[sw-l] We are going in several excellent directions!

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
December 9, 2004

On Dec 9, 2004, at 9:57 AM, Sandy Fleming wrote:

> Val wrote:
>
>> I think a lot of you may have lost the idea of what the IMWA is....It
>> is not meant for small computers or for tiny little software programs.
>
> Thanks, Val, that comes as a breath of fresh air!


Hello Everyone and Sandy!
I am so surprised that you did not realize this...I will have to search
for some of my old messages that explained that smaller symbolsets will
be taken from the IMWA, after the IMWA is complete...

Just as the International Phonetic Alphabet (the IPA) is used for
research and for special pronunciation guides in dictionaries, the
International Movement Writing Alphabet (the IMWA)...(also called
Sutton Movement Writing)...will be used for researchers writing foreign
signed languages, and for detailed pronunciation guides for
sign-dialects or signing-styles, in future sign dictionaries...

But neither the IPA or the IMWA can replace everyday-writing-systems
that do not need as much detail...

So someday there will be a SignWriting symbolset just for BSL...called
the SSS-UK or SSS-GB. Here in the US, we already have an SSS-US, which
is very much smaller, but I have to clean it up to match the ID numbers
of the IMWA...The key here is that smaller symbolsets will have the
same ID numbers of the IMWA, so that programmers will not be driven
crazy, if they need to add a symbol...

Regarding going in different directions, every computer project has
their own goals and I think they all contribute to a growing
SignWriting Community...but I don't think they are wrong...all good,
but different...and there is nothing wrong with that! We can learn from
each other...Val ;-)