videos, and classifiers

[Nancy E. Emery]

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 12:07:28 -0700
From: Valerie Sutton <sutton at SIGNWRITING.ORG>
Hi Val,

thanks for the links to the goldilocks story, that will be helpful.  Looks like the video is for sale
as part of the "learn to read ASL" packet?  Are the booklets that go with the "Deaf perspectives"
videos, signwriting transcriptions of the videos?  Maybe I should become a member, buy them
and see samples, and send you some income in return for all this free advice and software :)

As for classifiers, this time around at least I wasn't asking how to write them, but saying that I
didn't know if I'd recognize the difference between a classifier and a sign in a language I didn't
know - at least from SW rather than a video.   So, for example, the generic ASL sign for meet (a
person, not hold a meeting) is the same as, and probably derived from, a classifier construction
of two upright people walking toward each other until they meet.  It's directional, but it's still a
fixed sign, in expressions like "nice to meet you".  You could meet someone under other
circumstances - they could walk up to the car you were sitting in, or you could be sitting
together on a bench at the bus stop and start chatting, or you could limp along next to each
other, and all those things could be described with classifiers, but they haven't been abstracted
into a general sign for "meet".  I'm interested in studying classifiers, and I'd love to see examples
or transcriptions of them from any signed language - i just meant that from languages other
than ASL, where i don't know any sign vocabulary, i might have a hard time picking them out
from the writing system if they weren't labeled.  I think  in "live" signing it would be easier to
spot them.

Thanks for all your help - and anyone who has some classifiers to show off, send 'em in!  (Me,
I'm the technologically impaired one, so i don't know how to scan yet.  But someday I'll learn
how to do that, make .pdf files, etc, and then i can send some of my attempts.)

Nancy

Subject: Writing Classifiers...

SignWriting List
June 21, 2004

Nancy E. Emery wrote:
> I'm saying ASL because that's the only signed language i know at all,
> but I'd also be interested in
> transcriptions from other signed languages that have a lot of
> classifiers used, if i could tell
> which were the classifier constructions.  I know the tense marker
> shows the locative classifiers,
> but for other classifier types and uses I might not be able to tell.

Nancy and List members -
Try writing some classifiers by hand, and scan in your
handwriting...give us a short English explanation of what you are
trying to write and post them to the List...we can discuss how to write
classifiers...;-)

Val ;-)