Surface Symbols (previous thread: Position Symbols)

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
April 3, 2012

Hello Madson, Raquel, Adam, Charles and everyone -

Thank you for learning the Surface Symbols as they were designed, Madson and Raquel. It is a pleasure to work with such fine young writers, and your photos are so clear and easy to see. I look forward to reading more of your writing.

Regarding the term "Position Symbols"…Those are other symbols in the general Sutton Movement Writing system used as far back as 1973, in my first textbook on DanceWriting. There are Position Symbols giving detailed information about the upper body and lower body. They are rarely used in SignWriting. Back in 1979, we did use Position Symbols briefly, at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) in Rochester, New York, for research on depth and writing depth accurately, in SignWriting. And they are still in the Movement Writing Alphabet, but they were dropped from the International SignWriting Alphabet (ISWA 2010), because no one uses them…They are not Surface Symbols.

We do use Surface Symbols in SignWriting for occasional needs…

So I have changed the subject of this thread to Surface Symbols.

Your sign for SYMBOL in LIBRAS is close to our sign in ASL. Maybe a little different, but similar. And some people do the sign with the palm facing straight out, but others do the palm turned to the side, so you could try to write a variation of the sign that is easier to read. Charles made a good point about that - sometimes just a slight variation that is still correct, can help reading and writing.

So there are two things I want to share with you…

1. How would I write the movement without Surface Symbols?
2. How would I write the movement with Surface Symbols?

Those answers are coming next message -

Val ;-)

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On Apr 3, 2012, at 1:09 PM, Madson Barreto wrote:

> Hello Valerie, Adam and everyone,
> 
> Thank you for your answers!
> 
> Wow! We were surprised!
> Unlearn and learn again is not easy ...
> 
> Understood, most of the signs need not surface symbols.
> Valerie, is true. There are other symbols already called "position symbols" ...
> 
> See this photo and writing. This sign is for "symbol" (symbol) in Libras.
> We photographed start position/ end position in the front view and side view, if there is doubt in reading. The sign is in spelling Expressive Viewpoint.
> 
> The writing is correct? The surface symbol is used correctly?
> 
> I saved this sign in Brazilian SignPuddle.
> 
> 
> Madson and Raquel Barreto

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