Handshape question, "Stand" and "Look"

[Charles Butler]

My immediate response is to use the STRAIGHT fingers.  Not because they are exact, but precisely because they are  NOT. 

The sound "A" in English has a wide variety of exact sounds, but in context we have "father", "at" and "hammer", all of which are slightly different but not enough to make a difference.

The straight fingers are quick, easy, and recognizable.  If we start putting "slightly bent" fingers everywhere we will start getting so stuck on "exact" that we lose usefulness for exactitude.

We have the IPA for exact pronunciation, we have the IMWA for writing signs, but we don't HAVE to be absolutely precise to be understood.

I'd keep the straight fingers in teaching and use walk, look, see, and dance as all the same handshape, even though the fingers have a slight bent.

Charles Butler


Valerie Sutton <signwriting at mac.com> wrote: SignWriting List
November 30, 2008

Hello Everyone and Natasha!
It is a good thing I receive both the Digest and the normal mail  
version of the SignWriting List messages, or I would never have seen  
this message from Natasha, pasted below. It only came into the Digest  
for me, but did not come to my email box, so I guess the SW List  
software, that manages all the messages, is not working perfectly...as  
you know, the SW List software is managed at Valencia Community  
College in Florida, and I have no control over how it is setup...But I  
will write to their technicians to see if we can figure it  
out...anyway...thank you, Natasha, for your message below, and I will  
be happy to answer it shortly...and I hope others will also answer  
it...I love the way we all chime in and give our feedback to each  
other...it is a wonderful experience, isn't it, to share like this...

Val ;-)

-------


> From: "Natasha Escalada-Westland" 
> Date: November 30, 2008 7:33:52 AM PST
> To: "SignWriting Listserve" 
> Subject: [sw-l] Handshape question, "Stand" and "Look"
> Reply-To: "SignWriting List" 
>
>
> Greetings SW colleagues,
>
> I am developing a lesson on teaching classifers and I am debating  
> which handshapes to use in my presentation.  The ASL signpuddle  
> dictionary cites:
>
>
>    and      as the handshapes for "stand" and "look-at" respectively.
>
> As I look at myself signing these, and as I think of using them as  
> classifiers to describe types or ways of standing or looking-at, I  
> see the following actual handshapes used:
>
>
>   and
>
> The "Lessons in SignWriting Web Gallery" explanation of Handshape  
> group 2 doesn't include the above handsapes, although I do  
> understand them to mean index and middle fingers bent slightly at  
> the proximal knuckle.
>
> First question...  Do the signs in the ASL SignPuddle need to be  
> updated as written for these concepts?  To keep the fingers straight  
> requires unnatural lifting of the shoulder and elbow.
>
> Second question... is there an updated lesson book or handshape list  
> that includes the second set of handshapes somwhere on the  
> SignWriting website?
>
> Thank you!
>
> Natasha Escalada-Westland, M.Ed. (D/HH), Macromedia Cert.
> www.westlandasl.com



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