Sign Spelling Syllables question

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
May 15, 2008

Hasna Hocini wrote:
> 1- If I ask two signers to sign the word "Interesting". Will they do  
> it the same way?
> What are the differences they will introduce ?

Hello Hasna and everyone -

Your work with translation from signwritten signs, into spoken  
language, is a big job but a fascinating subject...thank you for  
sharing your project with us ;-)

1. There are several signs for the concept of INTERESTING, in American  
Sign Language...Just like in other spoken languages, there are  
oftentimes several words you could use for one concept...

Here are three writings of the sign for INTERESTING in the ASL  
SignPuddle Dictionary, to give you an example....and there may be more  
variations and signs that could be equivalent as well...

The important thing to realize is that this has nothing to do with  
syllables. I cannot see how syllables have anything to do with  
translation, since the "whole word" or "whole sign" carries the  
meanings...the syllables do not have meanings... In this attached  
diagram, you can see the SignSpellings to the right of the signs (the  
tiny grey symbols in little boxes)...those are only for sorting the  
dictionary by symbols and not the way we actually write the  
signs...The fact that the SignSpellings can be divided into syllables  
is not important for sorting dictionaries...

Looking at the three attached signs...

1. two-handed sign
2. same sign as 1, but one-handed
3. different sign that can also mean fascinating



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