#chirolinguistics

[drill-bits]

Takes place after this and also after this

[cozzzynook]

I love the deaf Roddy head cannon omg

So Drift canonically knows chirolinguistics (the hand language thing) cause that’s how he bought the Lost Light

And I head cannon that Ratchet definitely knows some fundamental chiro (you know, like medic stuff. “What hurts?” “Can you understand me?” “I’m about to jab you with a needle” that kind of thing)

And I read in one fic where chirolinguistics also developed some dialects (like in Rodion and Nyon)

So I’m thinking that the chiro of the “slums” are all more single servo based unlike the official “proper” and more formal chiro signs that use both servos, there’s still some differences in dialects but Rodion chiro and Nyonian chiro would as a result be more similar to each other than the traditional chirolinguistics

Ratchet on the other hand definitely only knows the standard Iaconian chirolinguistics (which is more intergalactically recognized) but cause he’s a doctor and having one hand free while communicating with a patient is important, most his sign is also one handed (think a lot of short hand or abreviations or spelling out things instead of full sentences with proper grammar)

So I propose that when they find out Roddy is deaf, to give his audials a break from his implants, they trade chiro knowledge

Drift and Roddy bond over their home city dialects being similar and compare vocabulary and then teach Ratchet their signs while Ratchet shares his knowledge on Iaconian Standard Chirolinguistics

The end result is they’ve created their own dialect that is a mix of all three over time that only they really understand (cause the grammar is incomprehensible to outsiders lol) and a lot of hand holding ;)

Roddy would be so confused the first time Drift or Ratchet starts holding his servo and like not do anything

Like he looks at them, waiting for them to say something, but they just don’t cause they actually just wanted to hold his hand and Roddy is a lil dense

He gets it eventually

Ndkeofjeowosjcjkaoxmcnfkakdjfj AAHAHHHH I LOVE THIS!

[obsidianimp]

Something something transfer flirting with Their hands...

[deepwatersomnia]

There's a bad joke to be made about half blind Prowl who's so good at working without vision it doesn't really matter anyways, Praxian equivalent of deaf Tangent, and circumstancially mute Deltashock.

They're not evil, just autistic.

-

Prowl, who looks like he's got two functional optics because they look fine from the outside, but is still. Eh. Mauled? Not talking to IDW Optimus, anyway. The lens was fixed, so, you know, there aren't crystal shards floating around in his helm that aren't supposed to be there, and the LED is.. uh. Fake. It's pretty fake. When he's too tired to keep the illusion up, it's either solid, unchanging blue while his other optic remains expressive, dims, and brightens, or he just turns it off. It's.. It's kind of freaky to only see one optic change, so the majority vote is 'off'.

Tangent has a Praxian frame, is a Praxian mech, but his carrier was a husk of himself, hyperparanoid as soon as he realized something was off. With his sire being completely unknown and circumstantially impossible due to a significant dry spell, no one except maybe the tactical programs throwing down with some foreign carrier packages installed around the last few times Prowl saw Mesoluthas could anticipate how they'd turn out.

His doorwings.. are bad. Most mechs don't have them, so you can't judge them by the same standards, but Tangent's spatial sensing is entirely conditional on if he's trying or not. The rest of his sensory suite is wired for so much more input than he catches that, combined with already being predisposed to sensory malfunctions, they're one overheard screaming match away from overstimulation. His audials and his door wings are supposed to work together to locate objects and their positioning, but it's more like he's being jerked in a sudden direction trying to guess.

Hockey au Tangent, and Tangent in general, honestly, has sensor dampeners that he clicks on sometimes. Games are just far too loud and far too crowded for him normally, people are always yelling anyways, so he might hear if someone's screaming at him. Sure, he can't hear the mech behind him digging their heel into the ice to break to his left, but his raised doorwings 'hear' that for him.

..coach has to message him if he wants him off the ice when he's in a rhythm. The pump incident probably had that happen, lmao. Horrific 'OH NO THEY'VE GOT [dampeners] IN HE CAN'T HEAR US' moment when some of the players catch on..

