AW: [sw-l] Deaf opposition to SW

[Bill Reese]

Hi Stefan,

Let me illustrate.  Last Christmas, I enjoyed a few signed Christmas 
songs that were so beautiful they evoked a sense of angels singing glory 
to God.  I sat spellbound by the performance.  There is just no way to 
write the full expression given to the songs - from the emphasized 
movements, to the looks on the signer's face, the humble inclination of 
the head, the closed eyes in deference to God.

While the individual signs of a song can be conveyed in SignWriting, it 
takes the artistic rendering of the signs to give the song full 
expression.  

The born-Deaf's view of this separation of the artistic expression was 
the point made by Kimberley Shaw when she said : "... it would be an 
*entirely* new concept to born-Deaf signers,and rather disconcerting!"

Bill


Stefan Wöhrmann wrote:

> Hi Bill,
>
>  
>
> can you explain ?????
>
>  
>
> Movement writing at its best is able to provide a document that is 
> tremendously vivid and visual - look at it, close your eyes and 
> imagine the flow of movement the experienced scribe offered -
>
>  
>
> smile -
>
>  
>
> Stefan ;-)
>
>  
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Von: owner-sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu 
> [mailto:owner-sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu] Im Auftrag von Bill Reese
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 20. Juli 2005 14:30
> An: sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
> Betreff: Re: [sw-l] Deaf opposition to SW
>
>  
>
> It may be because a written system can never catch all the nuances of 
> a language.  For instance, a signed song can be beautiful in it's 
> expression but that beauty is lost when writing it down.  It's the 
> artistic sense of a language that is so difficult to capture.
>
> Bill
>
>
> Kimberley A. Shaw wrote:
>
>Hello all:
>
>this makes me think of an e-mail encounter I had with somebody Deaf the
>
>other day, who felt that SignWriting is a "dis-service" to the signing
>
>Deaf community ... and does not do justice to such a beautifully visual
>
>method of expression! (???!!)
>
>I am still trying to figure it out; are people afraid that if Sign gets
>
>written down, that it will be taken over by the hearing world? 
>
>Puzzled HoH in Boston,
>
>Kim
>
> 
>
>sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu <mailto:sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu> on Wednesday, July 20, 2005 at 12:01 AM
>
>-0500 wrote:
>
>  
>
>>I'm sad to see that it was a few Deaf grads from Gallaudet who 
>>
>>expressed opposition to SW.  Hopefully the deaf community in Malaysia 
>>
>>will have the opportunity to evaluate SW for themselves and not let a 
>>
>>few make a decision for the whole.  The challenge for us (in any 
>>
>>community) is finding a way to help the majority have a chance to 
>>
>>experience SW for themselves and not allow a few to block their access. 
>>
>> I have seen some of that in my own sharing about SW. This is where it 
>>
>>is very important for those of us who are deaf to take the 
>>
>>responsibility to explain why we like it.  That makes a difference.
>>
>> 
>>
>>Just an observation,
>>
>> 
>>
>>Stuart
>>
>>    
>>
> 
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>
>  
>
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