Workshop on phonetic notation of SLs

Wed May 21 21:39:03 UTC 2008

SignWriting List
May 21, 2008

Some of my thoughts on this...

I don't believe that Gallaudet backs any one writing system...The  
University has many different research labs and courses on campus. At  
the same time that Robert Johnson and Scott Liddell developed their  
Movement Hold system in the 1980s, Dr. Stokoe had his own lab on the  
Gallaudet campus too, using his Stokoe notation...so Gallaudet housed  
both systems side by side on the same campus...at the same time that  
we presented a SignWriting workshop there in 1984...so Gallaudet  
University generally gives many ideas related to deafness and signed  
languages, a chance for expression, and in that sense, it is a  
wonderful place!

For years there was a lab for Cued Speech on Gallaudet Campus, at the  
same time that they also housed labs for SEE Signing and ASL...so even  
signing systems and languages are side by side on campus too...and it  
doesn't mean that the University "backs" any one system...they just  
provide the place for all of us to share with each other...a major  
service for mankind.

Thank you for your write up, Charles, below. Maybe you should inform  
the people who are behind SLIPA about SignWriting...they may not  
realize what you mentioned below...smile...

Typing SignWriting with a keyboard can still be done in SignWriter DOS  
and Java, which is still downloaded and used on old computers, plus  
typing will make a comeback in the future with modern software too, in  
time...we are just overwhelmed with work, that's all...meanwhile, some  
people enjoy "drag and drop" with a mouse and are learning a lot from  
that approach as well...I personally like both methods, but in some  
ways I prefer the mouse "drag and drop" system...because some people  
find it easier and get started using SignWriting faster...

And I am happy about the new date for the SignWriting conference for  
October 2009...That is terrific. Many thanks for setting all this up -

Val ;-)

-----------

On May 21, 2008, at 1:54 PM, Charles Butler wrote:

> Going to the man's own work I find this illuminating note:
>
> A: Hopefully SLIPA can be modified to handle any feature of any  
> signed language. This doesn't mean that it can currently handle  
> every feature. Why? To put it bluntly, my knowledge of signed  
> languages is limited. I know not enough ASL, and only what I've read  
> from books or learned first-hand from Dr. Perlmutter. Unlike with  
> spoken languages, you can't simply go to a community college and  
> learn BSL, or SLN, or TSL, or JSL, or SSL. I don't even know if you  
> could do this at Gallaudet University. (No, I see that you can't:  
> "Although the department does not offer formal instruction in  
> foreign sign, it does introduce students to selected elements of  
> foreign sign language." Go here for their page on foreign language  
> instruction, from which the preceding quote was extracted.) Further,  
> cross-linguistic studies of the sign languages of the world are all  
> but absent from the field of linguistics.
>
> Only SignWriting can truly be used "easily" to compare movement to  
> movement sign for sign between signed languages.  Some of the finer  
> comparisons that, for example, appeared at the Theoretical Issues in  
> Sign Language Research conference would have been MUCH more easy to  
> understand had they been written in SignWriting.  The comparisons  
> would have been instant, not going on for pages.
>
> Does a sign repeat the handshape, or the articulation, or the same  
> shape over several places.  SignWriting does this quickly and  
> easily.  Changing articulation points in the SLIPA system is the  
> most complex I've imagined, and I honestly feel that Gallaudet has  
> deliberately stuck itself into a linear landscape with language  
> because they have never thought of actually programming a writing  
> system in two dimensions.  Only SignWriting does that, and now with  
> the Wikipedia we may be able to show people communicating back and  
> forth in their own signed languages.
>
> The interface to the system is still mouse-based, and I wish it were  
> keyboarded, because then one would begin to memorize where things  
> were and could type as fast as one could sign.
>
> Charles
>
> Valerie Sutton <sutton at signwriting.org> wrote:
> SignWriting List
> May 21, 2008
>
> Hello Ingvild!
> Thanks for this message....This event mentioned below is related to  
> the Scott Liddell and Robert Johnson system from the 1980's...it is  
> a linguistically-based notation system ...nothing like SignWriting  
> and could not be used for writing Sign Language Literature..it is  
> not a true writing system for daily use...I met the inventors years  
> ago....when I taught a workshop on SignWriting at Gallaudet  
> University in 1984, I had lunch with Scott Lilddell and Bob  
> Johnson...they teach linguistics at the Linguistics dept at  
> Gallaudet ...at least they did at the time...and it is not like the  
> Stokoe system either...a different system...It does not have the  
> same purpose as SignWriting, but it would be fun to have some  
> SignWriting participants at their meeting -
>
> For those new on our List, SignWriting is used as a linguistic  
> notation system too, but it was developed mostly for everyday use as  
> a real daily writing system for signers...so we can write stories  
> and books in written signed languages, written by the users of the  
> languages, and not just for research or specific linguistic  
> projects...SignWriting incorporates writing facial expressions and  
> body movement and more important features that make it possible to  
> write storytelling and write directly in the movements of signed  
> languages...
>
> Thanks for the posting, Ingvild!
>
> Val ;-)
>
> ----------
>
>
>
>
>
> On May 21, 2008, at 12:36 PM, Ingvild Roald wrote:
>
>>  If anyone in Europe, or elsewhere, who knows SignWriting and are  
>> into sign lingustics would attend, I think that would be useful.  
>> The topics are certainly of interest, the notation system used I  
>> don't know about ... Seems as if Someone at Gallaudet are  
>> reinventing the weel.
>>
>> Ingvild, Norway (not myself well enough to attend, otherwise I would)
>>
>>
>>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> We are pleased to inform you that Johnson's seminar in Paris-11 from
>> June 9 to 12 will be entirely accessible in British Sign Language.
>>
>> For more information go to:
>>    http://perso.limsi.fr/filhol/bob-seminar
>>
>> See you there maybe.
>> Best regards,
>> Michael Filhol.
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>>
>>
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>
>
>
>
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Val ;-)

Valerie Sutton
Sutton at SignWriting.org

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