Lecture on sign language brings together Language Skills students

The creation and use of sign languages was the theme of this Thursday’s Language Skills class (7), given by IMPA Tech professor Cilene Rodrigues. The meeting also included a lecture by Isaac Gomes, who holds a PhD in Language Studies from PUC-Rio and teaches sign language at INES (National Institute for the Education of the Deaf). The activity took place in the context of the Xenolinguistics Project, which encourages students to create fictitious languages.

Aimed at the class of 2026, the lesson showed students how linguistic universals are also present in sign languages. To illustrate this relationship, Gomes used examples from Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) and American Sign Language, showing that, just as in oral languages, different elements are organized and combined to build meanings and communication structures.

“It was great to realize the complexity of sign language, which isn’t just made up of gestures and ‘mimes’. When we think of language, we usually associate it only with the verbal, with phonetics, but there are linguistic models that use every little detail to define the channel of communication. Language is part of human activities and often the social exclusion of the deaf community is caused by us not learning to communicate in Libras,” said student Daniel Silveira.

For teacher Cilene, the meeting was fruitful and showed the complexity of languages beyond orality. “It was great to be able to show the students that sign language is not just a set of iconic gestures, but a complex language. Isaac showed them the combinations that form syllables and how words come about,” she said.

IMPA Tech’s Xenolinguistics Project reaches its third edition this year. The aim is to create fictitious alien languages to study grammatical structures, syntax and logic. Students can also propose the creation of languages beyond orality, understanding the integral functioning of the communicative process.

Silveira’s group is creating an alien language for communication between plants. “The idea came from a documentary about the electrical signals sent between plants. In England, scientists did an experiment with tomatoes that were attacked by aphids and emitted pheromones into the air, as if it were a warning signal, so that the surrounding tomato plants could protect themselves by emitting toxins. With this in mind, we saw that it was feasible to create a tongue for the plants,” he explained.

For the student, the inclusion of the Xenolinguistics Project in an exact sciences course is surprising, but it helps him realize the importance of interdisciplinary thinking. “It’s work that encourages the scientific side, with research into biology, combinatorial systems and language systems. Mathematics is not an isolated discipline, but a world with infinite applications in biology, automation and medicine, for example,” he concluded.

The work is being carried out as part of the Language Skills semester assessment. On May 18, the students present a partial presentation of the project, which will be commented on and revised for the final submission in July. On 2024 e 2025The students presented the alien languages and were assessed by professors from IMPA Tech and partner institutions.