Discussion question

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
February 23, 2004

Dear SW List, and ReBecca!
Thanks for your question...You are doing great...This is a hard
subject, since most ASL signers have never thought of ASL as a written
language before...

ReBecca asked:
> "Do you see a parallel between this development of SignWriting and the
> difference between how English and ASL vs. Manually Coded Forms of
> English
> came to be?"

No. There is no parallel....

1. Manually coded forms of English  "change ASL"  to be something
different...It changes the ASL grammar to English grammar, I believe...

2. SignWriting does not change ASL. It just writes what it sees.
SignWriting writes any body movement. Like a video camera. A video of
ASL does not change ASL grammar. Videos can capture ASL just as it is
signed. That is what SignWriting does too, except it is with a pen and
paper, and not a video camera.

3. Video cameras can also record Manually-Coded English. SignWriting
can too, since it records any body movement. It is up to the writer,
what signed language they choose to write.

4. SignWriting can be compared to the development of the Roman
Alphabet, which writes many spoken languages, including English. The
SignWriting symbols can be used to write any signed language in the
world, because it is based on writing the body. People in different
countries sign differently, and SignWriting can write it all.

I hope this helps!

Val ;-)


Valerie Sutton
Sutton at SignWriting.org

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