ASL novel; seeking fluent-ASL SignWriter

[Kimberley A. Shaw]

Hi Val and everybody on SW list:
no, I am not asking for an ASL teacher ... just an ASL-fluent SignWriter
willing to proofread a text & tell me if it makes sense, or has any
glaring errors! Just like a proofreader for an English text.
So, aren't there any fluent-ASL SignWriters on list willing to do this?
Best,
Kim from Boston

Kimberley A. Shaw writes:
>sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 at 10:35 PM -0500
>wrote:
>SignWriting List
>July 19, 2005
>
>Hello Kim!
>Your enthusiasm is really wonderful! As you know, this new service:
>
>SignWriting Transcription Services
>http://www.SignWriting.org/catalog/member/mem002.html
>
>...is not related to ASL. It is for ANY sign language video. It  
>therefore requires no language expertise, only Movement Writing  
>expertise. I personally do not know enough ASL or any sign language,  
>to be able to offer the service you suggest below. And since at this  
>time, we have no income, it would not be possible for me to hire a  
>Deaf native signer to read and teach you ASL.
>
>Video transcription is another service, in other words...
>
>I hope you enjoy your writing in ASL...most people do not capture the  
>grammar correctly...so that is great that you are developing that  
>skill...
>
>Val ;-)
>
>---------------------------------
>
>
>On Jul 19, 2005, at 6:36 PM, Kimberley A. Shaw wrote:
>
>Hello Val:
>the transcription service looks like a great resource! I hope to be
>getting together with a Gally emerita soon, and if my pencil isn't fast
>enough to capture her storytelling, I may take advantage of it!
>Here is another suggestion, however. As an ASL student, I find writing
>directly in ASL to be very good practice "immersing", and it helps me
>retain the stuff I've learned in class. One of the things in the
>anthology, actually, is a book review that I've written directly in SW
>with *no* English along the way! However, I *did* read it to my Deaf
>ASL-fluent teacher first to make sure everything was as it should be.  
>And
>so, here is the suggestion:
>how about offering a proofreading service for those of us whose ASL is
>not-yet fluent, but are working on it? Say, I could write a story or  
>essay
>or poem, send it to a member of the DAC, have them write up and down the
>margins with their red pen (or whatever) and then send it to me ... I
>would pay for something like this!
>Best,
>Kim from Boston
>
>sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 at 12:18 PM  
>-0500
>wrote:
>
>> SignWriting List
>> July 19, 2005
>>
>> Hello Kim and Everyone!
>> To write a novel in any signed language, the most accurate way would
>> be to hire a native signer in that language, in this case ASL. The
>> storyteller would sign the story from the beginning to the end. This
>> will make it a truly ASL experience. Then the video can be
>> transcribed into SignWriting...
>>
>> We do have some written ASL documents that were not taken from
>> video...written directly in the movements of ASL with no video
>> backup...but those were by native signers. Most people are not that
>> skilled in SignWriting yet. The video gives us the good grammar of
>> ASL so we get a good document that way.
>>
>> I have now started a Video-Transcription Service for ANY signed
>> language. Your group provides the video, preferably in Quicktime or
>> other computer formats, and I, or someone working with me, can do the
>> transcription into SignWriting for you...
>>
>> SignWriting Transcription Services
>> http://www.SignWriting.org/catalog/member/mem002.html
>>
>> Val ;-)
>>
>> --------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> On Jul 19, 2005, at 3:02 AM, Kimberley A. Shaw wrote:
>>
>> Hi Val:
>> OK, have written to them now!
>> Now, I have one more query to *all* you ASL signwriters out there:
>> Since my anthology has the articles from signwriting.org about the
>> NAD and
>> the DNP protest at Gallaudet, I think there should be an article
>> about the
>> new town of Laurent, as well, maybe title it "Islay comes to real
>> life" or
>> something like!
>> So, who would like to write it??
>> Payment will be in copies of the book only, which is up to 9  
>> stories now
>> (including a poem by Michele Bornert, just added).
>> Best,
>> Kim
>>
>>
>> sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 at 12:21 AM
>> -0500
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> SignWriting List
>>> July 18, 2005
>>>
>>> Yes, the first complete novel written in Spanish Sign Language in
>>> SignWriting, by Steve and Dianne Parkhurst, is certainly historic!! A
>>> beautiful book! And I believe it is the first complete novel written
>>> in ANY sign language, in history.
>>>
>>> I have around 8 copies and I could sell one to you, but first, please
>>> write to Steve and Dianne Parkhurst to ask them if they wish to sell
>>> it to you? I do not know how much they charge, or if you should pay
