ISO 639-3 code for International Sign Language--a good idea? How to proceed?

[Valerie Sutton]

Al -

In my experience....there are several different international signing  
systems, so there is not just one International Sign system.

One is related to Esperanto, called Signuno, and the Signuno group  
has written their signs in SignWriting. There are 2311 Signuno signs  
in SignPuddle Online. Take a look:

Signuno SignPuddle
http://www.signbank.org/SignPuddle1.5/index.php?ui=11&sgn=54

The icons on that page are written in Signuno and Esperanto. The icon  
to the top left means "Search for Signs" and if you click on that and  
then place an asterisk in the search field and press the Enter Key,  
it will list all the signs they have entered in their form of  
international signing, called Signuno...

And while I worked in Denmark in the 1970's and 1980's I was handed a  
book called Gestuno. I own the book still...it is a blue one. Perhaps  
some of the list members know the book?...Gestuno was at that time a  
form of international signing, and I started to write it in  
SignWriting from the book. But I never finished because I learned not  
that many people were using Gestuno...

Since then we have worked with international interpreters who were  
clearly not using Gestuno...

Another form of international signing was written in SignWriting in  
the 1990's as a part of a research project headed by Dr. Bencie  
Woll...Benice if you are here on this List, maybe you can tell them  
about it...

Or you can read about it on this web article:

International Signs Project 1993-1994
University of Bristol
http://www.signwriting.org/uk/GB01.html
(scroll down to the bottom of the web page)

So the question is...which international signing system do you mean?  
I have seen it change from interpreter to interpreter depending on  
the nationalities of the people watching the interpreter...the  
interpreter is flexible and works with the people present to make it  
a good communication experience for everyone... it is impressive and  
amazing to watch - but elusive as well...

Val ;-)

Valerie Sutton
Sutton at SignWriting.org






On Nov 1, 2007, at 6:51 PM, Albert Bickford wrote:

> Many of you are familiar with the ISO 639-3 (http://www.sil.org/ 
> iso639-3/) standard of three-letter codes for identifying  
> languages.  Originally derived from Ethnologue codes, it now has an  
> independent existence as an official international standard of the  
> International Organization for Standards.
>
> At present, there is no ISO 639-3 code for International Sign.   
> Given that there is a dictionary of 1500 signs published, it seems  
> like it might be useful to have such a code.  However, I know so  
> little about International Sign, and others know so much more, I  
> would be reluctant to be the one to actually submit the proposal.   
> Hence this posting--a request for help and advice.
>
> I gather that International Sign is not a language, but a somewhat  
> artificially constructed body of vocabulary that is combined with a  
> user's native SL grammar and applied very flexibly according to the  
> specific communicative situation.
>
> The ISO standard does have codes for many artifical languages, so  
> we could still justify having a code for it.  What is not so  
> obvious to me is whether the standard should identify International  
> Sign as an artificial language, or whether there has been enough  
> natural interaction and development over the years to erase  
> whatever artificiality may have originally existed.  In most  
> artificial languages, the most artificial element is the grammar  
> (as in Signing Exact English in North America).  This is one aspect  
> of International Sign that has *not* been artificially  
> constrained.  So, maybe it's more like a pidgin, right?
>
> What do people on this list feel should be done?
>
> Incidentally, a lot of possible three-letter codes that would make  
> sense as the code for International Sign are already in use for  
> other languages. However, "ils" is available, so that might be a  
> good choice.  It actually doesn't matter exactly what code is  
> chosen for a particular language.  The important thing is that it  
> be unique and that its reference be clearly documented so people  
> know what it refers to.  That's what the ISO standard aims to do.
>
> -- Albert
>
> Albert Bickford
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