AW: [sw-l] Symbol consistancy?

[Stefan Wöhrmann]

Ha - Valerie - how many messages, ideas and thoughts did we already discuss
about this problem - smile!!

Stefan ;-)) 

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: owner-sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
[mailto:owner-sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu] Im Auftrag von Valerie Sutton
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 23. August 2006 16:16
An: List SignWriting
Betreff: Re: [sw-l] Symbol consistancy?

SignWriting List
August 23, 2006

On Aug 22, 2006, at 9:41 PM, Adam Frost wrote:
> I think I was a little vague with words because I am talking about  
> the next level of order. Since I am now at a desktop computer, I  
> can sceen copy what I meant. This screen shot from SignText first  
> shows the set of symbols that I was refering to, and the second is  
> the base symbol that I was compareing. Notice that the third and  
> sixth columns are ordered differently.

Hello Adam and Everyone -
No, it is not inconsistent...it is simply a choice. Did you know that  
there are actually 10 palm facings? But we only have 6 in the  
IMWA...so if we had every palm facing in the IMWA the grid would be  
10 grid-squares across rather than 6, and you would see that the one  
you are talking about would be there...We already have around 30,000  
symbols in the IMWA and if we were to extend that to 10 palm facings,  
it would be so huge that computer programmers would have a lot of  
trouble storing all the symbols ...so I had to choose which of the 10  
palm facings are used more...and I made a decision..but when you  
write by hand, you can write everything you need, plus you can still  
find the symbol you need in the 6 palm facings...and simply flop it  
to get what you want...Stefan and I talked about these 10 palm  
facings for about 6 months a few years ago, on the List, and it was  
never solved because we cannot add 10 palm facings to the IMWA...it  
would hurt our software development too much and create other  
inconsistencies that are just horrible...

So there are two groups of hands in the way they work in the  
IMWA...there are the square-based handshapes that have the finger on  
the side that you are talking about, and then there are the Angle- 
based and C-based handshapes...and the Angles and C shapes have what  
you are calling an inconsistency...but it is simply a choice on my  
part as to which was the worse problem...Take a look at the plain C  
handshape attached...all I did was add an index finger to the shape.  
But you can flop it if you wish to get the other 10 palm facings...

Writing by hand was wonderful! I am not able to change thousands of  
symbols now, Adam, no matter how much the inconsistency may bother  
you, because if I changed it, it would change thousands of other  
symbols in the IMWA and then I would be overwhelmed and unable to do  
anything...

So that is the way it is...

But it is good you noticed this..It shows you are using SignWriting  
in depth! Everyone notices this issue of lacking some of the 10 palm  
facings sooner or later!!

Val ;-)