forum SignWriting List Forum
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From:  Ingvild Kristine Roald
Date:  Thu May 27, 1999  3:27 pm
Subject:  Re: New SignWriter Features?


New features?

A possibility to make the rotations in several sizes is very much
needed. In Norwegian Sign Language (NSL) a saucer, a small cake
plate, a medium sized plate and a large serving plate are all signed
by tracing a horizontal circle with the downwards index finger, but
of various sizes. A small area, a largere area, a country, or the
whole wide world, are similarily designed by the flat hand making the
circular movement. A small ball (tennis), a large one (basket), a
large one, a huge ballon... , all made by the flat hands starting on
top, palms down, circling and turning until they meet at the bottom
palms up.

The sequetial finger closing is something NSL uses for ALL, starting
with a 5-hand pointing left, palm down, circling outwards while
turning and closing in from the small finger till it ends up in the
original place, as a fist, palm up. (The size of the circle is
dependent of how big the ALL group is...)

Valerie and I have been discussing what to do when hands are neither
palm down or palm to the side, but rather 45 degrees. In NSL the
HOUSE is made by both hands pointing forwards, and then making the
slope of the roof and then the walls. We have not discussed this
sign, but the signs for BOAT and PLOW (for snow), which is a pair,
both hands pointing 45 degrees forwards and finger tips meeting, and
in BOAT the middle and the ringfinger's tips would touch, but in
the PLOW the middle and the index finger's tips would touch. We
talked about making the black part of the hands broader or slimmer,
to denote this. I think that as the size of the printed signs get
smaller, this will be complicated, and suggest another soultion:
place the touch-star over / under the touching tips of the hands, for
the two signs.

The puffing cheek(s) are a neccesary part of NSL, to denote big
things. But sometimes the puffing is moved to the lower lip. Could
that be incorporated? (Valerie: You will see this when the driver is
talking about his big car, in the video of NSL).

To denote small things, the mouth is made small, and the tip of the
tounge is just visible (on the video: the girl talking of the small
sausages). The mouth and tounge is somewhat strained.
To make things more complicated, if I was to say that something was
just around the corner, the face would make this diminutive with
accompanig air (and sometaimes sound), like 'pt'.

And as I told you all before, in NSL mouthing borrowed from Norwegian
is very much part of NSL....

-
Wayne talked about staying in the dictionary. Did you mean the
possibility to mark say ten words/ signs before pasting them into the
document?

Greetings to you all,

Ingvild



Ingvild Kristine Roald
Institutt for Praktisk Pedagogikk
Universitetet i Bergen
N-5020 BERGEN
Norway

e-mail:

UNIV: SCHOOL: PRIVATE:
tel: +47 55 58 47 98 +47 55 11 86 00 +47 55 28 34 34
fax: +47 55 58 48 80 +47 55 11 86 01


  Replies Author Date
1380 SignWriting in Australia Valerie Sutton Wed  6/2/1999
1382 Re: SignWriting in Australia Val Forbes Wed  6/2/1999
1509 In-Between Palm Facings Valerie Sutton Wed  6/23/1999
1510 ordering Joe Martin Thu  6/24/1999
1526 Re: Deaf Missions Valerie Sutton Sat  6/26/1999
1527 Re: ordering Valerie Sutton Sat  6/26/1999

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