Valerie -
I wonder why you've lumped the "Arabic" nations together. You've
listed four separate countries. I see no reason to consolidate them.
Another issue is that "Arabic" is the name of a language, not a culture.
Saying "Arab nations" might be possible, but again I would list the four
countries separately. "Arab" refers to the general population of people
that speak one or more dialects of Arabic. "Arabic-speaking nations" is
another possibility, but I sincerely doubt that they all use the same sign
language, which is what we're primarily interested in, so why bother.
"Arabian" could only be used to refer to the people of one country: Saudi
Arabia.
Also, to get technical, Maltese is a dialect of Arabic, albeit written
in the Roman alphabet.
Salaam Aleykum!
- Wayne Smith
================================
Dr. Wayne H. Smith, Director
Learning Unlimited Language School
5 Jellison Ridge Rd.
Surry, ME 04684-3340
Tel.: 207-667-9482
E-Mail:
Webpage: https://www.mrlanguage.com
================================
----- Original Message -----
From: "Valerie Sutton"
To:
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2002 11:28 AM
Subject: Re: New York Times Newspaper Article on SignWriting...
> SignWriting List
> March 28, 2002
>
> The New York Times reporter had two questions for me...The first was:
> 1. Which countries use SignWriting?
>
> My answer: See the map attached. The 27 countries, or geographical
> areas, that use SignWriting are:
>
> 1. Arabic Nations (teachers from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria)
> 2. Belgium
> 3. Bolivia
> 4. Brazil
> 5. Canada (2 areas: 1... English-Canada and 2...French-Canada)
> 6. Colombia
> 7. Denmark
> 8. El Salvador
> 9. England
> 10. Finland
> 11. France
> 12. Germany
> 13. Greece
> 14. Ireland
> 15. Italy
> 16. Japan
> 17. Malaysia
> 18. Malta
> 19. Mexico
> 20. Netherlands
> 21. Nicaragua
> 22. Norway
> 23. Peru
> 24. South Africa
> 25. Spain
> 26. Switzerland (2 areas: 1....German-Swiss and 2...French-Swiss)
> 27. USA (several areas, including: New Mexico, Michigan, Maine, North
> Carolina, Washington DC etc...)
>
> Now my question to the SignWriting List....Do you know of other
> countries using SignWriting? I would love your input! Val ;-)
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