[sw-l] UK...Article in Deaf Magazine needs comments

Thu Apr 28 17:33:36 UTC 2005

SignWriting List
April 28, 2005

Cathy from UK wrote:
> I've put together an article using the information members of this 
> group
> sent me. I have attached it for your interest. I'd also really 
> appreciate
> it if some of you took the time to read it and check for any factual
> mistakes

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Thank you, Cathy!!
Here is Cathy's writing...I copied it from the attached document Cathy 
sent us....Any comments on this everyone?...Do you agree with 
everything?....Please post your comments to the SW List...Val ;-)

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Cathy's writing...

BSL on paper?
Previously Sign Languages were only signed and not written and until 
recently there were no written records of signed languages. Due to the 
nature of signed languages in which movement and placement are integral 
to the grammatical structure it seemed as though a written form of 
signed language was just not feasible.
But then came SignWriting. While it is not the first system for 
recording movements (other systems being Stokoe, SignFont and HamNoSys) 
SignWriting has proved the most popular, partly due to the fact that it 
is not specific to any one sign language; it can be used by sign 
languages all over the world.
SignWriting makes it possible to have books, newspapers, magazines, 
dictionaries, and literature written in signs. It can be used to teach 
signs and signed language grammar to beginning signers, or it can be 
used to teach other subjects, such as math, history, or English to 
skilled signers.
While it was first established in 1974 and began being used by American 
Sign Language users in 1981 it is in the last few years with the spread 
of the internet and increased PC-ownership that SignWriting began being 
used around the world.
But hang on, you might be saying, just what is SignWriting? In this 
article we look at what SignWriting is, how it came about and its 
potential… And whether it is needed?

Just what is SignWriting?
Basically SignWriting is a system of visual symbols for hand shapes, 
body movements and facial expressions. This allows sign language users 
to record the hand shape, movement and facial expression of each sign 
they use in a written form. Using this list of symbols, sign language 
users can translate their sign language into a written form for the 
purposes of email, books, poetry and so on.
As it is based on a system of generic symbols SignWriting can be used 
to write any sign language. But as it spreads around the word, it 
adopts some linguistically based writing conventions specific to 
particular sign languages. Already, there exist guidelines for writing 
ASL grammar and it is hoped among SignWriters that with a written form 
available, signed languages will begin to develop rules for writing 
grammar within their own signed languages.

The development of SignWriting
The main problem in writing signed languages was that so much 
grammatical information is held in one’s movement – how could this be 
translated to paper?  A movement notation system was needed to do this.
This dilemma was not unique to sign languages: those in the world of 
dance faced the same problem in recording dance routines where written 
English just couldn’t convey information efficiently. To solve this 
problem, ‘movement notation systems’ were created whereby each movement 
was represented by a symbol. It was from these systems that the idea of 
recording sign language and its movements emerged.
Inspired by DanceWriting, Valerie Sutton invented SignWriting while in 
the University of Copenhagen in autumn 1974. Rather than seeking to 
record ASL and its particular signs, what Valerie set out to do was to 
establish a system of generic symbols for recording movements. For this 
reason, she says it can be used to record any sign language, not just 
ASL. Just as the Roman alphabet is used to record a multitude of 
languages.
While an American Sign Language user herself, what Valerie developed 
was a system for recording the movement in signed languages, not ASL 
specifically. By 1981, she had set up a non-profit organisation in the 
US to develop SignWriting. Native ASL users were taken on to work with 
in writing their own language… This can be seen to mark the true 
beginning of writing signed languages.
The idea quickly spread to Denmark where schools started using it. Over 
twenty years later, SignWriting is used to write signed languages in 
over 30 countries. While it has spread to countries all around the 
world it appears to be concentrated around Europe, the US and South 
America.

