ASL Numbers for SignWriting Playing Cards

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
March 4, 2004

ASL NUMBERS, Part 4

Here are the standard ways we write the numbers 13, 14 and 15 in ASL.
Notice there are two versions for each...Why? The spellings in the
right column were the original way we wrote those numbers before
computers, but those hand symbols did not exist in SignWriter DOS...we
had too many handshapes for the computer program's memory...so we
eliminated the angle-3, angle-4 and angle-5 handshapes from the DOS
symbolset...then we had no choice but to type the version in the left
column...so the spellings on the left became better known because of
computers! Now, with newer software, we can start using either
spelling, but now the Deaf kids in Albuquerque know the spelling in the
left column...smile...that is how spellings evolve in all written
languages...funny little reasons as to why some spelling becomes the
standard, and once that happens, it is hard to change the spellings.
The spellings in the right column are actually more correct, because
the little finger arrows are supposed to be on the second hand position
in a sign, and not the first...Anyway, feel free to use either
spelling. You will find number-signs written for you in the dictionary
inside SignWriter DOS and Java...and also in SignBank on the web.


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