[sw-l] SignWriting in the Netherlands ;-)

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
December 12, 2004

Suzanne Pach wrote:
> Do some of you know if such a questionnaire is already
> used in another country (or countries)?? It would be nice
> to compare the results.

No. I think a questionnaire is not a good idea. Instead, if I were you,
I would take a train to Germany and to Flanders, to visit the
classrooms of deaf children already using SignWriting there. Interview
the teachers and students in both spoken and signed languages...if you
have a little video camera you can record the interviews...take some
photos of the Deaf kids using SignWriting, and then write a report to
the Dutch school system about the German and Flemish
classrooms...suggesting such an experiment in the Netherlands, or
asking if they would be interested in such a pilot
project....smile...Visual proof means something...watching the faces of
the Deaf children etc...questionnaires are usually in spoken languages
and are not able to show the visual reality...


> I also got a more technical question. It is about the
> spoken component. In Dutch Sign Language it is used a lot.
> For example to distinguish the words 'brother' and
> 'sister', you just make the same sign and you speak the
> dutch word with your mouth. I read the SignWriting lessons
> on the website, but I didn't see anything about how to
> show the spoken component.

Ha! It is Stefan Woehrmann in Germany who is the teacher who has
developed exactly what you are searching for...it is called
MundbildSchrift. Stefan took the facial expression symbols from
SignWriting and applied them to writing the movements of speech on the
mouth. His Deaf students use it all the time! So this is another reason
to visit Stefan in Germany. Write to him:

Stefan Woehrmann
stefanwoehrmann at gebaerdenschrift.de

visit his web site which shows MundbildSchrift:

http://www.gebaerdenschrift.de

Here is a photo of Stefan showing the Mundbildschrift symbols:

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