[sw-l] Are SignSpellings really synonyms?

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
April 29, 2005

On Apr 29, 2005, at 11:09 AM, Stephen Slevinski wrote:
> We were talking about symbol synonyms, not sign synonyms.

I see. I didn't know there was such a thing. So that makes sense! Would 
the letter F and the letters PH in English be symbol or sound-synonyms?


> The two signs you showed illustrated the same movement with different 
> symbols.

Yes. The way I would say it...

"The two signs you showed illustrated the same handshape and palm 
facing, but viewed from two different vantage points."

not that any of this really matters...you are right!


> The white palm to the side  facing the chect (01-05-011-01-01-03) of 
> the first sign is a synonym symbol with the palm to chest overhead 
> view (01-05-011-01-05-03).

Only SignWriting can view the writing system from the ceiling! 
smile...so we have Viewpoint-Synonyms - ha!


> Another example with the same symbol.  Palm half filled 
> (01-05-011-01-02-03) is a synonym to palm all black with a gap 
> (01-05-011-01-06-03). 

I pasted a screen capture below of the symbol...Yes...that is right. 
All of the handshapes in the attached diagram are the SAME handshape 
just at different angles and palm facings, and some are simply 
different viewpoints...and are otherwise the same...but they don't have 
a different meaning...the viewpoints became necessary to be able to see 
some signs better, and there is also a psychology behind which one you 
use too...the psychology part I try to stay out of since I am not a 
native signer...


> I'll include pictures later....  So it looks like fill 1 is sometimes 
> equivalent to fill 5.  And fill 2 can be the same as fill 6.  For this 
> symbol anyways...
> These symbol synonyms are used for alternate sign construction.I 
> think...Steve

Yes...such symbol-synonyms drive programmers crazy! but oddly, as a 
writer gets more skilled, the worry over this goes away for some 
reason...because both viewpoints are handy sometimes! But programming 
it is another thing...that is why I have done this grid...if there are 
some symbols that mean the same thing I don't care, just as long as we 
are communicating!


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