SignWriting List
April 1, 2002
James Kegl wrote:
>> On the other hand, I suppose my own efforts in SW may help to
>>preserve Nicaraguan Sign Language in the face of an attack by
>>outside groups seeking to impose Signed English. But, ours is but
>>a small project. Anyway, my point to the SW group is merely that SW
>>is a two-edged sword, and must be used responsibly...
Hi James - Your work, which is written, will last for generations, if
it is preserved and published. The printed word (or sign ;-) has a
lot of power in the long run. So if you are writing excellent
literature, it will have its influence long after we are all gone...
Meanwhile, the groups using a form of Signed English are not
necessarily "irresponsible"...they may just be "uneducated" and might
want very much to be responsible, if they understood the issues
better...so it may not be a question of choice, but instead a lack of
knowledge...
All the more reason for your Deaf teachers to visit them and discuss
this with them - I know politics isn't always so easy, so if this is
not possible, then your written documents will have to be the
"teachers" ;-)
Val ;-)
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