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From:
Valerie Sutton Date: Fri Oct 8, 1999 3:19 pm Subject: Re: Writing vs drawing | |
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>From Fri Oct 8 07:34:18 1999 From: "Karlin, Ben" To: "'jerry'" , "'Sutton, Valerie'" Subject: Re: Writing vs Drawing Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 09:36:00 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Jerry Spillman wrote: > Could it just be that writing is a very special way of drawing > which exudes personality, and even to some extent, being? In a word, Nope. There is a reason I say so with such confidence even though I have absolutely no qualification. When we are reading an alphabetical language we perceive the words on either of two levels (I am simplifying a great deal because that's how I think.) We see the word as a discrete, meaningful whole and, if we chose to or are directed to, we see the word also as a collection of lines, shapes, light and dark areas, etc. Just because we CAN see words in this latter way doesn't preclude us from also seeing them the former way. Studies show that skilled readers pay less attention to the individual parts of written words and perceive them primarily as unitary, meaningful shapes. This is why type (which is regular) is efficiently read than handwriting (which is irregular). That is why upper and lower case (with irregular sizes/shapes which gives different words unique silohuettes) is more efficiently read than all capital letters (which are all the same size/shape and produce words of similar silohuettes). So, for example, in reading it is more like to mistake "the" for "them" than it is to mistake for "they." That descender on the lower-case Y gives the word a more different silohuette. In "Signs of Language" Klima and Bellugi talk about marked and unmarked handshapes. This is the same kind of "silohuette" analysis. So those of us who are neophyte SW readers still struggle with the individual aspects of SW symbols and, like children practicing the shapes of the alphabet, "draw" them. (I know I have heard first graders talk about "drawing an A.") More sophisticated, fluent readers take in the symbols as unitary and wholes and "write" them. As Fernando has pointed out, the way that the brain conceives and uses the symbols (whether SW or words) is different. --------- Valerie, I get the digest and do not remember the address to post this to the list. Can you do that for me, please? Thanks so much. Hope you are well. Sure enough are busy! Ben Karlin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Val :-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Valerie Sutton SignWritingSite...Lessons Online https://www.SignWriting.org SignBankSite...Databases Online https://www.SignBank.org Deaf Action Committee For SignWriting Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA |
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