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Re: Some thoughts on mutli-modal (signing / speech) languages and communication.

From:Brett Williams <mungojelly@...>
Date:Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 0:59
On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 6:44 PM, Paul Kershaw <ptkershaw@...> wrote:
> I would think that it would be more logical for a natural language to > have a parallel gestural system, just as we have written language for > times when speech is not a useful channel, as opposed to a mixed > gesture/speech system.
Well, inverting it, that's another interesting idea: A language that's spoken and written at the same time, as parallel channels. (I'm reminded of my dad teaching me algebra at the kitchen table, talking and also writing on a pad of paper.) Hmm what other modalities could you combine? Typing and vocalization? Touch plus sound or sight or both? It makes me think of all of the channels that I've considered and rejected as too limited: Perhaps they could usefully be used as mixins along higher bandwidth channels. Taste by itself makes for a very slow (if perhaps enjoyable) conversation, but perhaps tastes could be used as occasional accents in a language that's mostly in another modality. Here's another sort of inversion: You could have a multi-modal language for people with both hearing and sight that mostly uses gestures, but occasional sounds for accents or structuring. Oh hey! I just reminded myself of something very relevant to the topic of multimodal sign/speech, and also tremendously entertaining: The CODA Brothers: http://www.youtube.com/user/Olsonterp <3, mungojelly