dance writing and sign language writing

Antônio Carlos da Rocha Costa rocha at ATLAS.UCPEL.TCHE.BR
Thu Sep 15 14:36:20 UTC 2005


Valerie,

   Ok, I'll contact the french people. They had a series of dialog 
videos that were used for preparation of the papers of the TALS 2005 
workshop, but I think that they are not available anymore, due to 
privacy issues.

   Anyway, I'll try to reach them.

   All the best,

   Antônio Carlos


Valerie Sutton wrote:

> SignWriting List
> September 15, 2005
> 
> Hello Antonio Carlos, Ingvild, and everyone interested in  transcribing 
> a video of dialogues!
> 
> Thank you for the eloquently written description below. Of course  there 
> is a difference between dancers and the way DanceWriting is  used, and 
> signers and the way SignWriting is used.
> 
> Writing dialogues in signed languages between multiple people can be  
> written, believe me, not as DanceWriting or gesture writing, but as a  
> way to write the language with meaning and simplicity.
> 
> There is just one thing I need in November...a small video to  
> transcribe. I hope the people in France who are working on dialogues  
> will give me a video clip so we can write this together in front of  
> everyone on the SignWriting List. Ingvild has already suggested a  
> Norwegian videoclip...Thank you for that...Either will do..Once we  get 
> a video to transcribe, then we can pin down exactly what people  feel 
> needs to be written, and then we can come to a common  understanding of 
> how that is written in SignWriting, and then it  becomes a standard for 
> others to follow if they wish...I think the  members of the List are 
> good team members who can give us good  feedback. I am ready to start 
> November 1st.
> 
> Can you ask the people whom you are referring to, Antonio Carlos, to  
> participate is this transcribing of dialogues in November?
> 
> Dialogues can and will be written, as language, and not just gesture.  
> That isn't even a question. Talking about it doesn't mean too much,  
> since writing from video is the only way we can solve the issue..So I  
> hope you can tell them about my suggestion...
> 
> Yes of course work can be ongoing, but if people do not ask me what  has 
> been done in the past, and how I personally would write it now,  and 
> then they judge SignWriting on their lack of knowledge as to how  it 
> would be done, that doesn't make sense either...So if November is  not a 
> good time, we can schedule another time in 2006, but there is  no reason 
> not to use my time to answer the questions...which are  definitely 
> solvable...
> 
> Val ;-)
> 
> --------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Sep 15, 2005, at 5:21 AM, Antônio Carlos da Rocha Costa wrote:
> 
>> Valerie and all,
>>
>>   The conversation in the list about writing dialogs made me think  
>> about a possible deep difference between the problems of writing  
>> dance and writing sign language.
>>
>>   The point is that usually, language refers to things that are  
>> external to the speaker/signer, while dance usually doesn't refer  to 
>> things that are external to the dancer.
>>
>>   More precisely, usually writing language requires that one  
>> represents things in an explicit way (cf. the use of pictures and  
>> formulas in technical texts that are demanded to be very precise),  
>> while writing dance seems to have no such strict requirements.
>>
>>   Maybe mimics is in an intermediate situation. Possibly, writing  
>> joint mimics by several people would require the explicit  
>> representation of external objects.
>>
>>   This feature of language (reference) makes the difference between  
>> language and pure gestures.
>>
>>   If this is true, I conclude that having a definite set of symbols  
>> and rules for representing referenced objects in SignWriting,  
>> specially for use in the writing of dialogs, is an extremely  
>> important feature that has to be written down so people can start  
>> using it.
>>
>>   Of course, this need has to be balanced with the other needs of  the 
>> SignWriting community, so the work can be going on all around  every 
>> place. I'm just saying that in some time in the (near)  future, that 
>> problem has to be tackled.
>>
>>   All the best,
>>
>>   Antônio Carlos
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Antônio Carlos da Rocha Costa
>> Escola de Informática - UCPel
>>
>>
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Antônio Carlos da Rocha Costa
Escola de Informática - UCPel



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