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From:
Stefan Woehrmann2 Date: Sat Aug 11, 2001 3:03 pm Subject: forming own writing conventions | ||||||||||||
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Dear Helen and SW-list members, school has started again and there is not too much time right now -- I want to tell you -Helen - that your message has been very important to me - and I studied it several times ! There is one aspect I would like to discuss - you wrote: " ......I've learned practically everything I know about > SignWriting from James and Anselmo. It has been very > good for me to be part of this list --even though I > don't usually send in my thoughts I mull over the > discussion quite a deal in my mind. Perhaps I should > be in contact more, because it seems that James, > Anselmo, and I have begun forming our own writing > conventions for tricky signs (perhaps I can share a > few examples when I have time to attempt making a > SignWriting GIF). Is it possible that as SignWriting > becomes more and more used that each language might > have it's own idiosyncrasies in terms of the way > certain types of signs are written? I know that this > is something the SW-list discussion may help to avoid, > but I can't help thinking that it may be the natural > course of written languages. What do you all think? Well it would be soooo interesting to study the reasons for different SW-styles in the world - if they really show up. Do you really need different movement descriptions in different countries ? Why should you ? Or is this a special thing - SW as a system to describe the performance during signing (or imagined signing !) has to focus on typical differences between different SL of the world ? What are these differences that afford individual solutions ? For now I can assume that all of us do suffer of a big handicap - that is that only very few of the pioneers in the different countries were so lucky to learn the conventions and principles of writing SW with materials that show accepted - well written signs in our own Sign Language - And very very few had been so lucky to learn SW from the scratch by the inventor - Valerie Sutton - herself. We can learn lots about this during our email-lessons ? One question from elsewhere in the world is able to support all of us in becoming more compentent scribes ! As long as there are very few competent SW - readers and more important - very few SW - scribes - there is the risk that we ( I) develop my individual style - with typical errors, mistakes, problematic spellings just out of " not knowing better ". Time went bye and I found more and more funny mistakes and irritating spellings from my beginning - I could read these written signs though - and my readers were instructed to read these signs the way I ment them to be - The better the reading skills of "my readers" and the understanding of the principles in SW the better is their friendly critical feed-back - Some spellings are soooooo familiar to me that I can ±² see the obvious mistake in the spelling until somebody asks me to explain the spelling ... When I started with SW two years ago here in Germany - there has been no single written DGS sign ... I learned from the Nicaraguan way of spelling to underline names for persons and towns ... Who knows - I am pretty confident that it is possible to exchange experiences and spelling-conventions in the world- in order to keep the SW-documents readable for everybody who is skilled in reading SW. Anybody who moves his hands, shoulders, head just the way he does performs nothing else but a movement. So why shouldn ±² we agree upon a special set of symbols and spelling rules that describe this movement at it ±± best ? I am looking forward to read some of your handwritten SW-documents. This should help us to go forward in this discussion ! Well - the reason that I am so interested in international exchange is that I would love to be able to read any movement description in the world - Lateron with the help of the Databnk we should be able to understand the meaning of more and more foreign movement descriptions in the context of the specific SL of that country ! It would be a good step to discuss differences of spelling SW- signs in detail. If there is anything I can do to help you in creating gifs of your documents - please don ±² hesitate to ask for support. I`ll be glad to assist ! Stefan ;-) ----- Original Message ----- From: Helen Stickney To: Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2001 2:52 AM Subject: Re: Visitors from Nicaragua ;-) > Hi Valerie and SW-list members! > > My name is Helen Stickney (Valerie, you may remember > me, we emailed once or twice a few months back). I > work for both Judy and James Kegl. For Judy I do a > lot of work regarding the syntax of Nicaraguan Sign > Language, but most of the work I have done this year > has been SignWriting with James and Anselmo. > I was so excited to hear about your visit with > everyone (I'm also excited because their cross-country > trip ends with them visiting me!) Anselmo and Daphny > are two wonderful examples of the exceptional teachers > that James and Judy