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

[Ingvild Roald]

Seems good to me. Thank you, Cathy!

Ingvild, NorwaY




>From: "Valerie Sutton" <sutton at signwriting.org>
>Reply-To: sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
>To: sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
>Subject: [sw-l] UK...Article in Deaf Magazine needs comments
>Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 10:33:36 -0700
>
>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
>
>--------------------
>
>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 ;-)
>
>--------------------
>
>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.
>
>
>