SignWriting Report, January 2004, Part 1

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
January 5, 2004

Dear SignWriting List Members:
I hope you all enjoyed your New Years! I am in the process of writing a
Year-End Report, so I will post it in three parts....Val ;-)


SIGNWRITING REPORT, PART ONE
In the past, three SignWriting symbolsets developed, for three
different computer programs...

1. SSS-1995 ....SignWriter DOS 4.4
2. SSS-1999 ....SignWriter Java 5.0
3. SSS-2002.....SignBank 2002

As long as SignWriter DOS and SignWriter Java are being used around the
world, the SSS-1995 and SSS-1999 symbolsets will be in use. However,
the SSS-2002 will be replaced, in 2004, with these two new ones:

4. SSS-2004.....SignBank For Research Use...(similar to the
International Phonetic Alphabet - very detailed)

plus our first "country-specific" symbol-set:

5. SSS-US.........SignBank For Everyday Use...(symbols needed to write
American Sign Language (ASL) only - as simple as possible)

So in 2004, like Ying-Yang, or a see-saw, I will be working with two
extremes...the most detailed and the most simplified symbolsets
possible...I am hoping this will lead to a very useful writing system,
that gives everyone what they need...

I believe it will take the whole year of 2004 to stabalize the SSS-2004
and SSS-US. So most of my time, in 2004, will be dedicated to this
goal.

Later, together as a team, we can also start developing simplified
symbolsets for other countries too. When available, those will be
named:

SSS-NO......Norwegian Sign Language
SSS-DE......German Sign Language
SSS-BR......Brazilian Sign Language
SSS-BEfl....Flemish Sign Language
SSS-CHde..Swiss German Sign Language
SSS-CHfr...Swiss French Sign Language
SSS-NI......Nicaraguan Sign Language
SSS-CO......Colombian Sign Language
SSS-DK......Danish Sign Language

So in the future, there will be several "country-specific"
SignBanks....Most of the symbols will be the same for all countries,
but just like in spoken languages, each signed language will also have
some differences...

More soon...

Val ;-)


Valerie Sutton
Sutton at SignWriting.org

1. SignWriting Site
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Read & Write Sign Languages

2. SignBank Site
http://www.SignBank.org
Sign Language Diatabases

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