Writing scratching and drumming fingers, and a sandbank for SignWriting

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
May 11, 2008

Carl Jones from the UK wrote:
> First, congratulations on the SignWriting Image Server.  It's  
> looking awesome. :-)


Thank you, Carl...I am sure that Steve will be glad to know you feel  
that way... I agree. Steve did an awesome job!



> I was wondering.  In BSL, or at least in my dialect, the sign for  
> 'poor' is scratching your elbow.  How would you write this? How do  
> you write that something has contact with the fingernails, not the  
> fingers?

We have a similar sign for POOR in American Sign Language...The  
fingers brush twice at the elbow. See two ways of writing that ASL  
sign here:


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Although in the general Sutton Movement Writing system, we can  
differentiate between fingertips and fingerpads, we have never written  
the fingernail...I personally cut my fingernails down to the bone, so  
that I have no fingernails, and I often wear gloves when I sign for  
medical reasons, yet I can still sign...so I am sure that "fingertip"  
is enough information...and whether it is the nail or not, would not  
change the meaning of the sign...

In the UK, I know that you pronounce the word "schedule" differently  
than we do here in the US, but our two countries still spell (write)  
the word "schedule" with the same or similar spellings, even though we  
pronounce the same word differently, so we do not write with enormous  
detail for everyday use in English either...what matters is...is there  
another sign in BSL that has a different meaning, if the person had  
fingernails or not? I doubt that ;-)

So fingertips is enough information, rather than fingernail!


>
> The BSL sign for 'when' involves drumming your fingers against your  
> face-from pinkie to index.  How on earth would you write that?

We definitely can write that! No problem...see attached diagram here:

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> Finally, I was wondering if it's possible to make a 'sandbank' for  
> SignWriting, so you can practise signing and don't have to save it?


What is a sandbank? Do you mean a SignBank?

What do you mean by "don't have to save it"?...smile

We do have a program called "SignBank"...

SignBank
http://www.SignBank.org

Val ;-)
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