Rebecca and I have wanted to commit ourselves for some time now to learning a new language. The other day we went to the bookstore and were browsing for books and language programs, and suddenly we knew exactly what language we wanted to learn.

Sign language.

We came home with a guidebook and have been having a great time communicating without words. Sign language seems uniquely suited to our quiet lives. One side advantage I noted was that Rebecca and I would be able to communicate without the dogs knowing what we were talking about.

You see, our dogs have learned to recognize enough English to know words like ‘outside’ and ‘walk’. The result is that we can’t really go on a private walk unless we first lock ourselves in the closet and discuss the details in a whisper. Anything less and the dogs are on to us, and then they insist on coming along.
                                                                                                             Yippee!  We're going for a walk!

Yesterday morning, after we learned to sign ‘would you like to go for a walk?’, I happily signed the question to Rebecca, right in front of the dogs. To my utter astonishment, the dogs jumped to their feet as if I had said ‘Let’s go for a walk!’ out loud.

“How . . .?” I sputtered, but Rebecca didn’t look surprised.

 “They read your body language,” she said.

She must have been right. Needless to say, the dogs came along for the walk.

Later in the day, my amazement turned to curiosity, and then to a theory. From our work with horses and other animals, we know how important body language is to communication. Could it be that humans, too, first developed a silent language out of gesture, expression, and posture and only added vocalization later?

 It didn’t take much research to discover that someone had already come up with this idea. It’s called 'Gestural Theory', and it suggests that vocal language developed in humans long after we learned to effectively communicate with our bodies and hands.

 We’re continuing to learn sign language, and are amazed at how intuitive it is. It ‘makes sense’ in a way that learning new words doesn’t, and we’re excited about the new doors it might open in communicating silently over a distance, for sending messages in the woods when we’re trying to keep quiet because we’re watching an animal, and even, possibly, initiating some new friendships with people who are hearing impaired. There is perhaps nothing more fun in life than opening new doors, and we’re excited to see where this one leads.

 

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