Request for Research Data

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
April 15, 2006

Steve Slevinski wrote:
> I disagree that the ASL sign for "deaf" is simple to write.  There  
> are several varying standards to use when writing it and there are  
> issues with sorting....

Hello Steve, Stuart and everyone!
This is a very important conversation...and I can explain what is  
happening here...

Steve, you are right that if you look at our messy writings and  
experimentations with spellings in SignPuddle, and if as a  
programmer, you are working with creating a computer program that  
sorts by SignSymbolSequence (SSS) and establishes SignSpelling  
Sequences, and the spelling you are trying to sort is a mess and  
needs to be cleaned - well that is not easy, that is for sure...from  
a programming point of view!

But nonetheless, Stuart is right in another way...for all of the  
inconsistencies in our not-so-perfect spellings of that sign, most  
people read that sign immediately with little or no training...so the  
difference here is to define what we mean by EASY and USER...are they  
reading quickly, are they writing it themselves, or are they  
programming signspellings...all those users would look at that sign  
quite differently

Stuart, I assume that for your study we need to see it through YOUR  
eyes...a skilled signwriter and a skilled signer who is Deaf or  
perhaps others who are in contact with Deaf people and really are  
skilled signers...is that right?

Let me go into SignPuddle right now, and I will clean up those  
spellings of Deaf and then I will post them to the List and explain  
the different ways we can correctly write that sign within the  
general rules of SignWriting...you will find that it can be a little  
cleaner...although SignSpellings are not completely standardized yet,  
there are certain choices...

Thanks to you both for your great messages!


Val ;-)


Valerie Sutton
Sutton at SignWriting.org

1. SignWriting
Read & Write Sign Languages
http://www.SignWriting.org

2. SignBank
Create Sign Language Databases
http://www.SignBank.org

3. SignPuddle
Create Sign Language Dictionaries
http://www.SignPuddle.org

4. SignText
Create Sign Language Documents
http://www.SignBank.org/signpuddle/signtext

5. DanceWriting
Read & Write Dance Movement
http://www.DanceWriting.org

6. MovementWriting
Read & Write All Body Movement
http://www.MovementWriting.org

SignWriting Literacy Project
The DAC, Deaf Action Committee
Center For Sutton Movement Writing
an educational nonprofit organization
P.O. Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038, USA
tel 858-456-0098   fax 858-456-0020
D-Link Videophone: 66.27.57.178


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