LL-L "Anniversary" 2005.03.20 (05) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 20.MAR.2005 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "Anniversary" [E]

> From:  R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Anniversary
>
> By the way, is the left to right vertical column arrangement (as in
> Uyghur-Mongol-Manchu writing, by the way) the preferred one?

People often do write horizontally left-to-right. This can be either because
originally that was how the system was written, or because they don't really
appreciate why vertical writing is better.

The reason we write vertically now is so that you can see shifts in the
position of the head more clearly. For example, in the sign for "alone" in
the story, the head is shifted far to the side away from the hand - showing
that the person represented by the index finger is distant and alone. This
is much more obvious in vertical writing as you can see how the head shifts
from side to side as you read down the page.

Actually, mostly the head shifts in this story are accidental due to the way
SignMaker crops the graphics - I'll have to take this up with the
programmer. On the other hand, we have a stroke of luck as in this story the
characters all speak up or down to each other and side-shifting isn't
required to show who's speaking (their eyegaze and other cues show it).

You may wonder why there are far fewer signs than words (something you might
also have noticed if you've compared a sign language interpreter on TV with
what's being said by the newsreader). There are various reasons.

One is that in a visual language little words like "is", "at", "to", "the",
"and", and "a" tend to get in the way of the visual representations and so
are hardly used.

Another is that there are more channels of communication in sign languages
so some things can be signed simultaneously. For example, in the sign for
"little bird" the noun and adjective are signed simultaneously - the hand is
saying "bird" while the drawn-in cheeks are saying "little".

Even more significant is the graphic nature of the signs. See how the baby
birds say "that road" by showing the road in the correct direction and
looking down the road with their eyes. Then "a bend in the road" is the same
sign but with the hands curving round. "He flew round the bend" is similarly
one sign. And so on.

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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From:  R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Anniversary

Thanks for clarifying that, Sandy.  It makes a lot of sense to me.  I wonder
if it's easier for me to tune in because I'm familiar with Chinese script,
including it's classical use that preserves more of the original principle
of "one character = one idea," which includes single characters for states
and actions that in Western languages require several words each.

This in conjunction with looking through your translation of a (by now very
well) known story is very educational.  Even without studying the nuts and
bolts of the system the general gist can be followed.  Most outstandingly
demonstrative are the signs for "monster" ~ 'bogeyman" and "lion."  They
look very descriptive, don't they?

Say, is it possible for you to arrange the story in four columns instead?
If so, this would fit better into our format.  In any event, we might have
to make it a multi-parter because it runs too long toward the bottom, i.e.,
it runs out of background.

Thanks again!

Reinhard/Ron

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