ISWA Thumb Standardization?

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
November 17, 2007

Dear SW List members -

This coming week is a holiday week here in the US...we celebrate  
Thanksgiving Day, on November 22nd. It is a big feast where we all  
eat way too much....but say "thank you" for all our blessings...

And truly, I feel blessed to have so many friends to work with, on  
the SignWriting List...so a big THANK YOU to all of you ;-)

So I am going to take the next week to try to finish the handshapes  
in the ISWA...but I have one question for you...

When fingers or thumbs are at an angle, they are written with a  
diagonal line that matches the way it looks in real life... (see  
attached)

And if the thumb is stretched very hard to the side, it is oftentimes  
written with a straight line to the side...

People vary with their styles of signing, and also some hands cannot  
stretch their thumbs completely side anyway...

Over the years, the symbols that have a thumb to the side have been  
inconsistent..sometimes the line is at an angle showing a more  
relaxed thumb to the side, and other times we write it straight side,  
like in the L hand...this never bothered me personally. But it has  
bothered some other people and they have told me...

When the thumb is touching another finger, it has to be at an angle  
to reach that other finger, but when the thumb is totally by itself  
to the side, it could be either straight or at an angle and it will  
be read ok...

So my question is...do you want me to make all the thumbs to the side  
like the L Handshape? That would mean that the 3 Handshape would have  
a straight line to the side rather than the relaxed angle it has  
right now...

I don't care myself, and if we leave it as it is, it is correct and  
readable I feel...

On the other hand, it can't hurt to have them consistent with the L  
handshape...

If we decide to make this change to be consistent, it may take me  
some time to go in and change all the handshapes with the relaxed  
thumbs, but at least if you can tell me your opinions now, I will  
know what kind of work is before me ;-)

Look at this chart...what is your opinion? Should the 3 Hand have a  
thumb line like the L hand?

Val ;-)


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