Listening and verbal communication: The linguistic implications of deafness
Rosalia Cavalieri
We rarely think about the fact that there can be no language without listening and that listening is the most important component of verbal communication. Whilst on the one hand, in order to learn how to speak you must to listen to what other people say, understand them and give it a meaning, on the other hand, you must be able to listen to what you yourself say and thus receive auditory feedback. The human ear is configured as the specific organ of spoken language, adapted to the perception and to the control of acoustic information, and of the articulate voice in particular. The ability to understand language is thus the indispensable prerequisite for the disposition to talk and to speak properly. The condition of congenital deaf people gives us the opportunity, from this perspective, to reflect and understand the role played by listening in the acquisition and use of verbal language: deprived of the opportunity to control their vocal productions through hearing, the deaf are unable to spontaneously develop spoken language. On this basis, the aim of this essay is to understand what it means to be «deaf» and under what terms deafness can be classified as a speech disorder.
Keywords
Listening, hearing, deafness, deaf, articulate voice, language faculty, verbal communication
