[sw-l] BSL Fingerspelling (Part 2)

[Sandy Fleming]

The gif attached shows my idea for how to streamline the BSL fingerspelling
alphabet for handwriting (by which I really mean block printing) purposes.

By comparing the streamlined form with the Sutton TrueType you'll see that
what I've done is:

1. Removed most of the orientation information (usually by deleting the hand
and just leaving the fingers). This makes sense because orientation is
varied a lot in BSL fingerspelling - a TV interpreter or someone speaking to
an audience may hold his left hand vertical, while someone speaking to a
small group sitting in a circle might hold their left hand horizontally so
that people on the left can see his right hand properly. More usually the
arm will have a relaxed, natural, upward diagonal slant.

2. Included all the contact information. This is necessary because I want to
be able to show double letters by just writing the contact symbol twice
rather than writing the whole letter twice. This is truer to how BSL users
actually fingerspell, as well as being quicker to write.

I've been a bit pragmatic and kept some information that could have been
left out, when there seems to be an advantage in it. For example, I could
have just written the symmetrical letters ('B' and 'W') just by showing one
handshape, but this didn't seem comfortable to read. I could have not
bothered to write the left index finger in the letters "P" and "K" but by
writing it, it makes the letter look more like the Roman "P" or "K" on the
page, which I think is good.

Note that although I've used a different handshape from Val for the letter
"B", both forms are correct. I think that my form is more commonly used in
fluent fingerspelling, but it's not a strict rule.

More to come...

Sandy Fleming
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