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From:
Valerie Sutton Date: Tue Dec 14, 1999 6:04 am Subject: Re: Writing Legs & Feet | |
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Fernando asked: >Does Cecilia, or Valerie, or any coleague from our list have any idea of >whether thal sign described by Cecelia may be found >in any ASL dictionary (such as Costello's)? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fernando - Good grief, no! I doubt if most authors of ASL dictionaries can accept the fact that lower body movement is a part of ASL, let alone tapping of the feet on the ground. But I personally agree with Cecelia. I think she is right, and I think that those who have been studying signed languages up until now have been missing the forest for the trees. They have trouble seeing the whole picture, because they are so busy looking at the details of the parts. And just as calling that "a sign" is controversial, so is SignWriting itself. I know that a lot of you from other countries assume that the USA uses SignWriting...but actually SignWriting is more accepted in other countries than in my own country. There is more happening in Brazil with SignWriting, for example, than in the USA. Back in 1979, I was criticized for stating in a presentation in Rochester, New York, that I thought that "the whole body" was used in some ASL signs, and now Cecelia has validated that. But back in 1979 people weren't ready for that idea yet. And the sad part to that story was this: an American Deaf woman stood up and signed in ASL: "If we write our language visually like SignWriting, hearing people will think that Deaf people are unsophisticated." I felt real sad when I realized she was right...most hearing people would stand in judgement of them...assuming it could not be a written language if it were written with arms and legs and feet. The idea is more accepted now, but it still has a way to go.... Val ;-) |
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