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<p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"'>Tommi Jantunen pointed that in Finland “acronyms are
used almost exclusively in academic or "bureaucratic" settings, e.g.
in articles (SVK in Finnish texts and FinSL in English texts), as a way to
refer to the language by the means of writing. Also, it should be noted that
the acronym SVK is used only by a handfull of (mostly hearing) linguists”. That
is also the case in Greece. Greek Deaf people use a sign NOIMATIKI to refer to
their sign language and use the acronym </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>ΕΝΓ</span><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> only in writing
formal settings. I agree with Gerard that “contrary to audible languages, sign
languages most often refer to the country they originate from and that they “are
really politicized” but I don’t agree that “they are not owned by the signing
people at all”. Sing languages have proper signed names (of course there are
people even deaf who dispute their real linguistic nature) but not in written
because sign languages are “oral” and not written. And I insist that despite
language ideologies and political disputes practical needs must also be taken into
consideration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"'>Thanks,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"'>Dimitris<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"'>Athens Greece <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> slling-l-bounces@majordomo.valenciacc.edu
[mailto:slling-l-bounces@majordomo.valenciacc.edu] <b>On Behalf Of </b>GerardM<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, September 05, 2007 12:14 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> A list for linguists interested in signed <br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [SLLING-L] RE: Acronyms<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>Hoi,<br>
Typically the name for a language is a single word. Sign languages are often
known in a spoken language as "sign language" and quite often that is
all, no further differentiation. Most hearing people are not aware of the many
sign languages that exist. <br>
<br>
Sign languages are typically associated with a country. It is for this reason
that the name is "Nederlandse gebarentaal" and apparently because of
Belgian politics "Belgian Sign Language" is not allowed. So contrary
to audible languages, sign languages most often refer to the country they
originate from. Sign languages are really politicised and not owned by the signing
people at all. <br>
<br>
It is because sign languages seem to be controlled by countries that even their
names are dominated in this way. As the names consequently consist of many
parts an acronym is handy because of a lack of a proper name for a sign
language <br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Gerard<o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmailquote>On 9/5/07, <b>Dimitris Mavreas</b>
<<a href="mailto:dmaureas@vodafone.net.gr">dmaureas@vodafone.net.gr</a>>
wrote:</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<div>
<p><span lang=EN-US>I find very interesting the whole discussion. I must agree
that although the use of these acronyms is sometimes defined by political
reasons (English hegemony, decisions by linguists or sign language users etc.),
it is also a matter of practical needs. Greek alphabet despite similarities is
different from Roman or Cyrillic. It happens that Language in Greek is </span><b>Γλώσσα</b><span
lang=EN-US> (I hope you can read the characters) so we must obligatory
use the letter </span><b>Γ</b> <span lang=EN-US>in the acronym for the
Greek Sing Language. The acronym in Greek is </span><b>ΕΝΓ</b><span lang=EN-US>
and it is also used by Greek Deaf people ugh man. Of course when I participated
to an international conference, I used GSL acronym. I use instead </span>ΕΝΓ <span
lang=EN-US>acronym when I write in Greek. I also use </span>ΑΝΓ <span
lang=EN-US>in order to refer to ASL because I want a more transparent term for
my Greek readers (and because it is also hard to switch the language on my PC
keyboard all the time!) Linguists can always go to the abbreviation list
in order to find what GSL, NTS and so on really mean. Abbreviations are used to
make our lives easier. At the same time it is interesting to consider why we
don't have acronyms for spoken languages…</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Dimitris
Mavreas </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Athens Greece</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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