> The difference is that in SignWriting, each "Piece" does not have a
> separage meaning. For instance, the "B" hand has no meaning in and of
> itself. It takes on meaning only when combined with orientation, location,
> and movement. (And, to a degree, facial expression, though for the most
> part, face has a more grammatical function than lexical. Actually, now that
> I think of it, Face could be thought of as a lexical unit, since it
> functions adverbially, at least in Japanese Sign.)
The "B" hand means "B". :-)
But let me try my hand at something for a minute... let's break down the
"pieces" into "parts of pieces". A component of a written Chinese
character is usually not a single geometric shape. I could contend that
in the same way that geometric shapes are combined to make the
component, which has a meaning, so too can we combine "shapes" of
signwriting to make a meaning that's a component part of the total
symbol. "Don't know" in signwriting, starts with "know", which has it's
parts. We add to it to get "don't know", which is a single signwriting
symbol(?).
> But in general, you don't combine those set components with other set
> components to make new words, you combine them to make sentences, so I
> would see it as different than Chinese writing.
You do combine some of the components of a character with other
components to make other characters. At least that's my understanding
of how complex Chinese characters were made.
|
SignWriting List Forum