>>> them directly? They are teaching linguistics at SIL this summer in
>>> North Dakota. Their course is the one that includes writing Mexican
>>> Sign Language in the Mexican SignPuddle (with Stuart Thiessen's
>>> teaching and assistance)...
>>>
>>> So please write to:
>>>
>>> Steve and Dianne Parkhurst
>>> steve-dianne_parkhurst at sil.org
>>>
>>> It is a mystery novel, with illustrations by Steve Parkhurst.
>>>
>>> Val ;-)
>>>
>>> -----------------------------------
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jul 18, 2005, at 9:02 PM, Kimberley A. Shaw wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello all:
>>> never mind the ASL anthology I'm working on; *this* is very, very
>>> cool!
>>> So, even if it is a couple years later now, and I don't know Spanish
>>> sign
>>> ... how can a person lay hands on a copy of this book?
>>> And if I can get a fluent-in-ASL collaborator, how about putting
>>> Wilkie
>>> Collins' "Hide and Seek" (which involves a deaf heroine, as of the
>>> 1850s!)
>>> into ASL??
>>> Allabest,
>>> Kim from Boston
>>>
>>>
>>> From:  Valerie Sutton
>>> Date:  Tue Mar 26, 2002  4:26 pm
>>> Subject:  Re: SPAIN: Conference at Val's House ;-)
>>>
>>>
>>> SignWriting List
>>> March 26, 2002
>>>
>>> Dear SW List Members:
>>> Here is a summary of the Parkhurst's work, which I have excerpted
>>> from a newsletter they gave me, written in March, 2002:
>>>
>>> ---------
>>>
>>> SUMMARY (mostly in the Parkhurst's own words):
>>> We have lived in Spain now for more than seven years. During the
>>> first two years, we surveyed the sign language (SL) situation. We
>>> found that there are two main sign languages in Spain that are unique
>>> from any other SL in the world. Our main focus for the past five
>>> years has been SignWriting. Our goal was first to see if the Deaf
>>> Community was interested in reading and writing their langauge. Once
>>> they expressed the interest, our next goal was to make the writing
>>> system available to anyone in the Spanish Deaf Community who wanted
>>> it. That meant developing a literacy program and sufficient
>>> literature for them to read.
>>>
>>> We developed a literacy program with a 228-page manual, teacher
>>> training materials, video and a few other projects. More than 300
>>> people have learned SignWriting in Spain, and now we have turned over
>>> most of the responsibility of distribution and publicity to a Deaf
>>> organization. We hope that even more people will learn SignWriting on
>>> their own.
>>>
>>> We also have a small base of literature consisting of 24 issues of a
>>> semi-monthly magazine (written in SignWriting in Spanish Sign
>>> Language), distributed in Spain to the magazine subscribers.
>>>
>>> We have written, illustrated and published the first mystery novel
>>> ever written in SignWriting. It is a 142-page paperback-bound novel
>>> written completely in Spanish Sign Language (with no spoken language
>>> in the entire book). It is the retelling (in Spanish Sign Language)
>>> of the mystery novel "The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins, written in
>>> 1868. Steve did his own illustrations.
>>>
>>> Altogether, we have produced more than 475 pages of reading materials
>>> in SignWriting (not counting the lessons books). As far as we know,
>>> that is the most published literature in written form in any sign
>>> language in the world!
>>>
>>>
>>> Linguistics
>>> We have published two issues of a linguistic journal and our survey
>>> report in Spanish. Steve has also published several other linguistic
>>> articles here in Spain and in the US, as well as giving presentations
>>> at a number of linguistic conferences. One of them was in Alicante
>>> (on the southern coast of Spain). Steve presented a study about
>>> syllable structure in Spanish Sign Language that he has been working
>>> on (did you know that sign languages have syllables?)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> From June to August, 2002, we will be a part of a team, teaching at
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> the University of North Dakota, in the Summer Institute of
>>> Linguistics (SIL)'s first sign language linguistics course set. Since
>>> these are new courses, we will be spending a good portion of April
>>> and May preparing the materials for parts of the course. SignWriting
>>> will be included as a part of one of the courses, on orthographies.
>>> There are urgent translation needs among the Deaf communities around
>>> the world. We hope that this SIL course will help train a few new
>>> workers!
>>>
>>> -------------
>>>
>>>
>>> Val again:
>>> Many thanks, Steve and Dianne, for the great summary!
>>>
>>> SW List members - You should see their mystery novel in SignWriting!
>>> ....It is amazing and I will try to give you a picture of it soon -
>>>
>>> --
>>> Val ;-)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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