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The surprising grammar of touch

Linguistic Society of America. “The surprising grammar of touch: Language emergence in DeafBlind communities.” ScienceDaily, 30 November 2020. “A new study [Feeling Phonology: The conventionalization of phonology in protactile communities in the United States] demonstrates that grammar is evident and widespread in a system of communication based on reciprocal, tactile interaction, thus reinforcing the notion that if one linguistic channel, such as hearing, or vision, is unavailable, structures will find another way to create formal categories. There are thousands of people across the US and all over the world who are DeafBlind. Very little is known about the diverse ways they use and acquire language, and what effects those processes have on the structure of language itself. This research suggests a way forward in analyzing those articulatory and perceptual patterns — a project that will broaden scientific understanding of what is possible in human language..”

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