General Arrowhead...Both hands move on same path...

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
February 14, 2007

K.J. Boal wrote:
> I agree with you on the sign for endure as well; though I think I  
> would prefer a single open-headed arrow for this sign; attached is  
> how I would write it. . . Val, would it be wrong to write it this  
> way?  As I understand it, the open-headed arrow means "both hands  
> move as one unit"; I kind of take that to mean that if the hands  
> (or fingers or thumbs) aren't touching, I should use two arrows but  
> if there is contact, I can use the one arrow.  Am I wrong?  Does  
> the contact have to include more of the hand than just the tips of  
> the thumbs?

Yes. That is wrong, if you want to follow the rules! But in the  
Lessons in SignWriting Textbook, I only explained a small example  
from that rule, without explaining it in depth, and so there was no  
way you could know this. We have discussed this at length on the List  
years ago, but you were not on the List at that time...

Attached is the part of the rule that is explained in the Lessons in  
SignWriting textbook. It states that when the two hands are  
contacting and moving together while contacting, the two hands are  
like one unit, and the left and right arrowheads blend to become a  
General Arrowhead. The General Arrowhead really represents "the same  
movement path", and actually has nothing to do with contact. But  
since all those signs that contact like this, take the General  
Arrowhead, I felt this was enough information for beginners to deal  
with. I now feel we need an Advanced Lessons in SignWriting Textbook,  
that will explain the entire rule in true detail, and I think it will  
be fascinating for people to think about movement paths and how they  
relate to each other...The contact in the example attached is with  
the entire hands contacting each other...not just fingertips...when  
fingertips touch, the hands can still paint separate movement  
paths...continued next message...



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