Lot of holding hands with her mom and having silent debates about silly stuff, chubby sparkling servos trying to keep properly entwined with his.

Sparkling Deltashock was small and angry, and talking was too much effort. Everything was too much. Trying to get her to transition to other fuel and eat was enough of a process, let alone nudging her towards any kind of socialization. Spent a lot of time sticking herself to the quietest or the scariest mech around to try to get some peace. Barricade wasn't chatty, but he babbled a bit. Prowl could talk for genuine days straight, had done so, but his voice was relatively monotone if he was saying something to her, and he wasn't very expectant for replies. The chirolingusitics happened when Deltashock started making messes, breaking things, or touching stuff usually out of her grasp just to see what'd happen. Tactile learner.

She initially talked.. well. Bluntly? With very little filler. One word sentences when Deltashock had to catch attention or get help with something. Springer probably taught her how to say please and thank you and then immediately followed it up with saying she doesn't actually have to because some people are lame and don't deserve you being polite.

Prowl's sparklings don't beg. They bargain. With him, anyway. Tangent plays polite and.. eh. You know what Deltashock is like these days, right? Delta's good at defusing Prowl, but she's also really good at ratting you out to him without hesitation. Can't even tell what they're talking about when she's just slipped her servos into his, and they're teeking their doorwings at each other.

Deltashock didn't need to fight with Tangent verbally when she could just lunge at him like baby era bloodsport. Ranting about dating, though.. Tangent's turned his dampners on and just nodded along sometimes. Prowl does really dry blindspot jokes that people take seriously until the realization hits them, Tangent seriously just tunes people out when he doesn't want to hear their voice, and Deltashock has a fidgeting habit where she fingerspells to herself. She says some wild shit sometimes.

[goldbug127]

Cringe is dead, here is my transformers OC

She's the prettiest girl in the world.

I got the idea of her when I made a random post about Megatron turning into a public bus for fun and then I couldn't get the idea of a bus alt mode out of my head.

Also, since I've been watching Transformers Prime, I've been thinking about how June Darby deserves an autobot friend like all the kids have so I also made her for that as well.

Bus alt mode gives her lots of space for human friends, which I think June would appreciate when she wants to feel close to the kids.

She's non-verbal for autism and PTSD reasons rather than physical injury (I'm absolutely projecting, not for the PTSD, just the autism). And she uses a mix of chirolinguistics/"speaking hand" (a Cybertronian language that is "spoken" through the use of hand contact) and sampled sounds (similar to how Soundwave communicates) to speak to everyone when she wants to.

She also uses a little sign language, but mostly just to call the others over so she can then use speaking hand. This is because one of her optics was damaged when she was younger and she struggles to see when other sign to her.

Some examples of names:

Even though Knightbus does have a sign for her nickname, it is very rarely used since she can hear just fine. I got the idea of Optimus's sign from the fic "A Bee's Last Sound" by Yuukirita. Let's be honest, if you're deep enough in the tf fandom that you're seeing my stuff, you've almost definitely already seen theirs but, if you haven't, what are you doing here? leave my silly little posts and go look at their stuff.

Anyway, Knightbus's very brief backstory because I haven't actually thought that much about it yet:

She was created when gladiators were becoming extremely popular locally and was actually very excited to become one. Originally, she was not too concerned with the strict caste system because of how much she enjoyed what she did.

Unfortunately, during one of her fights, she was severely injured. This is where she damaged her optic, making her partially blind. Due to this injury, it was too dangerous to continue being a gladiator and she was forced into becoming a construction worker - a job that is arguably just as dangerous with her disability but remained one of her only options.

This is when she started thinking more about how much the caste system limited her options. She also continued to watch gladiator fights, which is how she came across Megatron(us). She was deeply inspired by him and very quickly became a decepticon. However, as the revolution continued, she became more concerned about the indiscriminate violence the decepticons showed.

Early in the war, she escaped from the ranks of the decepticons to fight on the side of the autobots instead. She had heard of Optimus Prime through others that had been closer to Megatron and/or had attended the council meeting where he was deemed worthy to be a prime.

