suzmccarth wrote:

>
> --- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Don Osborn" <dzo@...> wrote:
> >
> > The annual International Mother Language Day celebration this year
> > has as a theme braille and sign languages used by blind and deaf
> > people. I am aware that there are diverse traditional/indigenous sign
> > language systems around the world (e.g., Hausa, Inuit), but are there
> > different forms of braille writing or "symbols" used traditionally
> > among diverse cultures for communication with/among the blind?
>
> Sign language is a form of language - basic communication - so would
> have to arise in cultures around the world.
>
> I would suppose that a system of reading for the blind would only
> come about in a civilization in which expectations for mass literacy
> already existed, so post-reformation Europe. I would be very
> interested in hearing if any came about elsewhere.

I don't know of any evidence for blind people reading cuneiform, but
there's no reason they couldn't have.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...