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Jan. 3rd, 2004 02:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyes*kicks her muse*
She gave me another original fic idea -- problem is, it requires research as one of the characters has to be deaf from birth. I don't know if she will be able to speak -- the story works either way.
Okay, my comic features a species of aliens called the Starsailors -- English (and most human languages, more or less) and the Starsailor language is barely unpronounceable to the other species. Melody in my comic can managed both because she's a freak -- half Human, half Starsailor. Phillee can also manage both because she was raised near humans and could pick up English when she was young. That is the only way a Starsailor can learn Human language (or a Human learn Starsailor).
So, the story starts with the first contact team at sort of a crossroads. Both teams can understand one another, but only the small daughter of the Starsailor team can speak both languages -- which is fine for a small community where everyone understands both languages, but doesn't work for large scale contact between species, unless a deliberate effort is made to 'breed' translators -- raise childrne in a bilingual eniroment and count on them to interact with the aliens.
I don't remember why I ruled using a keyboard-speech synthesizer combo. I did rule out translation software-like things as a matter of pride. The Starsailors aren't stupid or incapable of learning languages -- they just have a different throat construction.
Anyways, the deaf character arives and the Starsailor kid sees her signing as a habit while she speaks -- I've seen![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lasafara (my only RL friend who knows more than a word of sign language) do this. The Starsailor kid asked to learn and eventually things are put together that Starsailors cannot speak Human languages, but they can sign it -- and I remember reading an article about research done on devices worn on the hands that use sensors to 'translate' signs to audio recordings of words. Thus, you have spoken English form beings whose throats can't manage it. And vice versa, once they find a Starsailor gesture language Humans can learn.
She gave me another original fic idea -- problem is, it requires research as one of the characters has to be deaf from birth. I don't know if she will be able to speak -- the story works either way.
Okay, my comic features a species of aliens called the Starsailors -- English (and most human languages, more or less) and the Starsailor language is barely unpronounceable to the other species. Melody in my comic can managed both because she's a freak -- half Human, half Starsailor. Phillee can also manage both because she was raised near humans and could pick up English when she was young. That is the only way a Starsailor can learn Human language (or a Human learn Starsailor).
So, the story starts with the first contact team at sort of a crossroads. Both teams can understand one another, but only the small daughter of the Starsailor team can speak both languages -- which is fine for a small community where everyone understands both languages, but doesn't work for large scale contact between species, unless a deliberate effort is made to 'breed' translators -- raise childrne in a bilingual eniroment and count on them to interact with the aliens.
I don't remember why I ruled using a keyboard-speech synthesizer combo. I did rule out translation software-like things as a matter of pride. The Starsailors aren't stupid or incapable of learning languages -- they just have a different throat construction.
Anyways, the deaf character arives and the Starsailor kid sees her signing as a habit while she speaks -- I've seen
lasafara (my only RL friend who knows more than a word of sign language) do this. The Starsailor kid asked to learn and eventually things are put together that Starsailors cannot speak Human languages, but they can sign it -- and I remember reading an article about research done on devices worn on the hands that use sensors to 'translate' signs to audio recordings of words. Thus, you have spoken English form beings whose throats can't manage it. And vice versa, once they find a Starsailor gesture language Humans can learn.