Is SignWriting needed?
There are those that feel that SignWriting is not a necessary tool. 
After all, with videos webcams, the emerging 3G phones, BSL can be 
recorded and used as a remote communication tool. However, other people 
argue that the written form is an essential tool in communication. For 
example, this magazine uses the written form of English to communicate 
to you, the reader.
Some people feel that signed languages which are different to the 
spoken (and hence, written) language used in their society ought to 
have a written form because some people are native to these signed 
languages. A written form of English has proved invaluable in British 
society; why shouldn’t there be a written form of BSL for the British 
Sign Language community?
Valerie says that while ‘no language has to be written’, when it is, 
‘we all are richer for it’. “Signed languages are beautiful languages 
and they deserve to be written, preserved and respected”.  She goes on 
to explain that SignWriting was not designed to replace any language or 
writing system. Rather, it was developed to provide a written form for 
hundreds of languages that did not have any written form before. And 
some Deaf people and signers benefit from writing their native Sign 
Language, which is very different than any spoken language.
The argument for a written form of language is strong. Those languages 
that had a written form are the ones that have lived throughout 
history. Latin, a language that is nearly dead in the spoken form, 
still has a presence through its written form. Reading and writing 
makes it easier to learn other languages, it preserves the history and 
traditions of the culture, and it has a profound influence on the rest 
of the world. When a language is written, it places it on an equal 
footing with other written languages, which brings the language 
attention and respect. Through this process, those who use the language 
learn about their own culture. They see themselves in a new positive 
light.
And this is true for Deaf people who use Sign Language. Some are born 
into Deaf families that use a Sign Language at home. Learning to read 
and write their native language is a help to them, and can give them a 
feeling of pride.
Stuart Thieson from Des Moines, Iowa is someone who uses SignWriting as 
part of his everyday life. He now teaches it to other Deaf people in 
his community and says that he is  ‘glad that SignWriting has been 
developed because it gives (him) and other deaf people the freedom to 
express (themselves) in writing in (their) own sign language’. “Rather 
than having to limit ourselves to expressing ourselves in the national 
spoken language, we now have the flexibility to express ourselves in 
our sign language and/or in the national spoken language.  We have a 
choice now where we did not have it before.” He argues that ‘Deaf 
people are a minority language community in each country and 
SignWriting is another tool to support (these) communities’
Sandy Fleming from the UK has another argument for SignWriting. 
“SignWriting is better than video not only for the convenience but for 
clarity as well. The video records everything whether it's relevant to 
the meaning or not, while someone using SignWriting only records what 
they consider relevant to the meaning. For example, learners often miss 
important facial expressions or mouth movements when watching video 
because they don't understand what's important in a sign. In 
SignWriting, only the important things are written so the writer's 
intention is much clearer.”

So what of the future in SignWriting?
While it can be used with a pen and paper, the main focus of 
SignWriting development appears to be via computer-based mediums. One 
of its main limitations is introducing its symbols and the changes they 
undergo according to context to computers… While there are still 
technical issues about getting SignWriting to work with computers, 
Stuart believes these issues are by no means insurmountable.  “I am 
very excited about the number of projects that are out there to make 
SignWriting more accessible by computer. Computers were first designed 
to work with languages that used the Roman alphabet.  Then computers 
had to adapt to languages that used extra diacriticals with the Roman 
alphabet.” He goes on to explain how computers have been adopted to 
deal with the symbols used by languages such as Hebrew, Arabic and so 
on. Computers can now deal with writing systems such as that used by 
the Chinese where symbols change depending on context. Having been able 
to deal with these ‘challenges’, Stuart argues that there is no reason 
why it can’t deal with SignWriting. ‘Now it is SignWriting's turn.’

Valerie Sutton
We published a bi-lingual newspaper in English and American Sign 
Language years ago, and the American Sign Language was written using 
SignWriitng symbols....

Websites
www.signbank.org
Set up by Valerie Sutton, this website contains information on 
SignWriting. It is within SignPuddle that you will find some of the 
more interesting and useful tools for SignWriting.
It has a translation facility in which you can write a sentence and 
have it translated into SignWriting for several different languages.
SignEmail

http://bsltext.org/
A website set up by Sandy Fleming for SignWriters based in the UK.

European SignWriting Symposium
Brussels, July 2005
Next month sees the first European SignWriting Symposium in Brussels.
The main purpose of the symposium is to give people a chance to get 
together to gather information, exchange thoughts and experiences 
concerning SignWriting. Kathleen Heylen and Sara Geudens (name, from?) 
explains that while she and her friend visited a friend in Germany they 
discovered just how many rules there are concerning the spelling used 
in SignWriting (SignSelling). In addition, there are several issues 
with regard to how the system should be used in educating Deaf children 
and adults. The symposium has thus been set up to allow people to share 
information and experience, discuss software programmes for SignWriting 
and brainstorming on what other linguistic issues need to be discussed 
as a group rather than alone.
The reason for this Symposium, as the SignWriting website explains is 
that as more and more people in Europe discover SignWriting, they want 
to share their experience with others and ask questions. Why use 
SignWriting in education? Which computer programmes are needed? Why are 
SignSpellings important?
Valerie envisages that the symposieum will also be an opportunity for 
SignWriters from the same country to meet and discuss the promotion of 
this writing system within their own country. It is hoped that this 
would be followed by European SignWriters getting together to promote 
the system across the continent.

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