Japanese Sign Language "ni" Which is the "unmarked" form?

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
September 26, 2005

Hello Mark, Geoffrey, Ingvild -
Technically, the U Handshape was defined, when it was first invented,  
as the two fingers straight and touching each other. The contact was  
a part of the definition, because we cannot add a contact star to two  
fingers touching, for other reasons, so touch was a part of the  
meaning of the symbol.

But that does not mean you should not use the U Hand. Quite the  
opposite. I think you should use it...

Geoffrey alluded to this is his message....The REAL question to ask:  
Is there ever a time, when signing Japanese Sign Language, that you  
MUST have the two fingers touching each other? If that is the case,  
then I have no choice but to add another symbol to the IMWA, so you  
can differentiate between the one that touches and the one that does  
not touch.

But if you never care if the two fingers touch, then define the U  
hand to mean the relaxed position, for Japanese Sign Language ....  
that is a pronunciation issue actually. There are many letters of the  
Roman Alphabet, for example, that are written the same in different  
countries, but each language pronounces them slightly differently.

This has already happened when writing Danish Sign Language years  
ago, having to do with the Tight Fist...the square and the Open  
Fist...the circle. ASL differentiates between the two and needs the  
two distinctly....but in Danish Sign Language, it is more relaxed,  
somewhere in-between the two, and they don't care one way or the  
other. So which one did they choose? They chose to use the square for  
the Tight Fist, even though it is not tight in Danish Sign Language....

Thanks for your question, Mark! Please say hello to your team for  
me...I know you are busy busy busy...

Val ;-)

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

On Sep 25, 2005, at 9:38 PM, Penner Mark wrote:

> We are in the process of trying to determine the standard  
> fingerspelling for "ni" ( and by the same principle, "mi") in  
> Japanese Sign language. The handshape has two fingers out, but the  
> native signer doesn't think of them as the fingers touching  (eg.  
> ASL "u") or spread (eg. ASL "v"). In actuality, they do not touch,  
> but neither are they spread. They are "just there". The "u" option  
> seems too stiff, but the "v" option seems way too purposefully spread.
>
> We would like to hear from others in the SW community. When you see  
> the first handshape, do you think of the fingers touching? Or do  
> you think of two fingers out parallel, maybe, but not necessarily,  
> touching?
>
> Thanks in advance for your input,
>
> Mark
>

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