After the autobots are forced to scatter across space, she goes to search for Optimus, which is how she ends up on Earth with team prime. :)

I'm gonna make another post about my sibling's OC because this is already quite long. Also I'll definitely be drawing more of Knightbus because I love her already.

[tracklessreason]

Other than buzzing, are there other noises/gestures that hive prime makes? Im very into non-verbal/abnormal forms of communication, so things like buzzes, wing twitches, antennae movement, etc interest me an incredible amount. Anything that could indicate to (mainly Op and Bee's inner circle) that Bee is still in there and its not a totally different person?

Also does Ratchet ever see Hive Prime/Bee's face?

Hi there!!

Hive actually does all of that!

Before he created his vocal database, and took back control from the Primes, he had become very quiet.

No voice, too big to speak hand (chirolinguistics) with anyone, and constantly pushed aside by the Primes.

He tends to angle his antenna towards whatever he's focused on, especially if someone is speaking to him, he let's them know he's paying attention that way.

The buzzing is mainly a self soothing stim, it helps him feel grounded because his whole frame vibrates with it, making him fully aware of every part of himself.

The wing twitches are mainly unconscious response to stimuli. He can't fully control his wings yet, so if he's upset, caught off guard, or just feeling any strong emotion, his wings buzz. He's knocked over mechs by accident doing this.

Honestly though, I don't think any of these things accomplish the job of telling others that it's still Bumblebee on the inside. He's struggling with feeling like himself, and it's not until he comes out of stasis that he's able to assert control of his own frame and remake a name for himself.

And, yes, Ratchet does see Hive's face! Although not until Hive is knocked into stasis, when he needs to retract his battle mask to try and help him. Hive does get more into the habit of leaving his mask retracted as time goes on, so eventually everyone has seen his face at least a couple of times.

Thank you for your ask! I really love talking to people!

[askvectorprime]

to Vector, Prime of the Multiverse: when the likes of Tarn speak of an "Old Cybertronian", how long ago is "old"? Tailgate, six million years old, speaks a fine Neocybex; even primeval Galvatron seems to have the hang of it (and surely the mighty Galvatron wouldn't stoop to language lessons). When was the "Primal Vernacular" used?

Dear Linguistic Learner,

By Zeta Prime’s era, the consensus among most Cybertronian linguists was that the “Primal Vernacular” began not as a single language, but as an amalgamation of several loosely affiliated dialects common to different groups on the planet, which seemingly occurred as early as twelve million years ago. As Cybertronian civilization continued to develop, these early languages gradually drifted, overlapped, and eventually emerged as a single lexicon. Some archeologists even attribute this rapid linguistic evolution to the guidance of the Knights of Cybertron—they argue that the phrase “one from many” crops up repeatedly in many ancient Cybertronian hieroglyphs dating from the era, and might even refer to an effort to establish a single, centralized language!

Five hundred thousand years later, however, the fall of the Knights of Cybertron meant that establishing a single “mother tongue” became practically impossible. Many members of the Thirteen Tribes spoke in dialects based upon a corrupted form of the Primal Vernacular; others developed unique languages such as chirolinguistics. It would not be until the ascension of the Thirteen that representatives of the tribes developed a shared language to facilitate trade and diplomacy, which became the first spoken form of Neocybex.

Not all Cybertronians agreed with the decision to formalize this “debased” language as Cybertron’s eminent form of communication: some cultural purists, such as the religious sect known as the Clavis Aurea, made efforts to preserve the Primal Vernacular in both spoken and written form, and even some members of the Thirteen remained fluent in both languages. Notably, the inhabitants of the planet Prion all spoke a highly derived version of the Primal Vernacular—when Nickel of Prion joined the Decepticon Justice Division, it took her some time to learn the language!

[earthstellar]

Cybertronian Culture and Society: Chirolinguistics and Cybertronian Sign Language

OK, so I finally have a minute to write this up! 

Disclaimer: I am a sign language user!  

