writing signlanguage - written and 'spoken' language

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
September 3, 2005

Very interesting message, Ingvild!

Writing email with the SignMail program, in SignWriting, has not  
started yet, for you in Norway, and I know it will take time...but  
when you do start doing that, you will find that email in SignWriting  
has its own unique feeling to it too - SignWriting Email may develop  
its own writing conventions...So far, we have been able to quote each  
other, and then make comments, just like spoken language  
mail...amazing! And we can switch back and forth between different  
countries because we are using glosses...which is rather fun...for me  
to send email with German signs is really fun!!

Val ;-)

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On Sep 3, 2005, at 12:05 PM, Ingvild Roald wrote:

> As a hearing person, I know that I have to change my language when  
> I cannot see the person I am talking to. In ordinary conversation,  
> many of the 'rules' of the language are broken - this does not  
> matter, because most of the message is carried by non-verbal  
> signals: stress and loudnessof the voice, moving and position of  
> the body (yes, hearing people do use a lot of the same ways as deaf  
> people do), etc. If it is dark, if I move into another room, if I  
> speak on the phone - I have to be more careful about how I say  
> things to be sure to be understood. When I write, I also change my  
> language: if I write to a close friend or family, it is not very  
> different from the language in the telephone, but it still has to  
> follow more rules. If I write to someone I do not know that well,  
> or if it is a more official letter, I have to be more careful  
> again. - The written language has to be 'stiffer' than the spoken  
> or signed language, because we do not have easy access to all the  
> non-verbal cues.  This may be less so for signed languages than for  
> spoken ones, because in SignWriting we do have the possibility to  
> write the face and the body and ... But once we start writing  
> 'official' letters etc., we will meet this problem.
>
> E-mails are considered very unofficial, so the language used in e- 
> mails does often not follow the strict rules of the language - and  
> they are often full of spelling mistakes, too.
>
> Of course, in the subtitles of a film, you can get some of the non- 
> verbal cues. Also, the subtitles are not fully what is said, they  
> are shortened to fit with the pace of the speech and the available  
> space. So the subtitles are not good examples of written language -  
> they are a way to give the most, but not all, to those who do ot  
> understand the spoken language of the film (in Norway, most of the  
> film are foreign, and subtitled, so I know, because I can  
> understand some of the spoken languages)
>
> Ingvild
>
>
>
>
>
>
>> From: Honza <honza at ruce.cz>
>> Reply-To: sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
>> Subject: Re: [sw-l] writing signlanguage
>> Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 23:54:04 +0200
>>
>> sorry at first I didn't udnerstand your message as it is. I  
>> imagine something else.
>> anyway I don't know how to write it down.
>>
>> about written and spoken languages - there I don't see any  
>> differences. For example subtitles - it is the same as on the screen.
>>
>> Honza
>>
>> Lucyna Dlugolecka wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Sign languages are still young languages (like kreols, ha!), so  
>>> don't care about the literary style now ;-).
>>>
>>> Lucy
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Honza" <honza at ruce.cz>
>>> To: <sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu>
>>> Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 11:45 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [sw-l] writing signlanguage
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Lucyna,
>>>>
>>>> yes, sure I know as you know, but it is not easy to write almost  
>>>> all the signs in that way I wrote about.
>>>>
>>>> Honza
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
>