Conversation so far:
What happened to Octavia E. Butler in 1984?
In 1984, Octavia E. Butler released the last book of the Patternmaster series, Clay's Ark.
Was Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler successful?
Speech Sounds received the 1984 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

Question: what was it about?
Self-contained rewrite: What was Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler about?