But while I am HOH (hard of hearing; I have APD, Auditory Processing Disorder) and I am currently fundraising for the hearing aids I need, I am not a BSL (British Sign Language) user. 

Instead, I use Sign Supported English, which is typically used by HOH or deaf people who learned spoken English before learning sign language. 

The type of SSE I use utilises BSL signs, and I do mix in some BSL grammar/structure where I know it and when it’s appropriate, but my signing tends to follow spoken English grammar as I am usually talking to hearing people and use sign to supplement my communication. With my fellow Deaf/deaf/HOH squad, I do my best to use correct BSL grammar and so on.

While SSE is often but not always a stepping stone to BSL, I lack the funds and resources to learn BSL fully, so I have learned all of my sign from books and websites, most of which I have compiled into an info post here. 

Cybertronian Sign Language: Chirolinguistics! 

In MTMTE/Lost Light, we see that Drift knows how to “speak hand”, which is depicted as a tactile sign language: 

The concept appears to be similar to Deafblind Manual or other tactile sign languages, using touch as a key mode of communication.

We don’t see their faces while they sign, so I can’t say if facial features are as important with Chirolinguistics as they are in real world sign languages. 

Due to the similarities to tactile sign, I would say Chirolinguistics is closer to tactile sign than BSL/other sign languages for that reason.

For example, with BSL and other forms of sign language, facial expression is essentially tone of voice, among other things. “What?” (question) can become “What!” (angry) dependent entirely on facial expression, as the sign remains the same, for example. 

Chirolinguistics, from what we see in the IDW comics, seems dependent on what may be significant or particularly sensitive sensor receptors on the servos being manipulated in addition to digit placements and patterns to utilise a type of tactile code for communication. 

It also seems to be fairly commonly used, as Drift, Megatron, Ravage, Riptide, Getaway, and to some degree Tailgate are all familiar at least moderately with Chirolinguistics. (It should be noted that Tailgate learned from Getaway.) 

Cybertronian Sign Language is depicted as a completely different communication method from Chirolinguistics. 

Cybertronian Sign Language is depicted in RiD; It is stated to be based on American Sign Language, although I am far more familiar with BSL so I can’t say how accurate or how offensive it might be.

You can see the sign language scene here, starting at 0:04. 

While Blastwave uses some good body movement (shoulders, torso) and seems to be doing nice, clean signing, his helm/faceplate design don’t seem to allow for a lot of expression. 

He does move his helm to nod in the affirmative though, so while helm movement seems to be important in Cybertronian Sign Language, it may be the case that facial expression is not as significant as it is in most real world sign languages due to Cybertronian physiological/design differences. 

It may be that they use their EM fields or energy fluctuations instead of relying on facial expressions for that kind of mood/context/grammar/etc. information, although this is never stated and is just my conjecture. 

Comparing the Two! 

Cybertronian Sign Language seems to be much more similar to ASL etc. compared to Chirolinguistics, but both are fascinating because they seem to have different cultural context.

We see Cybertronian Sign Language used by a character who is mute, which is disability related. But we see Chirolinguistics utilised mostly by non-disabled characters, notably all of whom (with the exception of Tailgate) are Decepticon related in some way or villain characters. 

The ship trader Drift bought the Lost Light from also used Chirolinguistics, suggesting it is a mode of communication used primarily by those who are seedier, more underground characters as perhaps a “secret” communication method. 

I would like to see Chirolinguistics used by a disabled character to avoid the unfortunate and seemingly intentional implications one may draw from that difference between the two sign languages in use between Cybertronians. 

However, I’m always happy to see sign language concepts incorporated into fictional worlds/cultures, and it’s very cool to me that Cybertronian Sign Language and Chirolinguistics both exist as distinct communication options. 

Hopefully this was interesting for someone to read! 

If you liked this post, I am still fundraising for the hearing aids I need, as recommended to me by my audiologist. 

My Ko-Fi is here! 

My PayPal is here! 

If you are able to spare any change at the moment, please donate if you can. I would really appreciate it! <3