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From:
James Womack Date: Fri May 15, 1998 4:24 am Subject: Re: Language History or Standardization of ASL | |
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On Thu, 14 May 1998 14:38:57 EDT DEAF USA writes: >In a message dated 98-05-14 11:21:35 EDT, you write: >> and in another message - in a day or so - I will discuss what is >happening >> with the standardization of "sign spellings". > >I'm not sure you can apply the same idea to signwriting because you >are describing motion and there are different signs for similar concepts >in ASL. So you may standardize an individual sign, but I don't think you can >standardize what people sign for a given concept. This is whatmade me hesitate a bit when I wrote my message on this issue. Thanks. > >And as for regional differences, there is also a matter of what >vocabulary is needed in a region. There is a big difference, for example, between >the things a city person will want to talk about vs. someone who lives on a farm, >and there needs to be signs for those things. There are also special >interests, hobbies, and professions within which particular vocabulary will >develop. Sometimes the same sign may mean something a bit different depending >on the context. This happens in many (and probably all) languages. You said what was nagging me in the back of my head but would come forward at the time. |
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