AW: Design for SignPuddle 3: parts-of-speech and morphology of sign language

[Charles Butler]

This is Charles Butler, currently Replying to the list, but especially in light of Natasha's comments. 

When I create a sign on SignPuddle, it is after writing it down, cataloguing it, and checking it from at least three sources. The very few entries on the ASL sign puddle from me have often been from the RTID (Rochester Technical Institute of the Deaf) published dictionaries, for which we have permission as a group to use them as a source. 

With the LIBRAS dictionaries, I spent hours with primary sources (in all cases at least three native signers) cataloguing the signs and using the DEIT Libras volumes as a source, also vetting them as the first edition did not have as much peer review. I always write my source of signs, either from a Deaf native signer, a specific published dictionary, or, on rare occasion, my own. 

There are many many private dictionaries on line in Brazil which are signed on video but do not have a written SignWriting component. I like the division you have proposed, and hope that any Brazilians on this list feel free to look at my signs, comment on them, and get back to me if you see a problem in production or in translation into Portuguese. 

I tend to try to include the information as best I have it on regionalisms (there are five regional signs for "green" in LIBRAS - none of which look like each other). The DEIT Libras dictionary compiled from sources in Rio Grande de Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, various states in Nordeste, etc., so that signs are always changing in Brazil in a veritable explosion of new vocabulary. 
 
Charles Butler
chazzer3332000 at yahoo.com
240-764-5748
Clear writing moves business forward.


________________________________
 From: Natasha Escalada-Westland <blushash at COX.NET>
To: SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU 
Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2013 8:39 AM
Subject: Re: AW: Design for SignPuddle 3: parts-of-speech and morphology of sign language
 

Hello,

As an ASL teacher who actively uses the ASL Signpuddle dictionary in class,
I'm all for giving students seeking correct ways to sign a concept some
guidance as to what might be approved/accepted signs and spellings of those
signs.  

With regards to the form of the sign vs. spelling of the sign, would it make
sense to have those who want their writing included as approved/accepted
first have the sign itself vetted as an actual ASL sign, or regional
variation via some type of video and then the spelling itself could be
approved?  There are many online ASL video dictionaries, some created by
individuals, some by institutions or working groups. Sometimes in the past I
have referred to these dictionaries as references when I write a sign. 
Sometimes I will refer to a work of literature on video in ASL when I write
a sign.  References to various sources are used to approve new words added
to spoken-language dictionaries, why not have it be so in the case of sign
language?

I like the idea of using non-threatening language as suggested earlier to
allow students, beginners and those just wanting to play with the inputs to
feel free to enter signs.

provisional
approved/accepted
non-standard/variation/regional variation
rejected/play/experimental

Natasha Escalada-Westland

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SignWriting List moderator
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