[sw-l] DIAGONAL PLANE Hands for Detailed Writing

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
March 1, 2005

On Mar 1, 2005, at 9:40 AM, Sandy Fleming wrote:
> Ah, now this is where things start to get difficult, because it's in a 
> foreign language to me. There's no way I can tell that the hands 
> aren't held strictly in the floor plane - as a BSLer I'd probably red 
> this as "toast"  :)  It's not exavtly the same but it's the nearest 
> sign I could think of.
>  
> So perhaps the more detailed kind of writing would also be appropriate 
> for learners' books - not people learning SignWriting, people who 
> already know SignWriting and are using it to learn a foreign language 
> - not just for researchers.

Writing a foreign language you do not know, no matter whether it is a 
signed language or a spoken language, is definitely what I would call 
research! Let's not get caught up with the research word...The point is 
that writing a foreign language you do not know is not "SignWriting for 
Everyday Use"...everyday use is when you are writing a language you 
already know how to speak or sign...so yes...obviously people who need 
this detail can use the Diagonal hands...but teachers of Deaf children 
can ignore them...

Now, having said that...Charles' hands are not on the Floor 
Plane...they are parallel to the Wall...in this diagram...and even 
though the signer might have a slight diagonal when producing the sign, 
we don't write every detail when we write English either...the fact 
that you might pronounce a word differently than I do, because you are 
from England and I am from California...those dialectical differences 
are not written in everyday writing in English, so for everyday writing 
for signs, this is perfectly fine if you know the sign already...and 
even if you didn't, it would be enough for someone else to recognize 
the sign, I believe...

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