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

[Stuart Thiessen]

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 ;-)
>
>
>