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As we all know, most languages of the world are spoken orally. And there is a number of signed languages, mostly used by Deaf people.

But are there any languages which use both modality at once ?

Are there any languages that require both gesture and sounds ?

Typhon
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    This isn't exactly the same, but at least some sign languages use lip movements for grammatical purposes. Also, many speakers of sign language are bilingual in a spoken language and apparently may use both modalities simultaneously to some extent – brass tacks Jan 26 '18 at 23:36
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    The term "mixed language" is most usually found in reference to spoken languages like Michif, where there is significant mixing between two or more spoken languages (in the case of Michif, Cree and French). – jlawler Jan 27 '18 at 01:54
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    Not sure this is what you’re looking for, but there’s some research by Glendon Lean on counting systems in Papua New Guniea. From what I remember, you point at body parts to denote numbers. So, someone might say ‘The farmer has [points at left ear] goats’, to mean the farmer has 21 (let’s say) goats. I think you only need to sign (i.e., point at your ear) when you say that, and no spoken word is required. – MarkOxford Jan 27 '18 at 13:39
  • @jlawler : I know maybe I should have said "mixed modality" or some such thing. – Typhon Jan 27 '18 at 14:09
  • @MarkOxford : Yes, that seems like the kind of thing I'm looking for, if indeed you only need to sign. – Typhon Jan 27 '18 at 14:10
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    Ixil, a Mayan language, has gestural nominal classifiers. – jlawler Jan 27 '18 at 17:52
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    I feel like there's a plausible functional reason that languages are usually unimodal. With spoken languages you can use your hands while you talk, while signed languages allow you to talk without needing your mouth, hearing, or making sounds A bimodal language would need everything, and seems to have no benefits (except perhaps better error correcting—but the amount of redundancy in speaking/signing appears to be sufficient). – melissa_boiko Jan 28 '18 at 09:34
  • @boiko : I agree that such a language would probably have functional drawbacks (perhaps not the specific ones you mention : I think facial expression has a role in some sign languages). This probably accounts for their rarity. But I want to know if there exists at least one. – Typhon Jan 28 '18 at 18:36
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    The constructed language Dritok is such a mixed language, see this question on [conlang.se] https://conlang.stackexchange.com/questions/825/is-there-some-more-detailed-information-about-dritok-available – Sir Cornflakes Jan 09 '19 at 13:29
  • @jlawler Do you have a source for that? I couldn't find one easily. – Mr. Nichan Jul 07 '21 at 22:19
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    @H.H., not a written one. Glenn Ayres told me about it when I was in Yucatán in 1979. One- and two-hand gestures for terms like that big classified for different kinds of things. One gesture for an animal that's so big, and a different one for a child, or a house, etc. I don't know whether they were involved with numbers. – jlawler Jul 07 '21 at 22:51
  • I wonder if many languages could be analyzed as having signed components, since cultures often have standardized gestures, and these can sometimes be necessary for encoding certain meanings (like pointing or maybe air quotes, or maybe those Japanese hand symbols for boy and girl) or sometimes communicate information alone (like nodding and certain symbolic hand gestures, like middle finger, thumbs up, or maybe gang signs). – Mr. Nichan Jul 08 '21 at 06:58

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