[sw-l] Re: Thesis -- more than anecdotal

[James Shepard-Kegl, Esq.]

Shane,

See/Hear was at our school many years ago, at a time when we were just
beginning with developing our SW curriculum.  Moreover, we were involved
with many projects designed to empower Deaf people in Nicaragua  --
SignWriting literacy was just one project of many.  See/Hear had time
constraints and interests  in some of the other aspects of our work.
SignWriting deserves a full program of its own.

-- James

on 2/26/05 10:16 AM, Shane Gilchrist Ó hEorpa at
shane.gilchrist.oheorpa at francismaginn.org wrote:
> James,
>
> U know I agree with you and the Sutton System - Kristof de Weerdt (used to
> be at the Univ of Gent) said 95% of VGT can be recorded using this system.
>
> I was just playing the messenger mind you - if there are sign linguists who
> think different, then we will have a very long battle to go ahead with - I
> noticed when the See Hear! team came over from England to film ur schools,
> James, they didn't even talk much about SW?
>
> That’s why we said we need to develop a marketing/political strategy for the
> SW.
>
> By the way, one said to me that the Sutton System is copyrighted - I thought
> it was more about the literature but the use of it, copyrighted?
>
> :o
>
> Shane
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu [mailto:owner-sw-
>> l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu] On Behalf Of James Shepard-Kegl, Esq.
>> Sent: 26 February 2005 14:31
>> To: sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
>> Subject: Re: [sw-l] Re: Thesis -- more than anecdotal
>>
>> Shane,
>>
>> A new idea at first rejected as being worthless, later begrudgingly
>> acknowledged, and finally accepted as being obviously true.
>>
>> SW is neither child-like nor simple -- terms I daresay were used to
>> dismiss
>> signing itself as a language not so many years ago.  SW, however, is
>> somewhat "transparent" -- since the system uses a visual code to convey a
>> visually driven language (as opposed to my typing at the moment, which is
>> a
>> visual code to convey a sound driven language.)
>>
>> The airplane:  many said machines would never fly, until the Wright
>> brothers
>> demonstrated that airplanes really could be built.  Seeing is believing.
>>
>> It makes not a whit of difference to the hundreds of thousands of deaf
>> children trying to learn to read and write whether linguists prefer one
>> method of sign notation over another.  It will be critical to these
>> children
>> if they are able to achieve a higher level of competency in reading and
>> writing a spoken language by first gaining literacy skills in their native
>> sign language.
>>
>> Does SW further this goal?  If yes, what needs to be done?  If not, why
>> not?
>>
>> SHOW ME THE PROOF IN A SCIENTIFICALLY ACCEPTABLE STUDY.
>>
>> -- James
>>
>>
>> on 2/26/05 9:08 AM, Shane Gilchrist Ó hEorpa at
>> shane.gilchrist.oheorpa at francismaginn.org wrote:
>>
>>> James,
>>>
>>> We do need to develop a publicity or political lobbying group for that -
>>> another reason why I ll want to do the European conference on SW.
>>>
>>> And there's so much misinformation about the Sutton System out there -
>> there
>>> are 3 systems out there - the Sutton one, the Stokoe notation system and
>> the
>>> HamNoSys - my friend, a linguist herself, think the Sutton system is the
>>> easiest one because it's quite "child-like and simple" YET SHE HAVENT
>> TRIED
>>> IT HERSELF so she cannot be the expert on that but other linguists who
>>> ACTUALLY tried the 3 systems said that the Sutton System is more
>> difficult
>>> to use for people whose first language isn't sign language whereas the
>>> Stokoe and HamNoSys are designed for people whose first language isn't a
>>> signed language.
>>>
>>> Right now, many European Sign linguists tend to go for HamNoSys cos it's
>> a
>>> European thingy - there are some who will go for the Stokoe system - but
>>> even a smaller group go for it.
>>>
>>> That's why it's important for us to raise the profile of SignWriting -
>> for
>>> instance the CDS Dublin at www.centrefordeafstudies.com
>>>
>>> Shane
>>>
>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: owner-sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu [mailto:owner-sw-
>>>> l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu] On Behalf Of James Shepard-Kegl, Esq.
>>>> Sent: 26 February 2005 13:56
>>>> To: sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
>>>> Subject: [sw-l] Re: Thesis -- more than anecdotal
>>>>
>>>> I believe that if you want to have SW integrated into the Deaf
>> education
>>>> system on a national or multi-national level, then you will need first
>> to
>>>> convince theoreticians of some repute that SW serves important
>> educational
>>>> functions.  This will take more than a review of positive anecdotal
>>>> experiences.  Rather, a curriculum needs to be designed, then
>> implemented.
>>>> Next, a statistical study, with control groups and comparative results
>>>> from
>>>> traditional programs, must be conducted.  Papers must be presented and
>>>> ultimately articles published in respected journals.
>>>>
>>>> This, alas, takes money (especially the design and implementation
>> parts.)
>>>> If there is someone who has gone further than I in design and
>>>> implementation, please identify yourself.  In the meantime, I have
>> quite
>>>> bankrupted myself in the process -- which is why my attending an SW
>>>> conference in Europe is unthinkable.
>>>>
>>>> -- James
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>