Finnish Towns

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
October 8, 2003

Actually, Charles, I was suggesting not adding anything new at all, and
only using symbols we already have...But Ingvild felt we needed
something more...so we must leave those decisions to the Deaf in Norway
and Finland...just as long as I continue to supply the entire Research
Use set of symbols, they will always have something to choose
from...and I will not be involved with their decisions as to which
symbols they want for everyday use...Power of choice is in the hands of
the Deaf people in each country...smile...Once I have completed the
SSS-2004 ro research (or 2005 at the rate I am going), I will retire
and leave the decision-making to everyone else! Val ;-)

---------------------------

On Wednesday, October 8, 2003, at 01:18 PM, Charles Butler wrote:

> I would agree with Ingvild, Valerie, having to add another rotation (or
> multiple) in the fine-tuning when a single vertical line would do as a
> "diacritical mark" is more complex, even in handwriting, for me.
>
> Charles
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ingvild Roald <ingvild.roald at STATPED.NO>
> To: <SW-L at admin.humberc.on.ca>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 3:25 PM
> Subject: Re: Finnish Towns
>
>
>> I'd want to comment on this, but that would have to wait until I'm
>> back
>> home on my own comuter with the sw-program. I think I see another
>> solution, using horizon line, if we want it that detailed, but with a
>> simpler but incorrect solution for evereday use, if our Deaf people
>> find
>> that is the best. The American spelling is not our sign - it's almost
>> as
>> spelling 'much' for 'meget'.
>>
>> Ingvild
>>
>>
>> SignWriting List <SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA> writes:
>>> SignWriting List
>>> October 8, 2003
>>>
>>> But, Nitsu, here is my opinion -
>>>
>>> I believe that writing those inbetween palm facings is a good idea
>>> for
>>> Research Use, but for Everyday Use, I would choose to write the
>>> Finnish, Norwegian and American signs for HOUSE the same...YES...I
>>> know
>>> that the Finnish and Norwegian signs do have a different plam facing
>>> than the American...but does such detail really matter for Everyday
>>> Use?...
>>>
>>> When I moved to Denmark, as a hearing person, I had to learn my
>>> second
>>> spoken language, Danish. When I looked at the word "meget" in Danish,
>>> which means "very" in English, I found out that in the numerous
>>> dialects of spoken Danish, that the word "meget" is pronounced very
>>> differently around Denmark. The Copenhagen dialect pronounced it like
>>> "myeth", but on the Jutland peninsula they pronounced each letter the
>>> way we would in English...so why don't the Copenhagen people spell
>>> their version differently? because it would mean there would be many
>>> ways to spell the same word, and that becomes overwhelming for
>>> people...so spoken languages use the same Roman alphabet symbols to
>>> represent many different sounds...as you can see in "myeth"...Another
>>> example in Danish: the word "mad" means "food" and the "d" at the end
>>> is pronounced with a "th", like "math" except ...it is slightly
>>> different than the English "th" - so it is not like "math", but with
>>> a
>>> unique "d" sound to the Danish language...smile...writing those
>>> differences would be rediculous for everyday use...
>>>
>>> In spoken languages, we have the International Phonetic Alphabet
>>> (IPA),
>>> which is supposed to have a way to write these differences...so I am
>>> suggesting that our Research Use symbolset (SSS-2004) is like the
>>> IPA...and you may want to use that for your research...but when
>>> writing
>>> the sign for HOUSE daily, I would suggest using this standard
>>> spelling
>>> (see diagram)...So how would a person know how to pronouce the sign
>>> for
>>> HOUSE in the US and Finland?..When they live in the US, they will
>>> learn
>>> to pronouce it the way they sign it in the US, and when they move to
>>> Finland, the Finnish deaf people will teach them to do the
>>> orientation
>>> a little bit differently, but the sign will be spelled the same
>>> between
>>> the countries...smile...I hope this rediculously long answer has not
>>> confused you further! Val ;-)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>