Do deaf and blind people have an inner dialogue?
 

When we're going about our lives we're talking to ourselves in our mind constantly... I think the technical term is an inner dialogue. Do people that have never learnt language - deaf and blind people have some kind of inner dialogue? What is there thought process? I assume people that have been blind from birth would probably think in sign language but those that have no language at all... I'm puzzled.

3 things.

1. Being deaf, and/or blind, does not necessitate the lack of language skills.(Perhaps in those deaf since birth, but, not in all cases.)

2. Not everyone experiences an inner monologue.

3. Yes, as long as the auditory center for the brain is not obstructed, it is likely that they experience an inner monologue, assuming that they are one of the people who have developed such.


Edit:


How can you read sign language if you're blind? Lol.

Well then

I'm not saying they lack the ability to learn language but that they haven't learnt it through not having the means to (hearing and sight). Therefore what would there inner monologue consist of?

Interesting second point, what's the alternative to having an inner monologue? Through talking to some people they've told me that they can't stop counting constantly in their mind. I don't experience that at all, I just constantly talk to myself in my head.

EDIT:
I meant deaf people might think in sign language.

How does the lack of sight hinder the ability to learn a language? That's an irrelevant point.

With those who experience deafness, however, they are still capable of learning language, despite not being able to hear it externally. They're still capable of reading words, and understanding their meaning. This means, that as long as their auditory cortex, within the temporal lobe, and frontal lobe of the cerebrum(responsible for speech.) are not malformed, or suffer from any other obstructions, it is likely that their inability to hear external sounds would not change the processes of these two portions of the brain, which manifest an inner monologue.

As for those who do not have an inner monologue, they typically have a more developed sense of spatial intelligence. And often see words they're reading, as opposed to say them internally to themselves. The same with other instances of internalized thought, they often see pictures, as opposed to hearing themselves talking. This may also similarly be a case for those who are deaf. As opposed to the above.

You've answered the question of the thought processes of deaf people but my main question was on people that are born deaf and blind. Those people surely can't think in pictures, they have never heard language or read a book, they haven't seen sign language. There is no language there as they can't take that information in.

Oh. You meant people who are both deaf, and blind. Not both deaf, and blind people.

Yep. Do you have an answer to that?

I do not. I would assume, however, as language is non-existent outside of a societal setting, that one who was deaf-blind, may use abstract processes in which they attribute meaning to things like tactile perception. That's just a thought, though.

That's what I thought but it's a bizarre thought, I wonder what that actually feels like.

I don't think they necessarily continue to feel the tactile feeling. It's more, they attribute emotionality to those individual tactile sensations that they feel in their every day lives. For instance, I'm deaf-blind, and I buy an apple. My memory, then, of that experience, is rooted in the sensory perception of the feeling of that apple. Therefore, what I recall, when attempting to remember this event, is that tactile sensation.

That's a good hypothesis, like a language of touch. I should probably check Google but sometimes it's fun to speculate on things like this instead of just find the answer instantly.