Hi Valerie: I've been told that transliteration means taking something from one
language, a word, phrase, whatever), changing its form, while retaining the
substance of the original language. For example, the word "shalom" is a Hebrew
word, which in this case, has been transliterated into a different symbol
system--one of several that English can use. A person that is signing in Signed
English could, arguably, be transliterating spoken English into a different
mode. More complex English, for example, can be transliterated into less
complex English (in the case of Legalize *smile*). People who use Cued Speech
to communicate have CS transliterators--although I've heard it argued that CS
isn't a language so there is no such animal as a CS transliterator. That's
another story altogether!
I do not know if taking something from a signed or spoken mode and putting it
into a written mode is considered transliteration, although by the above
definitions, I suppose it would qualify. Now it's time for all you linguists
out there to jump in! Hope this helps. Cheryl
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