detailed argument for SignWriting to be used in Deaf Education

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
January 26, 2006

Very nicely written and explained, Charles!!

Val ;-)

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On Jan 26, 2006, at 4:03 PM, Charles Butler wrote:

> 1) Children who are respected for what they know already will learn  
> other things that parallel them.  One researcher in UK that  
> presented in Brazil noted that Sign Language if matched mode for  
> mode can bridge the communication gap.  Spoken languages have a  
> written component.  If a child starts with writing the language  
> they already use every day, they can make the logical leap to  
> understand that the spoken language, that they cannot hear, can  
> also be written.
>
> 2) Any person who uses multiple languages in everyday commerce (as  
> the Irish do switching back and forth between Gaelic and English),  
> know that if you know two languages, adding a third is easy.  The  
> same with using Sign Writing.  If a person learns to write their  
> own language, they can know that "these marks on paper" record my  
> thoughts.  "Those marks on paper" record someone else's thoughts,  
> in a different language.  Both Gaelic and English ! use the Roman  
> alphabet, but Chinese or Russian do not.  One would not expect one  
> to write Gaelic using English words, one should not expect signed  
> language to be written in an alphabet meant for recording sound.
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> Charles
>
> Shane Gilchrist O hEorpa <shane.gilchrist.oheorpa at gmail.com> wrote:
> hi everyone,
>
> sorry for not contributing in the past month - as much as I love you
> all, work demands my fullest attention of lately!!!
>
> as some of you know im one of the Trustees for the Deaf School here in
> Belfast, im trying to put together a detailed argument why we should
> teach sign-writing to deaf children in my School - perhaps you can
> tell me why it is important for them to learn this - and for what
> purposes?
>
> Shane xx
>
>

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