work with in Condega and > Bluefields. And the work they do there is even doubly > amazing because the country is so poor and deaf > awareness is practically non-existant. I have been > fortunate enough to get to work in both Bluefields and > Condega and it is exciting to see how SignWriting has > enhanced the accessibility of knowledge in both > schools. > I'm excited to see the sign-bank, and am sure it will > be in my work environment soon enough. I'm sure > Anselmo would love to use this technology, > unfortunately there are really no computers > consistently available to students or teachers at the > two schools at this time. Hopefully we'll be able to > address this sometime in the near future. > Anselmo and I write letters back and forth between > Maine and Bluefields -- all in SignWriting. I've > learned practically everything I know about > SignWriting from James and Anselmo. It has been very > good for me to be part of this list --even though I > don't usually send in my thoughts I mull over the > discussion quite a deal in my mind. Perhaps I should > be in contact more, because it seems that James, > Anselmo, and I have begun forming our own writing > conventions for tricky signs (perhaps I can share a > few examples when I have time to attempt making a > SignWriting GIF). Is it possible that as SignWriting > becomes more and more used that each language might > have it's own idiosyncrasies in terms of the way > certain types of signs are written? I know that this > is something the SW-list discussion may help to avoid, > but I can't help thinking that it may be the natural > course of written languages. What do you all think? > > Again, it is a pleasure to be part of this list. > Thank you all for being so excited about something so > wonderful as SignWriting --and thank you Valerie for > making it possible. > > --Helen > > > --- Valerie Sutton wrote: > > SignWriting List > > August 6, 2001 > > > > Dear SW List Members: > > I have been blessed with guests from Nicaragua this > > weekend. They > > have left now, and I miss them already! > > > > In fact, I would have loved to have more time with > > Ancelmo and > > Daphne...the two Nicaraguan Deaf people who sat with > > me this weekend, > > discussing SignWriting. > > > > Ancelmo is a Deaf teacher at Escuelita de > > Bluefields...the school for > > the Deaf in Bluefields, Nicaragua. Bluefields is a > > poor city on the > > east coast of Nicaragua, and Deaf people do not have > > much chance for > > a good education....until now of course...thanks to > > the Kegl's work > > there. > > > > James and Judy Shepard-Kegl established a school in > > Bluefields, and > > another in Condega, Nicaragua. Deaf students in > > their schools are > > reading SignWriting literature, and some are also > > writing it. Ancelmo > > is one who writes, types and teaches SignWriting. > > > > That is why I feel so honored that Judy and James > > made the effort to > > visit San Diego, to bring Ancelmo and Daphne to meet > > me. > > > > Ancelmo is one of the rare Deaf people in the world > > who is fluent in > > SignWriting and uses it as his primary written > > language. Daphne is > > younger, age 17, I believe, and she assists Ancelmo > > when he teaches, > > by copying SignWriting lessons onto the blackboard > > for him. She can > > read SignWriting, but tried to explain to me that > > she was not that > > skilled in writing...According to James, most of the > > students read > > well, but only some write well. > > > > And I had two meetings...a two-hour meeting with > > Judy Kegl...and a > > brief one with James Kegl. Their feedback and > > interest means a lot to > > me. I had the opportunity to show them SignBank, the > > new database I > > am working on in FileMaker. Judy was the first > > person to view the > > SignBank database (outside me and my programmer of > > course!) and I > > felt very happy to know that Judy felt it would be a > > useful database > > and plans to use it. James was kind enough to > > interpret for me in > > Nicaraguan Sign Language, while I showed SignBank > > to Ancelmo and > > Daphne. I am not sure how much they could grasp > > under the > > circumstances, but I hope later, they will use > > SignBank as well as > > the SignWriter Computer Program, to create SW > > dictionaries. > > > > So all in all...it was a wonderful experience > > meeting everyone! > > > > Now James is driving towards Albuquerque, New > > Mexico, to visit with > > teachers who use SignWriting there. He left with a > > car filled with > > children, Nicaraguan guests, and a dog!! > > > > I believe they will be driving to several cities, > > stopping along the > > way, to end up back home in Maine, where the Kegls > > live.... > > > > That's my weekend report... > > > > Many thanks once again to the Kegls for coming!! > > -- > > > > Val ;-> > > > > > > ----------------------------- > > > > Valerie Sutton > > > > > > SignWritingSite: > > https://www.SignWriting.org > > > > SignWriting List Archives: > > https://groups.yahoo.com/group/sw-l/ > > > > To post a message to the SW List: > > > > | ||||||||||||
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