FEET ALPHABETIC

[Sandy Fleming]

Dear Stuart and everyone,

I think this is great! Now we can have parties where everyone sits around
with a glass of wine in one hand and a slice of cake in the other, and we
can still talk!  :)

As for movement notation for unusual parts of the body, here's a thought.

How about a SignWriting-style notation for oral languages?

This would show the roof of the mouth, jaw, teeth &c to indicate how a sound
is produced. I've attached a crude first-attempt sketch of the word "thanks"
to give you an idea. It's a cross-section through the mouth, assuming that
the mouth is always symmetrical when speaking. You see the use of the
"contact" symbol in "th" and "ng", and I've used the "strike" symbol for the
sudden release of air in "k". I've used a wiggle "~" to indicate vibration,
so in "a" the vocal chords are vibrating and in "ng" both the vocal cords
and nasal cavity are vibrating. Other sounds would need lips and dental
ridge and suchlike to be drawn.

The hardest thing to figure out is how to distinguish different vowels, but
someone who really understands the linguists' "anvil" diagram for vowels
should be able to figure it out!

I suppose the diagram would have to be drawn bigger to show the shape and
position of the tongue properly, so it's probably not practical as a writing
system. But on the other hand it can show some subtleties such as the fact
that the tongue turns up slightly in "th" which might help people who are
just learning the language.

I bet this has either been thought of before, or it's fatally flawed...!

Sandy

-----Original Message-----
From: SignWriting List [mailto:SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA]On Behalf Of Valerie
Sutton
Sent: 22 September 2003 15:46
To: SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA
Subject: Re: FEET ALPHABETIC


SignWriting List
September 22, 2003

On September 21, 2003, Stuart Thiessen wrote:

Hmmm .... Wouldn't this be fun in SW?  <grin> I just got this so I haven't
had a chance to sit down and figure this out.  Come to think of it, I am not
entirely sure if feet are represented at this detail in SW (I'm sure
Movement Writing has something for this).  Just thought you all might enjoy
this. Stuart


Dear SW List, and Stuart!
Thank you for this charming graphic...Ingvild Roald, from Norway, is here in
California, visiting me, and we both laughed long over this....Yes. It could
be written in Movement Writing. This is the first time anyone on the SW List
has considered writing the soles of the feet, and movement of the toes - ha!
Val ;-)
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