Flying Bird

[Sandy Fleming]

Val wrote,

> So just as English writes the same sounds in different spellings,
> SignWriting can also write the exact same movements in several
> different ways, as Stefan showed us...those were three different
> spellings for the exact same movement...and we could add more to the
> list of three, since you could also use the Finger Motion symbols we
> discussed...

Talking about spelling, I found the SignWriting "Spelling Guide" document
extremely helpful for desciding how to write signs, even though it's only a
few pages.

I get the impression it was really written for the programmers, but I
thought it should be brought more to everyone's attention. It's interesting
that you talk about syllables, but I find myself thinking in terms of vowels
and consonants - I think of "positions" as "consonant clusters" and
"movements" as "vowel clusters".

So these days I tend to think of written signs as being of the "po", "pop"
or "poppy" variety  :)

It seems to me that "compound signs" in BSL (eg, believe = think-true,
decide = say-true, blood = red-flow) don't need more than three or four
syllables, just like simple signs - the component signs are smoothed
together so that they really do become a single sign. Once again, it's
amazing what I learn abour the structure of BSL that I never knew before,
just by working with SignWriting.

Snady