AW: Analyzing SignWriting based on writer profile

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
June 15, 2004

Dear SW List, Stephen, Stefan, Everyone -
This sounds like a research project that would have problems finding 
enough people to study, to get accurate statistics. Stefan's questions 
are excellent, and as you can see, it would be hard to answer many of 
them...Maybe a study like this in 20 years would be better...right now 
it is a little premature...we need improved software right now, and as 
more people have more tools, such statistics might become more 
obvious...

The best results of such a study would come from studying Deaf children 
in Stefan's class, or a class in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and that 
would only give you a small amount of Deaf people...and they all would 
be young...so that would not be an accurate profile of a writer 
either...but just one group...

So developing a computer program has to be based on other 
questions...like what does the small group of people around the world, 
who are publishing SignWriting literature, need to get the job done, so 
there is more literature for the general public to read?...

The writing of English literature historically went through 
phases...There was the phase where only the very very rich and educated 
knew how to write...Then the next phase was reaching people who wanted 
to create literature...then the Gutenberg press helped in Germany! And 
then dictionaries had to be created, because everyone was publishing 
with different spellings for words...The dictionary makers, like Samual 
Johnson, had a hard time establishing spellings...but in time that 
settled down. Meanwhile the everyday people were illliterate, but then 
schools were established and slowly it became the norm to read and 
write...that was centuries of development....

Where are we right now? We need improved equivalents of the Gutenberg 
press...in other words...lots of software to publish Sign Language 
Literature...

Val ;-)

---------------------------------






On Jun 15, 2004, at 7:54 AM, Stefan Woehrmann wrote:

> Hi Stephen,
>
> mh perhaps I missed  some messages in between but -
>
> I am sorry - would you mind to explain in more detail ?
>
> What I understand that there is the idea to look at a SW-document and
> understand more about the whys and hows?
>
> What might influence an authors style of writing ... So we speak about
> typed - SW-DOS  based Documents
>
> or do you include handwritten documents-
>
> I would like to know:
>
> first of all - what is the reason for the idea to write the document 
> this
> way.
>
> Where and how did the scribe learn to write SW?
>
> Let us discuss levels of Sign language ability - 1-10   (Do you know 
> of any
> criteria to judge the level of competence) -
> What is your idea - do you expect any connection between SL competence 
> and
> SW competence?
>
> What is Text language ability? ?
>
> What is translation ability ? The ability  to translate an idea from 
> SL to
> spoken Language and vice versa?
>
> And the top of the interesting issues: How to estimate SignWriting 
> ability -
>
> Some months or even years ago we discussed the problem to get kind of
> certificates that gives kind of proof that the person who passed this 
> test
> is a certified SW - reader/writer ?  But I am afraid that there are 
> too many
> problems connected with that. The whole problem with reading and 
> writing
> spoken languages would be much more complex at this stage of 
> development of
> SW.
>
>
> Stefan ;-))
> L.I.F.E.
>
>
>
>
> -----Urspr ÿÿ gliche Nachricht-----
> Von: SignWriting List [mailto:SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA]Im Auftrag von
> Stephen Slevinski
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 15. Juni 2004 10:35
> An: SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA
> Betreff: Analyzing SignWriting based on writer profile
>
>
> Hi List,
>
> There is probably a paper on this somewhere, but I haven  º·   found 
> it yet.
>
> What factors should I consider when analyzing a piece of SignWriting?  
> There
> are so many to consider.
>
> Here are a few ideas I have
> ÿÿ arly deaf, late deaf, or hearing
> deaf family, hearing family, or mixed
> raised manual, oral, bilingual
> Sign language ability 1-10
> SignWriting ability 1-10
> Text language ability 1-10
> Translation ability 1-10
>
> Would this list accurately profile a writer?  What would be an 
> effective
> list?
>
> Thanks,
> -Stephen Slevinski
> www.oculog.net
>