Phonemes (was RE: use of sign language in Jordan) - longish

[Valerie Sutton]

On Sep 28, 2007, at 7:23 AM, Carolyn Ostrander wrote:
> ....I would be really curious to know whether there are persistent  
> "poor spellers" in signwriting as time goes on,
> who perceive categories of movement differently and insist on their  
> own coding system.

Thank you for this point, Carolyn...

SignWriting definitely has SignSpellings and SignSpelling rules. And  
there are definitely good spellers (those who are skilled with  
SignWriting), and beginning spellers (those who are new to  
SignWriting)...and yes...of course they make spelling mistakes.

There are two kinds of SignSpelling rules in SignWriting...

1. rules related to movement writing...those are the rules that  
govern the actual symbols themselves...how they are used...that can  
be applied to writing any gesture, not just signed languages...

2. Spelling rules related to signed languages specifically...


Nine times out of ten, the beginning writer doesn't understand number  
1 above...they simply need experience learning the SignWriting  
system, and when they have that, they correct their own "movement- 
related" spelling mistakes.

But there is that one time out of ten, that it is related to "signed  
language issues" (number 2 above) and those are the spelling mistakes  
that are fascinating...you are absolutely correct...

And we have watched those patterns over years, and we bring those up  
to the SignWriting List members, and we discuss the issues of  
SignSpellings for some signs that are "hard to write"...

Sometimes we will add 8 or 10 different choices of how the same sign  
could be spelled, and we add all of those spelling choices into  
SignPuddle and we attach them as a graphic to the SignWriting List so  
they can discuss which SignSpelling "works for them"...

Through this process, SignWriting has greatly improved. We have made  
changes to the writing system when need be...so it is a very positive  
experience...

If we look back in the history of English spelling, as you know,  
there were multiple choices for spellings of some English words in  
the beginning...and over time, a certain spelling became the  
norm...but that took time...

That is the stage we are in right now, with SignSpellings in  
SignWriting...

We have one booklet called SignSpelling Guidelines. We are writing an  
update to that booklet this Fall.

Val ;-)

Valerie Sutton
Sutton at SignWriting.org
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