Conversation without sound is more of a challenge than people may realize. Emitting sound is a quintessential part of how we as humans conduct our lives day to day. There is so much we rely on that involves speech that without it, our lives become highly inefficient. In my 15 minutes of silence I found myself often struggling to get even simple tasks accomplished in terms of communicating basic terms. My partner asked me what my name was and articulating it without sound or writing was impossible for me. Since I’ve never had to communicate without sound, I had no skill set to draw upon to help maneuver through a conversation with another person. It was just a lot of pointing and head shaking. My partner had to act more as a facilitator than as strictly a responder, as I was only really able to confirm or deny things throughout the talk with any sort of efficiency. The conversation as a whole was very laborious and not conducive to any sort of quick and timely back and forth.

With the difficulty on my part to even communicate simple things, my partner ended up leading the conversation almost entirely. He asked the questions, I attempted to respond in a timely manner and with some form of accuracy. If there would have been multiple people that I would have had to try and communicate with, I likely would have had to pause often to wait for the others to allow me time to respond. Not to mention the lengthy pause while they attempt to interpret my words. The power of the conversation is definitely in the hands of my partner. They can control the entire flow of the conversation and I’m subject to their tempo due to my inability to respond quickly.

If I was trying to talk to a culture that had a spoken language and mine didn’t, I feel that the other culture would have the advantage solely on the basis that they could communicate faster with their own kind and therefore bring about more examples to help get their point across to me and mine. Not only that, but you can only point and paint so many things. There are limitations that aren't seen in speech. Furthermore, the speaking culture would likely see themselves as more advanced as the my speechless culture. This would create a whole separate set if issues itself. A modern day example of this would be seen between humans and chimpanzees to an extent. Though there is no mutual spoken language shared, there is common ground through symbols and pointing that can help bridge the gap.

      Speaking without any sort of cues to indicate tone or any sense of emphasis to any part of the conversation was awkward and clumsy. This was easier to do than not speaking at all, but it made it hard to indicate any sort of emotion or feeling. Truthfully it resulted in a lot of frustration and laughter on both parties accounts due to the conversation being so dull. Without any physical embellishments to help guide each other through the other persons intentions for their statement, it was tough to move along the conversation. 

     Non-verbal “signs” within our verbal construct are absolutely critical to communication. Without them the words and phrases are meaningless and emotion is never interpreted. You can tell what a person is feeling strictly from watching their body. From frowns to laughs to clenching, all of these things translate to understanding to the other person and allow for clear communication.

     The adaptive benefit to gaining the ability to read body language is ideal for higher level communication. It allows for higher thought and the ability to capture and elicit emotion. Being able to sense fear by reading someones body language could help keep someone alive. Clear communication could help direct a person to water that’s not easily visible or allow groups to discuss hunting areas and paths to places they've been. Body language emits emotion and plays a vital role to attracting mates, this would allow for more communication between males and females. Someone with some sort of social disorder may have an issue interpreting body language. This would have been a deadly issue to have back in the days of hunting and gathering as clear communication was vital.