This article presents a reflection upon the languages that surround deaf children of hearing parents. Its aim is to shed light on the languages that are created in this context, because of the need hearing mothers and deaf children have of understanding each other in the absence of a conventional language (be it Portuguese, spoken by the majority of the community, or be it sign language, which is spoken by the deaf adult community). The motivation for this reflection comes from the discomfort I feel about the notion of language commonly used when discussing deafness. This notion is anchored in a definition of language as homogeneous and ideally conceived (Cesar e Cavalcanti, 2007). Such conceptions do not consider the different languages that exist in this context to be legitimate and therefore to be a language alternative. The classification of these languages exclusively into either oral language or sign language can invalidate or bring disadvantages to the other languages that are constituted in this context through the very need of hearing parents to communicate with their deaf children.
first language; second language; sign language and deafness