident that she knew the spoken language before losing her hearing. In the technical terminology, she's post-lingually deaf. <<
It happened in childhood, so yes, Marai is post-lingually deaf. She still has a very slight amount of hearing, but it's rarely enough to be useful. She can probably pick up some things from lip-reading too. But she spends a lot of time in an environment that doesn't rely wholly on verbal communication, because very young children can't talk yet and toddlers only talk a little bit.
Re: Okay...
Date: 2014-02-14 01:52 am (UTC)Mm, not exactly what I was talking about. E.g., a founder's congenital susceptibility to a disease that can affect the hearing would increase the deaf population. But yeah.
"Probably"? “Marai watched closely, reading Befark's lips.”
Onnyhoo, with much of what I was saying there, I was thinking of maybe seeding or fertilizing the creative soil. Maybe I should put this in a comment on TW, eh?
Re: Okay...
Date: 2014-02-14 01:57 am (UTC)Oh, okay. That's possible. It's just not one of the genetic conditions we're tracking. Torn World has a bunch of those in different places, because so many populations were small and fragmented. Founder effect is a major influence.
>> "Probably"? “Marai watched closely, reading Befark's lips.” <<
If I'd been writing a story or poem, I'd have looked it up. Just commenting, I don't always, and it's hard to remember all the details.
>> Onnyhoo, with much of what I was saying there, I was thinking of maybe seeding or fertilizing the creative soil. Maybe I should put this in a comment on TW, eh? <<
Sure, go for it. Remember that you can also leave prompts in the Torn World Muse Fusion. We have those once every month or two.
Re: Okay...
Date: 2014-02-14 02:24 am (UTC)