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Hi Steve,<br>
<br>
I didn't expect to post anything else on this thread, but ....<br>
<br>
I would be careful about relegating the resistance of Deaf people to
ignorance, pride, and politics. We are involved with deep-rooted
cultural influences of oppression that continue to haunt the Deaf
community (especially in language and education). <br>
If we think of the problem as one of ignorance, pride and politics that
can be overcome with information, explanations and descriptions, we may
be on the wrong road to change. I expect that a change in cultural
views, that have evolved in a milieu of oppression and paternalism,
will take a great deal more than providing information. I thing the
task of getting Deaf communities to accept a written system for their
signed langauges must include <b>dealing with</b> those deep-rooted
cultural mores.<br>
<br>
odeeodee<br>
<br>
<br>
Steve Slevinski wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid43DE37F8.9050109@signpuddle.net" type="cite">Hi
Val,
<br>
<br>
These messages asking if sign languages can be written have really
troubled me. Every day people are reading and writing a multitude of
sign languages around the world. There is no way to deny that sign
langauges are written.
<br>
<br>
So I was trying to understand how someone could deny such a plain
truth. I came up with 3 possibilities: ignorance, pride, and politics.
<br>
<br>
The first reason is ignorance. They just don't know about the
existence or extent of SignWriting. This is the most common reason and
the main obstacle that we are trying to overcome. The best course of
action is to read, write, and share. What we do best!
<br>
<br>
The second reason is pride. Many signers take pride in their language,
and they should. But once they realize that it is possible to write
the language that they are so proud of, they must admit that they are
illiterate in the langauge they love. Becoming literate in sign
languages takes time and effort. If you consider yourself fluent in a
sign language, it can be easier to dismiss literacy than admit you have
a lot to learn. This is a very real problem and what you may have
experienced on the Teach ASL List. We need to appeal to their love of
the language. We need to express the view that we sign writers are not
superior. We need to reach out to them and let them know they are
desperately needed to help improve the existing writing. Future
generations of writers will be influenced by the writing we do today.
If we are to have good writing we not only need people who are
literate, but people who are fluent.
<br>
<br>
The last reason is the most insidious: politics. Some signers take the
view that it is better if their language is not written. They consider
it a defining characteristic. Other signers reject SignWriting because
it wasn't invented by someone who was deaf. For these people, we need
to discuss the benefits of writing. We also need to explain the
history of SignWriting and how the deaf have been involved from day
one. SignWriting is not a system that was developed in isolation and
then handed to the deaf from on high. It is a living writing system
that has been developed in a spirit of cooperation that not only
included deaf and hearing, but signers from all over the world.
<br>
<br>
And so we come to the reason I become involved with SignWriting many
years ago. I love literacy. The question for me isn't "Can we write?"
but "Why do we write?" and "What are the benefits of writing?" and
"Why do we read?" and "What are the benefits of reading?"
<br>
<br>
One of my favorite books is "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer J. Adler,
Charles Van Doren. It discusses the 4 levels of reading: elementary,
inspectional, analytical, syntopical. . Being able to make out the
symbols and understand the syntax and grammar of language is only the
first level of reading. There is so much more to learn and experience.
But for the higher levels of reading we need more to read. So let's
get writing!
<br>
<br>
Anyway, these are some of the thoughts that have been on my mind,
<br>
-Steve
<br>
<br>
Valerie Sutton wrote:
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">SignWriting List
<br>
January 29, 2006
<br>
<br>
A MESSAGE I WROTE ON THE TEACH ASL LIST
<br>
to a List member who thought SignWriting was a foreign language and
not a writing system for ASL...and who mentioned Dr. Stokoe...Here was
my reply:
<br>
<br>
----------------------
<br>
<br>
Val wrote:
<br>
I can see that you truly love ASL, and I do too. I respect it so much,
that I want to write it on paper, just as it is, without changing ASL
at all, but preserving in on paper so we can learn the grammar of ASL
on paper...A little like a video that captures ASL just as it is, we
are writing those ASL videos on paper, so we can analyze the movements
and try to understand ASL better...Writing ASL is not another
language. ASL is the language. Writing it with symbols is simply a
doumentation of the same language.
<br>
<br>
It is the same with written English...written and spoken English are
not two separate languages...they are just two forms...the written and
the spoken...
<br>
<br>
I was very fortunate to know Dr. Stokoe a little. My first
presentation on SignWriting in the USA in 1977 was with Dr. Stokoe. We
shared the podium together at a conference in Chicago. He would write
a sign in his system. And then I would write the same sign in
SignWriting. We presented to a full room that was so jammed, people
were standing in the back, pushing to get in...It was a great memory...
<br>
<br>
Dr. Stokoe told me that he did not invent his system for everyday
use...it was for his linguistic work. SignWriting, on the other hand,
was invented specifically to record storytelling, giving us ASL
Literature, novels and books, used by people outside of the linguistic
fields...SignWriting started with facial expressions, but the Stokoe
system did not have facial expressions when it began, and cannot write
facial expressions and mime the way SignWriting can...
<br>
<br>
So Dr. Stokoe agreed with me, at this presentation, that our two
systems were not developed for the same reasons, and therefore should
not be compared, since their purposes are totally different -
<br>
<br>
Val ;-)
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
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