SignWriting List
January 27, 2000


QUESTION 0012:

When should I write Surface Symbols?


ANSWER 0012:
See Example 0012, explaining Surface Symbols. The Surface Symbols have to be constructed when typing with SignWriter 4.3. You will find small lines and curves in different places on the SignWriter Keyboard, and you have to piece it together. They will become "real symbols that can be typed" in the new SignWriter 5.0., but for now they have to be "pieced together".

If you can write the sign as it really looks in real life, you should avoid the Surface Symbols... They are only used if there is no other way to make the sign understandable.


EXAMPLES 0012


SignWriting List
February 1, 2000


QUESTION 0013:

How do you write a movement that "stops abruptly" at the end?


ANSWER 0013:
The Tension Symbol is used to show tension of the muscles. It is called a "Dynamics Symbol" because it shows the "dynamics of the movement"...

In Example 0013, look at number 1. The mouth tenses, while the movement stops abruptly in a tense feeling at the end of the movement. In number 2, the placement of the clock on the wall is indicated by a tense stop at the end of the movement.

So Tension Symbols are used to record "abrupt stops":


EXAMPLES 0013



Questions? Write to:

Valerie Sutton

Sutton@SignWriting.org