Signs and Wonders

In Al-Sayyid, at least 150 residents are deaf, a rate 50 times greater than that of Israel's general population. As it happens, a recessive gene for profound deafness--traced back to sons of the "founding" couple--has made its way, through large families and genetic probabilities, into an ever-widening gene pool. Thus over three generations an extraordinarily high number of deaf children have been born to Al-Sayyid's villagers.

Of necessity, a special means of communication has sprung up: Nearly all the village's residents, hearing and deaf alike, are fluent in a sign language unique to Al-Sayyid. Margalit Fox's "Talking Hands," in part, describes this language and chronicles the work of a group of linguists who were allowed by townspeople to study it.

Though rare, such "signing villages" are not unheard of. Certain conditions are conducive to their forming. "First," Ms. Fox writes, "you need a gene for a form of inherited deafness. Second, you need huge families to pass the gene along." The practice of polygamy, together with the habit of marriage among cousins, speeds the rate of genetic spread. Al-Sayyid has met all these conditions. read more