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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Hello
List!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT face="Times New Roman">My name is Lucyna
Dlugolecka. I am a deaf doctoral student of descriptive linguistic at the
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Warsaw</st1:PlaceName> (graduated with M.Ed. from the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Krakow</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Pedagogical</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>). Some time ago Valerie Sutton
gave here a link to my article on SignWriting, written in Polish. I have been
reading the List ever since.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT face="Times New Roman">I was “keeping
quiet” as I have nothing to do with SignWriting. I like the idea very much and
my article was the first one on SignWriting published in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region>. However,
a few lectures on it were given last year by my colleagues Danuta Mikulska
(doctoral student of descriptive linguistics) and Romuald Szurik (Deaf student
of Polish) at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Warsaw</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>. Most of Polish teachers of the
Deaf and the Polish Deaf themselves have no idea of
SignWriting.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT face="Times New Roman">It would be great
if SignWriting was used in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region> but the reality is far from
perfect. The problem is that teachers of the Deaf in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region> use
Signed Polish, not the Polish Sign Language (PJM). And most Deaf, including Deaf
teachers have no idea these are two different languages. They tend to think the
language of the Deaf (PJM) is a variant of Polish. So, it would be very hard to
implement the idea of SignWriting as it should be based on
PJM.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT face="Times New Roman">What induced me to
get out from the shadow?<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT face="Times New Roman">The discussion on
working languages.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT face="Times New Roman">It’s great we have
English to communicate at an international level. But it takes so many years to
learn a natural language! Especially if the language is from another linguistic
group than the mother tongue. Whereas, Esperanto is very easy to learn for
everyone!<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT face="Times New Roman">But that does not
mean we should learn Gestuno. What grammar is to be used with Gestuno? Is there
any grammar for this ‘language’?<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Cheers,<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Lucy<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P></BODY></HTML>