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From:
Valerie Sutton Date: Wed Feb 2, 2000 3:17 pm Subject: Re: Shorthand | |
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>Valerie and I are talking about revising and updating the Shorthand manual >-- the old manual is written from the receptive viewpoint, and doesn't >incorporate the changes that have been made in SignWriting in the last >several years. It'd be great to get input from other people who use it, >or who are interested in trying it out. >Karen van Hoek ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SignWriting List February 2, 2000 Hello Everyone, and a special thank you to Karen for sharing the information about SignWriting Shorthand...I really appreciate it that you informed us that you can still read your notes from a long time ago - that is amazing! For those who are new to the SignWriting List, Karen was our Deaf Action Committee's resident linguist from around 1985 until the day Karen completed her Ph.d and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan....I remember Karen telling us stories about how she used the Shorthand to take notes during meetings at Salk Institute...at least that is my memory of it...and considering that the Shorthand was not designed for details, it is good news that these old notes are still readable. Every writing system that really succeeds has several "forms". We type English, but we also write it by hand. Plus there is a Pittman and Gregg Shorthand for English stenography...so English has a Printing, a Handwriting and a Shorthand. And so does SignWriting....it always has, but on computers we type SignWriting Printing, just as in English we type English Printing (block letters). People write SignWriting Handwriting all over the world now, and the Shorthand was successful as a stenography system in the mid-1980's. And just as we do not write English with Pittman Shorthand, so I always assumed that there was not enough detail in our SignWriting Shorthand for daily use either...we leave out all palm facing, for example, when writing Shorthand...but of course if you know the signed language you are writing...maybe that is why you can read your notes later? And Karen, you are right that the old Shorthand was receptive...that is one of the reasons why the book has to be re-written...the Shorthand was designed to write at speed while looking at someone else signing...so to switch it into expressive does change things... However - take a look at the new Shorthand from the expressive viewpoint, written vertically...I have one sample on the web: The SW Printing on this web page... https://www.SignWriting.org/ling004.html is then re-written in SW Shorthand on this page: https://www.SignWriting.org/ling005.html Of course there are new symbols in that example, Karen, because it writes facial expressions and head moving forward etc...but I know you could learn those new symbols quickly and be writing at speed again... I am swamped with mail and orders, and I feel guilty towards the kids in South Africa and France, who are waiting for me to print the books and ship them to them! So I will try to answer all the other messages soon...and meanwhile, Karen....can you scan a page of your Shorthand notes and send it as a .GIF to the SignWriting List? Do you have a scanner? ;-)) No matter what, I am excited that you are back on the List and I look forward to your help with getting the new Shorthand book completed and used... Best - Val ;-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Valerie Sutton at the DAC Deaf Action Committee for SignWriting SignWriting https://www.SignWriting.org Center For Sutton Movement Writing an educational nonprofit organization Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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