A Treecat Vocal Comm

Zakharra wrote: Also, doesn't sign language use one letter at a time? If so, wouldn't it actually be faster to type it out rather than sign? At least with a keyboard, it knows when you move onto a new letter, a computer program might have to have you hold the letter/word for a moment to identify it otherwise it might get confused to what you are saying if your hands/fingers never stop moving.

No... some signs in ASL are meant to convey entire words or even common phrases or sentences. Usually one-letter-at-a-time signing is because you are unfamiliar with the shortcut sign for a phrase. However, remember that when learning to read and write, pretty much everyone starts out by learning the alphabet, one letter at a time. So while people learning to sign may *start* with signing one letter at a time, they quickly get into the habit of using the shortcut signs.

Some people who have autism respond better to signing than to written or spoken communication - my middle son is one of these, so I know a few shortcut signs that work well with him.

zakharra wrote:
In this case it immediately runs into the problem of the programming will see -any- movement of the arms, hands and fingers as possible speech. Treecats use their limbs for pretty much everything, how would the computer be able tell what's meant to be speech and what isn't? If they have to turn it in, that's an impediment to clear communication. There just seems to be too many limitations to using hands or movements being translated into speech by electronics as you are saying. 

Also, doesn't sign language use one letter at a time? If so, wouldn't it actually be faster to type it out rather than sign? At least with a keyboard, it knows when you move onto a new letter, a computer program might have to have you hold the letter/word for a moment to identify it otherwise it might get confused to what you are saying if your hands/fingers never stop moving.

You are correct, I readily recognized the problem such system would have of discerning normal movement from intended speech. In fact, if you closely watched the movie, Amy the gorilla has to activate the system. Akin to Captain Kirk having to tap his communicator first, to speak. I don't readily know how that could be solved either. Perhaps a muscle impulse akin to Honor's activating her telescopic eye, etc. I just don't know.

No, only young signers spell out words with letters. Unless there's a word that isn't part of normal speech. Medical terms, people's names, places, titles, etc.

My niece has a friend that speaks sign language. As does my niece. They rarely ever spell anything out. I mentioned it many posts ago. However, this girl is very accomplished. She can also read lips. Practically from across the room. Even when you are whispering.

In the end, I agree with another poster in that there will be limitations and weaknesses of any system. In the Honorverse, I think the deciding factor will ultimately be decided by the capability of their advanced tech. And the amazing ability of the GA tech trio.

Michael Everett wrote:

Zakharra wrote: They could do that now. Treecats can read and understand English (assuming that is the most commonly used language in the Honorverse), so why can't they use something like an I-pad or tablet with a keyboard and pre-programmed responses for many basic commands and phrases/words used? Would it be that hard to teach them that?

Actually, they generally didn't as of Honor Among Enemies. Nimitz didn't know how to read the numbers on the lift, bit he had memorised which buttons to hit in order to take him to specific decks (such as the Horticultural deck where he and Samantha liked to snuggle).

Treecats think differently to humans. While they can innovate to solve a problem, they tend to apply the resulting innovation only to that problem rather than experimenting to see if it helps with any other issue. While this is subject to change (Nimitz and Samantha's kids being raised amongst humans), Treecats are still rather limited from a mental flexibility viewpoint.

Besides, why should they try to innovate when they can simply try to copy humans?

Not quite, Nimitz couldn't use the voice directory to get were he wanted to go, but he could use a keypad to enter memorized locations. It would be like someone getting on an elevator and saying "twenty-fifth floor" while Nimitz would just hit the button for the 25th floor.

saber964 wrote:Not quite, Nimitz couldn't use the voice directory to get were he wanted to go, but he could use a keypad to enter memorized locations. It would be like someone getting on an elevator and saying "twenty-fifth floor" while Nimitz would just hit the button for the 25th floor.

I stand corrected...

cthia wrote:In the end, I agree with another poster in that there will be limitations and weaknesses of any system. In the Honorverse, I think the deciding factor will ultimately be decided by the capability of their advanced tech. And the amazing ability of the GA tech trio.

One point to consider is that virtually everyone in the Honorverse wears the equivalent of a RW Smartphone. If a treecat needs to communicate with someone who doesn't know sign, being able to text them from the treecat's wrist-comm would be far more versatile than a glove that translates sign into speech to use the VOX mode of the same wrist-comm.