Charles Butler wrote:
>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!)
SignWriting List
June 20, 2001
Thanks, Charles, for this nice story about the Brazilian manual
alphabet on a poster. Here in the US, I used to own a poster like
that, relating to the English language instead ...there was a picture
of a tree...and because the word "tree" starts with "t" in
English...they placed the "t" handshape in ASL, on top of the
tree...clearly trying to teach English to those who know the American
Manual Alphabet...confusing isn't it?!
Of course, new posters could be created with SignWriting, reversing
the process...
The number that you mention above.... "69 handshapes".....varies
depending on the country... There are around 101 handshapes in
SignWriter 4.4 right now...That is because SignWriter is used in so
many countries. It may be that Brazilian Sign Language only needs 69
handshapes....where other countries may need more or less...
--
Val ;->
-----------------------------
Valerie Sutton
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