A little story from FENEIS.
On the last day of the FENEIS conference I ran across
a poster that was the "Alfabeto Manual" which was
published by FENEIS as a poster for use by
schoolchildren. Parallel to many of the cards that
are passed out in stores in the U.S., the poster shows
the Roman letter, the handshape, and an object that
starts with that letter in the Roman alphabet.
Essentially it is a fingerspelling chart for
Portuguese in Libras handshapes.
As the Deaf and I discussed the chart together, it was
an interesting revelation to the Deaf to look at the
"Manaul Alfabet" and realize that it was really
Portuguse, not Libras.
For "Tree" (arbole in Portuguese) the handshape was an
"A" with the Roman letter A in front of a tree.
Several of us discussed that "hey wait a minute, this
handshape does not exist in the sign for "arbole" in
Libras (identical to the English sign). This was the
best opening to compare what SW does to what
attempting to write Portuguese in handshapes does.
What is needed is a parallel chart that shows the
"alfabeto movimento" which really does have handshapes
that match the signs in which they are actually used.
Attached are two pages from a new chart we began to
create. Even if you don't know Libras, you who know
Sign Writing will understand it.
By the time the conversations ended, the Deaf were
laughing, "now when our professors criticize our
stumbling attempts to write clear Portuguese we can
say--listen, you have 36 letters in your alphabet (26
+ the 10 numbers). They sit still on the page. We
have 69 handshapes in our alfabet, and THEY MOVE!
(much laughter!)
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