[sw-l] Underlining proper names in vertical columns...

[Bill Reese]

Eh... Stuart ... Now I'm thinking of alternatives.

In considering that these would need to be handwritten as well, I threw
out an idea to make the whole sign bold as a way of showing proper
nouns.  The line really seems to be the fastest and easiest symbol.
Building upon that, variations of the line may work.  Could it be that
the line could be dashed?  Or perhaps a small curlicue could be put at
the end?  Your wavy line suggestion sounds good too.



I think brackets or parenthesis should be reserved for what they are
usually used for.

The sign language specific method of indicating the noun and then
fingerspelling it seems to be the language specific way of indicationg
the noun but what about sign languages that don't support that concept?

Bill


Stuart Thiessen wrote:

> I agree that some kind of indication would be helpful.  The side
> underline looks like a good solution to me but if it conflicts with
> another symbol, that wouldn't be good. I realize the underlining works
> well for Stefan and James and they will not want to change their
> system (which is fine). But if we had to make a formal symbol that
> wouldn't conflict with other symbols .... Hmmm .... here are some
> brainstorms ... no one has to like any of them ;)
>
> - short wavy vertical line (like what word processors use for
> misspellings)?
> - some kind of small symbol to be used like tension or fast to show
> this kind of thing? .... maybe like a circle with a < or > inside? It
> could be beside, on top, or below the sign.
> - Use the quote marks for name indication and not as much for
> quotations or use an "underlined" quote mark for names?
> - Employ one of the other symbols for quotes from other language
> writing systems?
>
> A few thoughts.  Just thought I would share some brainstorms.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Stuart
>
> On Jun 3, 2005, at 9:06, Valerie Sutton wrote:
>
>> SignWriting List
>> June 3, 2005
>>
>> James Shepard-Kegl, Esq. wrote:
>>
>>> They do if there is likely to be some confusion.   For example, in 1492
>>> Columbus sailed the ocean blue --- in the Santa Maria, the Nina and the
>>> Pinta.  Now, to an English speaker, there's no confusion.  To a
>>> Spaniard,
>>> "nina" means "girl" and "pinta" means "spot", so the words have to be
>>> capitalized to denote names of ships.  In Nicaraguan Sign, "Santa
>>> Maria"
>>> already is a specific sign ("for the Virgin Mary"), but "nina" gets
>>> signed
>>> as "girl" and "pinta" gets signed as "spot", so, indeed, there must
>>> be a way
>>> to signify proper nouns to avoid confusion.  Obviously, color-coding
>>> won't
>>> work on a whiteboard, either.
>>
>>
>> Hello James and Stefan -
>> Thank you for this excellent explanation.
>>
>> You have both convinced me now, that we need a new punctuation symbol
>> that is equivalent to a "capital letter" in spoken languages...And
>> this new Punctuation Symbol will make it possible to mark proper
>> names or anything else you wish to capitalize...perhaps even the
>> beginning sign in a sentence?...
>>
>> Color is out. You are right. A daily writing system cannot be
>> dependent on color pens....
>>
>> And underlining for horizontal writing is working for you, and that
>> is great...Your students already know it, so no need to change
>> anything! I will try to document this in our Lessons in SignWriting
>> textbook in time...
>>
>> When it comes to changing all of my vertical documents...that is a
>> huge job and the side-underline conflicts with another symbol so I am
>> not sure yet what to do with the vertical columns...
>>
>> But in time we will find a solution!
>>
>> Val ;-)
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
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