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I find the linguistic study of American Sign Language, what little I know of it, to be a fascinating example of how "language" input to the brain can arrive at the cortex in different ways, yet behave the same way once it gets there. Three interesting factoids:
- Deaf persons who experience an injury in the part of the brain corresponding to language expression (roughly Broca's area) continue to understand sign language but have difficulty using their hands to express it. Those with an injury to the part of the brain that affects language comprehension (roughly Wernicke's area) can sign like mad but have difficulty understanding what others sign to them. This is the exact parallel to similar injuries in hearing persons who use spoken language.
- Hearing children born to deaf parents apparently learn on their own to "babble" with their hands, corresponding to the vocalizing done by children with two hearing parents, and at the same point in language development.
[*]Oliver Sacks, famous neurologist and writer, observed an elderly deaf woman dreaming in sign, moving her hands as she slept.