I doubt there is a measured factual answer to this, although if anyone knows of a study by all means tell us. But I’m putting it here because I’d like to hear only from first person experience, and ask folks to refrain from adding any second or third-hand anecdotes.
My question is about sign language in dreams. Those who are fluent in sign language, do you ever sign to other people in your dreams? Do they sign back? Do you have the sensation of actually reading their signs or do you just sort of “know” what they are saying to you?
Do you ever speak to other people in your dreams? Do they speak back? Do you have the sensation of actually hearing them or do you just “know” what they are saying to you?
Again, I put this in GQ specifically to avoid this sort of answer. Please refrain from anecdote and supposition. Any first-hand accounts from those fluent or nearly so? Thank you.
Are you asking about deaf people or hearing people that know sign language. I know you don’t want second hand accounts, but a blind youtuber I watch has been asked about what his dreams are like. As one might expect, he’s stated his dreams are based on sound/feel/smells. If that’s the only way you can (and have ever) been able to sense and communicate, I’d can’t imagine your dreams suddenly adding a sense that you have no concept of.
If you can hear but happen to know sign language, I’d imagine some of your dreams would be in sign language. Just like people that are fluent in a second language likely have dreams in that language from time to time as well.
Of course, OTOH, dreams are strange and you never know what’s going to happen with them. I mean, none of us can fly, but plenty of people have certainly had dreams involving the ability to fly.
I’m not super fluent in sign language, but when I was using it a lot, I had dreams that involved signing. I don’t remember another character in my dream signing directly to me, but people signed and I knew what they were saying, and sometimes I signed things. Sometimes there was a like a caption, or a title, in sign, that I didn’t exactly see but I knew it was there.
I’m not fluent in any language but English, but I have had dreams where people speak other languages I have some ability in. Like waking life, sometimes I understand them and sometimes I don’t.
Don’t see why Sign would be an exception to that sort of thing.
Want to hear something weird? I used to have lots of dreams about flying… until I actually took flying lessons. Once I learned to fly airplanes I stopped having dreams about flying. Kind of miss them.