[Sw-l] Koko's Gorilla Sign Language: a variation of ASL

Sun Aug 29 06:04:06 UTC 2021

Hello everyone, and Valerie!

Finally, the image of Koko's SignWriting-written statement to the 2015
Paris Climate Conference has been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons and
inserted in the Wikipedia article "Koko (gorilla)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_(gorilla)>" under the section
"Characteristics: Use of language". Now you can explore the SW figure
attached in that article. Hope it will be helpful for both Koko and
SignWriting as Val said!
[image: image.png]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Koko_as_the_Voice_of_Nature%22_written_in_Sutton_SignWriting.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_(gorilla)

*Apes together, strong!*,
[image: sign (14).png]
Sutthikhun (Ae)

On Thu, 26 Aug 2021 at 04:21, Valerie Sutton <sutton at signwriting.org> wrote:

> SignWriting List
> August 25, 2021
>
> Hello SignWriting List members, and Sutthikhun (Ae)!
>
> What a remarkable posting! And such a great surprise to see Koco's signs
> written in SignWriting. Thank you for doing this.
>
> Years ago I was handed information about Koco the gorilla and her signing
> skills, and asked if I wanted to write it in SignWriting and of course I
> said yes but then, I never found the time to start the project. At that
> time I did not know of any videos - only photos. That was in the 1980s I
> believe.
>
> So thank you, Ae, for doing this. it is great to find the document and the
> embedded video in SignPuddle Online!
>
> Koko As The Voice of Nature
>
> https://www.signbank.org/signpuddle2.0/searchword.php?ui=1&sgn=5&sid=280&sTrm=&type=any&sTxt=Koko&sSrc=&
>
> Have you ever posted information in Wikipedia? For example, at the bottom
> of the Wikipedia article on Koko:
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_(gorilla)
>
> The link to the SignPuddle page could be listed along with other
> references, and that would be helpful to both Koko and SignWriting -
>
> Thanks again for posting this -
>
> Val ;-)
>
> -------------
>
>
> On Aug 24, 2021, at 11:01 PM, Sutthikhun Phaengphongsai <
> suttikunep at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Hello! Anyone here knows a female gorilla named 'Koko'?
> Does any ASL signer or anyone understand these signs?
> • Koko was a female western lowland gorilla and was born at the San
> Francisco Zoo and spent most of her life with Francine Patterson, her ASL
> instructor and caregiver, in Woodside, California, at The Gorilla
> Foundation's preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
> • I'm deeply sorry for her that she passed away 3 years ago. She was a
> unique gorilla who could communicate using her own sign language,
> GorillaSL, which is a variation of ASL. Anyway, a gorilla's hand morphology
> differs slightly from that of a human, with thicker fingers and shorter
> thumbs. So, Koko's hand gestures could not match the human hand gestures
> accurately as a result of this.
> • This following sign literature is transcribed from her speech messaging
> to the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, delivering a Public Service
> Announcement (PSA) on the subject of Climate Change.
> • Although I cannot verify that she actually expressed these long
> sentences or that the words were human-edited in the video, it
> is undeniable that her GorillaSL communication is not worthless and is
> still significant in spreading environmental awareness.
>
>
>
> Description
> "Koko as the Voice of Nature" - A Gorilla Sign Language (GSL) speech,
> which the language was derived from American Sign Language (ASL), written
> in Sutton SignWriting
>
> Video transcribed: https://youtu.be/Hb9d0IYtyek
> "(I am) gorilla. (I am) flowers, animals. (I am) nature. Man, (Koko)
> loves. The earth (Koko) loves. (But) man stupid. Stupid! (Koko) sorry.
> (Koko) cry. Time hurry! Fix the earth! Help the earth! Hurry! Protect (the
> earth). Nature see. Thank you."
>
> Who is Koko?
>  Hanabiko Koko (1971–2018) was a female western lowland gorilla. Koko was
> born at the San Francisco Zoo and lived most of her life in Woodside,
> California, at The Gorilla Foundation's preserve in the Santa Cruz
> Mountains.
>  Her instructor and caregiver, Francine Patterson, reported that Koko had
> an active vocabulary of more than 1,000 signs of what Patterson calls
> "Gorilla Sign Language" (GSL). This puts Koko's vocabulary at the same
> level as a three-year-old human. In contrast to other experiments
> attempting to teach sign language to non-human primates, Patterson
> simultaneously exposed Koko to spoken English from an early age. It was
> reported that Koko understood approximately 2,000 words of spoken English,
> in addition to the signs.
>
> Sign with Koko!: https://www.koko.org/kids4koko/signing
>
> Link to SignPuddle Online:
> https://www.signbank.org/signpuddle2.0/searchword.php?ui=1&sgn=5&sid=280&sTrm=Koko+as+the+Voice+of+Nature&type=any&sTxt=&sSrc=&
>
> References:
> 1. https://www.koko.org/
> 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_(gorilla)
> 3. https://www.signwriting.org/
>
>   "Apes together, strong!"
>
> Sutthikhun (Ae)
>
> ________________________________________________
>
>
> ________________________________________________
>
> SIGNWRITING LIST INFORMATION
>
> Valerie Sutton SignWriting List moderator sutton at signwriting.org
>
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>
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________________________________________________

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sutton at signwriting.org

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