[Sw-l] General arrowhead

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
July 7, 2026

Thank you, Josenilson, for this question. In your examples I would choose the second writing. The arrows are far a part from each other and are not writing ON TOP OF each other.

Try to imagine putting your right hand in a can of black paint and your left hand in a can of white paint. What do they draw in space when they move? The only time the two colors blend and become GREY is when the two hands - Black and White, are ON TOP of each other and are moving together in ONE path…OR…are very close to each other.

The General Arrowhead does not mean BOTH. It means OVERLAPPING PATHS.

The General Arrowhead is neither right nor left, but ONE BLENDED PATH. When hands are moving very close to each other, so close that black and white become grey - that is the GENERAL arrowhead - they do not have to contact each other, but their movements have to be "writing on top of the same path". There is one page in the Lessons in SignWriting Textbook, and also in the SignWriting Basics Book that explains the General Arrowhead. Also later I will try to find you examples:
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I will write again in a few hours with examples… and more details -

Thank you for your question

Val ;-)


> On Jul 7, 2026, at 11:29 AM, Josenilson da Silva Mendes <jsm88b at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Oi, pessoal da SW LIst!
> 
> Tenho uma dúvida sobre qual seta usar neste caso do vídeo neste link.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bke6YU05ZdA
> 
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> 
> ou
> 
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> 
> Podem me ajudar?Josenilson Mendes
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Val ;-)

Valerie Sutton
sutton at signwriting.org
SignWriting.org

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