How to write SignWriting in Vertical Columns

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
June 18, 2004

Dear SW List:
Signed languages oftentimes place signs to the right and to the left of
center. We call this Spatial Comparisons...

In the sentence attached, the brown dog was placed to the signer's
left, and the black dog was placed to the signer's right. Later in the
conversation, the signer can refer to each dog, by pointing to the
placement...it is an excellent grammatical element that makes signed
languages very rich languages...

We could write this as a dancer sees movement. If we did that, the
writing would be more detailed, with body shifting symbols, tilted
shoulders and minute twisting...But when writing SignWriting, we
started to write this in a standardized fashion that does not require
all that detail, since certain elements, such as weight shifting, are
assumed by the signer. There are set rules now, that govern writing
vertical columns...They are coming next message....We will be
discussing the attached diagram...

The gloss for the sentence below is...
there (left side)....dog....brown...(comma or pause)....there (right
side)...dog...black


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