Evolution to Simplified SignWriting

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
August 10, 2013

On Aug 10, 2013, at 4:10 PM, Eduardo Trápani <etrapani at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> First of all, I'm just a beginner.  I find this "simplification" a bit confusing, I wouldn't know how to do the sign on the right if I had read it alone. I mean, is it *that* obvious for everybody that the hands are so close that they touch?

Hi Eduardo and Madson -

Eduardo, I can understand your confusion. Let me tell you the story as I know it. We have a writing guideline called "Write the Position of Contact". In other words, we are trying to write signs like they look in real life, as much as possible….Sometimes it is hard to write something exactly as it looks, but most of the time, hands can be placed together and it feels more like the real signs…So the intention is to show the two hands contacting each other… if that is what the sign requires.

So regarding this…. see the attached diagrams. Number 1 does not follow the Position of Contact, because the hands are far apart from each other, and the Touch Star comes between the two hands, so I asked Madson to try to write the hands closer to each other to make it look like real life more... Madson wrote version 2 below, so I asked Adam to ask Madson if we could write the hands even closer to each other, like my version 3, but if I understand it correctly Madson explained that the sign can actually be signed without contact too…and so Madson felt that Number 2 was more accurate showing the hands close but not necessarily touching…

Oftentimes signers sign quickly and they do not always touch in certain signs, and the signs are still understood...

Madson, I appreciate it very much that you went to so much effort - If I have misunderstood anything in my explanation above, you are welcome to correct me - Your new logo is an improvement - it looks nice!


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