<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><div><span>Maria, you should look at Ethiopian sign language. We thought we were done, and then Ethiopian added more than 10 complicated handshapes. Some still can't be accomplished in ISWA 2010. Each country has its own phonological history and Ge'ez has a different hand alphabet than the western languages. I can't begin to think what Hindi or Japanese may need. <br></span></div><div> </div><div>Charles Butler<br>chazzer3332000@yahoo.com<br>240-764-5748<br>Clear writing moves business forward.<br></div> <div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <hr size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> MARIA GALEA <maria.azzopardi@UM.EDU.MT><br> <b><span
style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> SW-L@LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, September 18, 2012 9:53 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: New handshapes for the ISWA 2010<br> </font> </div> <br>
Hi Steve and Madson,<br><br>Prior to creating new handshapes for ISWA, you might want to make sure<br>such handshapes are truly required.<br><br>In the 10 active Literature Puddles I'm analyzing - not one of these<br>Puddles use all base handshapes of any given group (one of these are<br>Brazil). For example there is noone who uses all Group 1 (Index) symbols,<br>not one Puddle that uses all Group 2 (Index Middle) etc etc.. all the way<br>down to Group 10.<br><br>I strongly believe (and the analysis I'm carrying out points to this, and<br>is based on real evidence) that sign languages have enough (and more than<br>enough) symbols to represent their phonological inventories.<br><br>It is true that there are these nuances in sign language, where for<br>example a new sign entering the language uses a 'rare' handshape - however<br>the question is - can another more frequently used handshape be used<br>instead of this 'odd' handshape (and extremely low
frequency)? And more<br>importantly if the higher frequency symbol is used instead, does the sign<br>remain readable? If the answer to that is yes - than the likelihood is<br>that the low frequency symbol is not truly required to represent the given<br>language.<br><br>My question to Madson is this - can you use another symbol from the ISWA<br>to represent the handshape/s you have in mind? and if you write your signs<br>with the ISWA handshapes (similar symbols/glyphs, but perhaps not exactly<br>what you have in mind), do your signs remain readable in context? Can the<br>signs be read with ISWA symbols that are already there?<br><br>But then again, my study is about 'orthography' - the graphical<br>representation of specific languages. I understand that ISWA (2010) goes<br>beyond this. ISWA (2010) can be used for phonetic transcriptions - and<br>having very detailed phonetic representations of sign language is in<br>itself very useful for
phonetic studies.<br><br>Maria<br><br>> Hi Madson and list,<br>><br>> The core of the ISWA 2010 will not change, but we can add an addendum of<br>> new handshapes. This will be a compatible improvement and will not<br>> change any of the existing data.<br>><br>> I have worked out most of the technical details to make this work. It<br>> relies on creating complex subsets of the ISWA where the symbols can be<br>> reorganized and reordered for the individual languages. We will all<br>> still use the ISWA, we'll just be able to access them according to the<br>> default international order created by Val, or by a custom language<br>> specific order.<br>><br>> Adding new handshapes is not a trivial matter. Each handshape will need<br>> to comply with all of Valerie's rules: written and unwritten. Each new<br>> handshape will need an addition to the font that is compatible with the<br>>
existing font. So if anyone would like to propose a new handshape for<br>> the ISWA 2010, we will need someone to create the font addition and<br>> Valerie's approval and my verification of the technical details.<br>><br>> If anyone is interested, we can discuss how to put together a proposal<br>> for a new handshape.<br>><br>> New handshapes need:<br>> * real life picture of handshape<br>> * symbol ID that fits within the current ISWA hierarchy<br>> * English name<br>> * fallback handshape if new handshape is not available.<br>> * font Addition<br>> ** minimum of 12 PNGs (fills 1 thru 6, and rotations 1 & 2)<br>> ** eventually, 96 PNGs or 96 SVG per font.<br>><br>> Regards,<br>> -Steve<br>><br>><br><br><br><br> </div> </div> </div></body></html>